Hands on with Apple's Force Touch trackpad

Hands on with Apple's Force Touch trackpad

The new 12-inch MacBook is still weeks away, but you can get the Force Touch trackpad right now in this updated 13-inch MacBook Pro.

One of the most talked-about new features in the upcoming 12-inch Apple MacBook is its new touchpad. Apple calls its versions trackpads, and this new type is the Force Touch trackpad, a new approach to the traditional hinged click-down design found on most laptops.

But you don't have to wait until April 10 to try it. The new trackpad has already made its way into one currently available MacBook, the just-updated 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display, which also features a new fifth-generation Intel Core i-series processor and faster internal flash memory.

The moving trackpad on an older MacBook Pro.Sarah Tew/CNET

We've just received one of the new 13-inch Pro models, and have spent the morning playing with the Force Touch trackpad, test-driving it with several users of traditional Mac pads.

The Force Touch trackpad eliminates the top hinge that previously required you to physically depress the glass top of the pad, usually from somewhere on the lower half to register properly. Instead, the new pad places four sensors under the pad, one under each corner. This replaces a design some describe as a "diving board" with one that's a simple, flat surface.

The pad on the new MacBook doesn't click down.Sarah Tew/CNET

The four sensors allow you to click anywhere on the pad's surface with identical results, and the Force Click effect, which combines the sensors with haptic (or taptic) feedback, allow you to have two levels of perceived clicking within an app or task. That deep click feels to the finger and brain like the trackpad has a stepped physical mechanism, but in fact, the movement you feel is a small tactile haptic tap, which, even when fully explained, still feels like you're depressing the trackpad two levels.

Apple describes it like this: "With the Force Touch trackpad, force sensors detect your click anywhere on the surface and move the trackpad laterally toward you, although the feel is the same familiar downward motion you're accustomed to in a trackpad."

We've already gone over what the new trackpad can do, and most of the time, it'll be used to bring up context-sensitive content when you use the firmer, double-level click on files or individual words and terms. We gave the updated MacBook Pro to several people around the CNET offices, as seen in the accompanying video, and each professed to being fooled by the tactile illusion that they were clicking down on a physical touchpad.

Contextual information from a deep click.Sarah Tew/CNET

While the Force Touch trackpad doesn't click down, I did notice the glass bending a tiny bit under my fingers then pressing on it. iFixit has a detailed teardown that explains why this may be because of the thicker body in the MacBook Pro, and why the upcoming 12-inch MacBook may not have even this tiny level of give.

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Microsoft's Cortana will find its way to iOS and Android, report says

Microsoft's Cortana will find its way to iOS and Android, report says

The virtual personal assistant would be a standalone app, available in the Google Play marketplace and Apple App Store, and work just as it does on Windows Phone.

Microsoft's Cortana could be making her way to Android and iOS.James Martin/CNET

Apple personal virtual assistant, Siri, might soon be competing for your time with Cortana, its counterpart from Microsoft.

Cortana will be coming to iOS and Android at some point after Windows 10 rolls out with an updated version of Microsoft's virtual assistant software, Reuters reported Friday, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the software giant's plans. It would be a standalone app, available in the Google Play marketplace and Apple App Store, and work just as it already does on Windows Phone, according to the report.

Microsoft also is working toward a more advanced version of Cortana, drawing from a research project called Einstein. "This kind of technology, which can read and understand email, will play a central role in the next rollout of Cortana, which we are working on now for the fall time frame," Eric Horvitz, Microsoft Research managing director, told Reuters in an interview.

The company has already incorporated Cortana into its Windows 10 operating system, which will be coming to PCs in the latter part of this year.

The move to make Cortana a standalone app available to users of devices running Apple's iOS software and those running Google's Android would come sometime after that, Reuters said.

Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.

Cortana is Microsoft's answer to Apple's Siri, though it arguably takes the features one step further. While Siri is designed to answer queries, such as finding directions to a destination, or to handle tasks like setting up a reminder or calendar event, Cortana can do that plus provide notifications and updates where applicable. So in the event you have a flight on your calendar, Cortana will alert you when to leave for the airport.

The name Cortana comes from Microsoft-owned game franchise Halo. Cortana is the artificial intelligence presence in Halo that provides players with help and insight as they play through the shoot-em-up.

If Microsoft brings Cortana to other platforms, that would represent an important break in strategy for the current crop of voice-activated virtual assistants. Apple's Siri is exclusive to iOS, and given the company's penchant for controlling its own software, will likely never make its way to another platform. Google has its own personal assistant, Google Now, which is only available on Android.

Last year, when CEO Satya Nadella laid out his vision for Microsoft, he made clear that mobile would play a central role in his strategy. He also indicated that he would not be as beholden to his company's own platforms as Microsoft has been in the past, signaling that supporting other operating systems, like iOS and Android, would not only be possible, but necessary. Nadella's vision is to target and attract users wherever they are, and not necessarily force them to use his company's software on products it controls.

That is evidenced by Microsoft Office applications, which are available on other mobile platforms, including on Apple's iOS. Now with Cortana possibly following that lead, Microsoft can make good on his promise again.

Still, Nadella's strategy to bring his company's applications to users is driven by a desire to get more people to use Microsoft's services. When you ask Cortana to search the Web, for example, it uses Microsoft's Bing search engine. It's unlikely that will change if Cortana comes to iOS and Android.

If Microsoft decides to deliver Cortana to other platforms, one might wonder whether it'll actually be allowed in Apple's App Store. Over the years, Apple has been loath to allow apps that have directly competed with bundled applications, and it took a significant amount of time to allow Google Maps into its App Store to compete with Apple Maps. Since Cortana is a direct competitor to Siri, it's possible Microsoft could run into the same issues. However, Apple has generally relented and has seemingly loosened some of its restrictions on direct competitors, so Cortana may not meet the same resistance as Google Maps.

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