"variable" amount of flush?

One person's comment on their Ultramax was that a quick push of the lever gave a small flush, and holding it down gave a full flush.
Is this true? Would it work on a Drake also?

My bathroom has a shelf and won't allow an Aquia to fit.

The Ultramax is not a dual flush like the Aquia.

If you hold the handle down longer, it will drop more water though.
It's designed to push the lever down and release.
Holding down drains more than what was intended.

The Aquia has two buttons,
small side for less than a gallon,
larger side for 1.6 gallons.

It's not designed that way. You can get any (well almost) toilet to short cycle if you don't lift the flapper valve all the way up. How well it can clear the bowl that way is questionable. Best thing is to decide if you like the way the thing looks, and given that the thing works properly when used as designed, you can take it as a bonus if you try to short cycle it and you are satisfied. Just don't complain if you don't like the short-cycled flush - the designed normal one works.

Maybe I'm reading the original post wrong, but seems to me the original poster was talking about a normal flush vs. a longer-than-designed flush.