Apple Granted Patent for Liquidmetal Home Button on iOS Devices
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kdarling
macrumors P6
Not for your fault for repeating it, but that was an internet myth. Liquid Metal is conductive and so of course interferes with radio signals.
The myth arose when one of the inventors commented that an phone case made of LM could be used as an antenna itself, and some readers totally misunderstood what he meant.
It's been used in mass consumer products (Samsung used it for years in their own phones) for relatively small parts, and even in low quantity luxury phones for much larger parts, but not as a major component in anything mass consumer. It's still cost prohibitive to do that.
Both correct.
OldSchoolMacGuy
Suspended
Not going to happen. It's too central to the current use of the device and everything around iOS. It's not going anywhere.
Michael Goff
Suspended
Why remove something functionally useful?
macduke
macrumors G5
I've been holding out hope that the iPhone 7 will be the model with the liquidmetal unibody. But I wonder if a patent like this could somehow be applied in a different way. Would it be possible to make a glass flexible enough to deform as well? Or to make a transparent version of liquid metal? Then you could make "clickable" glass. And not in the same way that a glass trackpad on the MacBook is glass. But something that feels more like a depress-able button in the display. Wouldn't that be weird and cool? Eventually they have to lose the chin and forehead on the iPhone. Perhaps using OLED they could have the outline of the home button be persistent on the display, even while sleeping, as OLED could leave off all of the pixels except the circle for the button. I wish I was good with 3D modeling software because I've got a lot of cool mockups in my head.
usarioclave
macrumors 65816
It's so strange that Apple has an exclusive on what has turned out to be "not a lot."
Michael Goff
Suspended
And the Home Button? Double click to bring up multitasking?
Thunderhawks
Suspended
Not to worry, whatever it is and if it's useful SAMSUNG will copy it, get sued, then has the fines reduced and in the end they'll have it for their products.
It's just a way of different accounting of what things cost.
They can run the fines against legal costs percentages of their entire business, which is probably less than 3 % then and even if added to a phone no more than $ 10. (500 million fine vs. 50 million phones sold.
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You may want to ask Apple.
To make a much smaller phone.
As much as Apple loves making things thinner, Id much rather have them shave off the top and bottom.
bushido
Suspended
isnt that the App Switcher?
swipe in firmly from the left to the right and it opens multitasking
doelcm82
macrumors 68040
Never say never.
I'm not predicting anything, but Apple's decade-long tradition of never having an iOS device without a physical home button is minor compared to the thirty years before that when Apple didn't have a single iOS device WITH a home button.
Apple has ALWAYS used LCD panels in its iOS devices, but that is rumored to be changing. They've always had a headphone jack. Everything Apple has always done a certain way is only valid until they do it a different way.
But part of me (the part that bought 30,000 shares of LQMT a few years back) hopes Apple finds lots of ways to use liquidmetal in all their devices.
Michael Goff
Suspended
I'd love for them to stick with convenience instead of doing form over function
You're talking about 3D Touch, which not everyone can really use. So, basically, screw disabled people because you want a prettier device.
Here's an interesting article discussing how Omega use Liquidmetal on their ceramic bezels. It's from five years ago but it doesn't seem to be the easiest material to work with as it's still only been used on a handful of Omega's watches.
Looking At Liquid Metal Watches With Omega
kdarling
macrumors P6
Should've read the thread first
Samsung already had been using Liquid Metal in their phones from 2002 to 2010, when Apple bought an exclusive and locked everyone else out.
For similar reasons why Apple later looked at it for the Home button, Samsung had used it for pieces like hinges and bezels to provide strength and resistance to dents and corrosion.
Both Vertu and Samsung had also made luxury phone chassis from Liquid Metal. (Vertu's model even had a sapphire screen.) Vertu has since switched to titanium, I believe.
2008 Samsung Ego phone with Liquid Metal chassis
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What about the issue that everyone seems to forget? If you get rid of the home button and embed touch ID in the screen then you'd have to first push the on/off button (which I personally thought was more convenient when it was located on the top of the phone instead of the side, but that's another issue entirely) to wake the phone up and then put your finger on the spot where touch ID is located on the screen. So, instead of just pressing the home button to wake up the phone and unlock it at the same time you've now made the same thing take 2-3 times as long. I don't see Apple going backwards like that. And before someone says that you could just wake up the phone with a hard press (3D touch) on the spot where the touch ID reader is, there are serious issues with that. First, your phone would get woken up a lot in your pocket when the screen gets pressed and this could eat away at battery life. Second, knowing exactly where to put your finger for the touch ID reader to scan would be difficult on a dark screen.
I've never understood why people want the home button to go away - it works beautifully at what it needs to do and every alternative I've heard sounds like a big step backwards. I don't need a bigger screen on my phone.
Some options would be an always on screen to show the fingerprint area. Not feasible now - but would be once they make a move to OLED.
I agree - I don't see them taking away the home button for awhile. But who knows - maybe they would do what I suggested so that it was a long/hard press in an area that was always on...