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Why must the obvious be stated?

"Oh no! They need the Home button for hard reset and for screen shots!"

There are 3 more buttons on the iPhone and iPad plus a switch. Currently the volume buttons don't do anything in the event of a freeze. They'll just remap the function to those.

"How am I going to wake the screen??"

The lock button does the same exact thing as the home button when the display is asleep. It brings you to your lock screen.
 
Hopefully Apple hears our comments on this, some way or another.

Maybe a home button on the side then? ONE TACTILE BUTTON, PLEASE. Touch screen is GREAT but it's nice to have at least one tactile button to bring you to the home screen or enable multitasking, etc.
 
Think it's an okay idea for the iPad, but might not be great for everybody.

For the iPhone, if they do remove the home button, they will replace it with something other than a five-finger gesture. Apple are not idiots, as exhibited by the fact that they are making about a gazillion dollars a second at the moment. So, no five-finger gesture which makes the phone impossible to use one-handed.

I'd say one-finger swipe off screen (on the black space where the home button would normally be) could replace the home-button on the iPhone. Could be done with fingers and/or thumbs, which - if you are all of these things - is not going to make the iPhone an awesome device for you.
 
Bye, bye bezel

Edge to edge displays on iPad & iPhone would look real sharp...bigger screens without bigger devices. Not saying they will do that.

Obviously folks, if Apple removes the existing Home button, they will implement a new way to handle hard resets and provide for one-handed operation. Waste of time posting all these "But..." complaints already.

Recall Apple patents from a year ago about when the touch mouse that they have came out, descriptions and illustrations of Apple handling resting of palms on the active display and touch sensitivity in the framing and back of the device. Consider the new metal frame of the iPhone 4...not just style but the start of function maybe. Sliding your finger up or down to control volume? Touching a certain spot to take the place of today's Home button? Problem with that is case/skin design. Oh well, may be off my rocker, but the new multitasking control feels natural on my iPad...definitely wouldn't on my iPhone.

As millions more get used to iOS devices, Apple can allow for further differentiation and customization.
 
What about people who might have lost a digit or two? No iPad for you! :p

Yes that would be troubling.

On the iPad, I can see where the home button could look lost and could be a pain to locate and use at times. On the iPhone not so much. Based on how one holds the iphone, it is much easier to just hit the home button than it is to make a five finger gesture, four finger gesture, not withstanding the limited size of the iPhone screen.

I highly doubt they would implement this and remove the home button right away. It would make more sense to have it as an option to turn on the gesture commands.
 
Why must the obvious be stated?

"Oh no! They need the Home button for hard reset"

There are 3 more buttons on the iPhone and iPad plus a switch. Currently the volume buttons don't do anything in the event of a freeze. They'll just remap the function to those.

"How am I going to wake the screen??"

The lock button does the same exact thing as the home button when the display is asleep. It brings you to your lock screen.

That's fine, but the phone should be at least SEMI usable with one hand. Without the home button, it's not.
 
I don't think the Home button should go. I agree that it would be too confusing for most users and awkward on the iPhone to 5 finger pinch all the time.

But... why not get rid of the mechanical button for a pressure sensitive area on the iPhone or iPad for the Home Button? Maybe too many chances of mistaken touches????
 
What are they going to do about a "hard reset". Right now you have to hold the home button and the power button. If they do away with the home button how are you going to "hard reset" it?
 
I don't know about iPad, but I tend to use the home button on my iPhone quite often. To kill an app, to quickly get from the 5th submenu to homescreen, also double click to bring up my favorite contacts, three times for iPod. I wouldn't want to do 5-finger gestures and whatnot to do what a simple small button can do.
 
Come on guys.. this is apple we are talking about.. if you know them, you know they dont make stupid design decisions.... (dont talk about antenna, dont talk about glass back) Their #1 priority is usablility/User experience.. They are not going to remove the homebutton from the iPhone, they dont need to test it to know it wont work. it means u would need 2 hands to use ur phone always. Ipad maybe but not iPhone. Besides what happens to hard resets and DFU mode if they take way the button. i wonder how they we re implemement those.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148)

Apple never proposed a five-finger pinch. Gruber proposed it as something that sounds stupid so that he can have something easy to mock -- the very definition of straw man.
 
Please don't.

If anything, ADD a new button.

A function button that the App Developers could use as they wish.

Or relocate the home button to the side.

Just don't sacrifice functionality for aesthetics.

And if they feel it has to be done, do it to the iPad only,...at least at first.
 
I very much doubt this will happen, and if it does, I'll just get an iPhone 4 this summer when I'm back home as I only use the iPhone with one hand.
 
Why must the obvious be stated?

"Oh no! They need the Home button for hard reset and for screen shots!"

There are 3 more buttons on the iPhone and iPad plus a switch. Currently the volume buttons don't do anything in the event of a freeze. They'll just remap the function to those.

"How am I going to wake the screen??"

The lock button does the same exact thing as the home button when the display is asleep. It brings you to your lock screen.

Oh great... a software remap in case of a software crash.
 
Come on guys.. this is apple we are talking about.. if you know them, you know they dont make stupid design decisions.... (dont talk about antenna, dont talk about glass back) Their #1 priority is usablility/User experience.. They are not going to remove the homebutton from the iPhone, they dont need to test it to know it wont work. it means u would need 2 hands to use ur phone always. Ipad maybe but not iPhone. Besides what happens to hard resets and DFU mode if they take way the button. i wonder how they we re implemement those.

I agree with this. I could see them making the entire front of the phone a screen with a small portion at the top the camera and earpiece with a home button on the side. I wouldn't put THAT past them, but I'd be very surprised to see a touch screen brick.
 
Should also point that Apple screwed the pooch with the latest Nano by miniaturizing it the point of being worse than the previous gen.

Leave the Home button, Apple. Work on making the iPhone/iPad/iTouch more useful in other ways.

Do you own the latest Nano?
 
Thats just the dumbest rumor ever. Whats next apple is getting ripnof the apple logo on the back of the ipad? Or wait they will sell the new mac with windows vista pre installed as the primary os. At leats that would suck less than removing the home button
 
sounds cool, but a little far fetched. how would you wake the screen? tap the volume buttons?

i like the idea, but it seems like there isn't too much of a point. the gestures are gestures, not how you are meant to use it. they are for hardcore users who know them and need to work quicker.

I think this would be fine IF they just add a small button on the side of the ipad that functions as the Home button. ;)
 
Add the gestures but keep the button. It helps me orient the device and i hate using the top button to turn it on.
 
Why must the obvious be stated?

"Oh no! They need the Home button for hard reset and for screen shots!"

There are 3 more buttons on the iPhone and iPad plus a switch. Currently the volume buttons don't do anything in the event of a freeze. They'll just remap the function to those.

That answer assumes that the user wants to perform a hard reset in the event of a freeze.

Besides, you also never responded to the part about screen shots (Not to forget voice control and accessibility also use the home button). Using the volume buttons for those would not be practical. Ramping up the volume to perform either of these three is ridiculous.
 
Could this be Apple testing the waters on this idea?

To me, the idea that the home button would disappear kinda makes sense but for my Mom, it will be a deal killer. She loves her iPhone and has surprisingly taken to it very well but the one thing that makes it so much easier for her to use is the 'home button'. She clings to it. It's like a life raft or a life preserver. For a woman that is getting along in her age and has a hard time remembering what;s going on in our lives, she clings to the home button to get her out of 'breaking' her iPhone.

Dumping it might be 'evolutionary' but it could be the evolution that evolves the iOS device out of the hands of many people...
 
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