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Apple to Remove Home Button From Future iPads and iPhones?

BillyBobBongo said:
What about people who might have lost a digit or two? No iPad for you! :p
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I guess this silly joke is only funny to people like you. There are a lot of people with limb disabilities that could take full use of the iPad or any other device. Guess you're not having that problem which is why you found that funny. :rolleyes:
 
Worst UX if you don't have 5 fingers!

Any UX which requires the use of all five fingers is a horrible idea. What happens to those users who don't have all five fingers?
 
Why are people so illogical? Just because the iPad is going to use five finger gestures doesn't mean Apple is going to make you do a five finger gesture for iPhone. Chances are, it will be a one thumb gesture.
 
LoganT said:
Why are people so illogical? Just because the iPad is going to use five finger gestures doesn't mean Apple is going to make you do a five finger gesture for iPhone. Chances are, it will be a one thumb gesture.
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i fail to see how the touch sensor will be able to distinguish a thumb touch from a regular finger, elaborate please
 
Bruce Oksol said:
You have got to be kidding. I don't think this is going to take a manual to explain how to use a "five-finger pinch" to get to the home screen.
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You've never tried to explain something to some one who is computer illiterate, have you?

Sure, it's easy for some one who is used to computers to *remember*. There is the key word.

I'm sure I could show my mom that she does this gesture to go back home, but I also know she'll keep asking me cause she'll forget. And I know once I'm gone (I don't live in the same state), she'll forget and get frustrated.

The button is great for her cause I show her the button. And if she forgets, at least when she looks at the device, she'll see the button, it reminds her it is there and all she has to remember is that she presses it and it goes home. It's much simpler to remember to press a button than remembering a gesture that doesn't even have anything to remind her of what she is supposed to do.
 
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Its a neat idea to add the gestures, but dont fix what's not broken with the home button. Just add more options with the gestures so people can use either one
 
Guys, remember there were rumors about Apple utilizing touch-capacitive back on the iPhone?

I think that's exactly what's gonna happen on future iPhones: no home button, swipe down to reveal multitasking bar, swipe left/right to switch apps, double-tap to go back to home screen, etc.

:cool:
 
dbales said:
What? Says who? I for one love the simple, elegant and physical click wheel design. Removing it from the Nano was stupid. I'll never buy one unless I plan on putting it into a watch. Still probably won't because I oppose the removal of the click wheel.
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And I personally hate the click wheel (at least on the skinny stick design, it was ok on the fat third generation cause it was bigger and easier to manipulate small increments).

It was annoying to try to move it one click if you just needed to go one menu down. I almost invariably had to fiddle with it every time I just needed to go one menu/list item down.

The touch screen on the nano is a lot more effective, quicker to go to where I want, and I actually use the pedometer now cause it's easy to get to it vs not wanting to have to deal with trying to get to it with the click wheel so deciding it's not worth bothering with.

Honestly, I have the new nano. I love it. I had the fifth gen nano. I liked the headset remote capability. But if it didn't have that or a bigger storage capability, I think I would have sold it and kept the third gen. The sixth gen solved my issues with it and kept the remote capability and storage (though I will say it's battery is nowhere near as good as claimed. The third gen honestly had the best battery but even the fifth gen's battery was better. I will say that is what they need to work on next gen).
 
HLdan said:
I guess this silly joke is only funny to people like you. There are a lot of people with limb disabilities that could take full use of the iPad or any other device. Guess you're not having that problem which is why you found that funny. :rolleyes:
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Indeed. I am one of those with limb disabilities ... I have no hands. In general, this makes smart-phone use difficult and multi-touch gestures impossible at times. The irony, is that we (me and my employer) develop, not only for the iPhone/iPad but also for Apple.
 
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Home button should go. They can make the area touch sensitive like the click-wheel on th older iPods. I'd rather swipe the lower area than have to swipe the screen area. Leave the square symbol, but remove the moving part.
 
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No home button = larger screen.
 
I do hope they remove the Home button and have the display fill the entire front face. That would be brilliant.

And people will eventually get the hell over it.
 
Porchland said:
Apple killed the click wheel at a time when many people thought it was the defining characteristic of the iPod, and now nobody misses it.

If Apple gets rid of the iPhone/iPad home button, it will be because they found an easy, intuitive way to perform the same functions without it.
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While I partially agree, I'm not so sure about the analogy:

Consider another example: Apple de-buttonized the shuffle only to reintroduce the buttons again on the most current version.

Also, the click wheel unfortunately lost its luster once the system of menus on the iPods became more complex. Also, the iPod touch isn't really even an iPod if you think about it... the iPod functionality is just one app of many on the device.
 
jealousguy86 said:
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.
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that's what i was thinking too. how do you wake it from sleep mode or quickly shut off a game or app you're playing? i say leave the one button please. i have trouble moving my fingers due to a spinal injury. all these multitouch commands would make the ipad/iphone less accessible.
 
MacRumors said:


The potential removal of the home button is certain to be controversial, as Daring Fireball's John Gruber argues that the single physical feature on the front of the device serves as a reference for new users, allowing them to intuitively know how to use the device the first time they pick it up.Usability issues are an even bigger hurdle on the iPhone, with its limited screen size for many-finger gestures and the ease of use it currently enjoys with one-hand operation using solely the thumb to navigate around the device.

Article Link: Apple to Remove Home Button From Future iPads and iPhones?
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I'm with John on this one. Even mucking about with the little slabs of electric crack in the Apple Store, I do find myself coming back to the home button to re-orient myself regularly. It's good to have that physical reference point to come back to.

If such a "upgrade" goes forward, it would be a very consistent sort of thing, and a very "Steve Jobs" sort of revision. He worships at the altar of elegance and simplicity. Sometimes he's right - Floppy Dirives, SCSI, we hardly miss them... sometimes he's painfully wrong - multi-button mice, Firewire, Blu-ray (Actually jury out on this one... )

... antagonizing the poop out of Adobe.
 
tigress666 said:
You've never tried to explain something to some one who is computer illiterate, have you?

Sure, it's easy for some one who is used to computers to *remember*. There is the key word.

I'm sure I could show my mom that she does this gesture to go back home, but I also know she'll keep asking me cause she'll forget. And I know once I'm gone (I don't live in the same state), she'll forget and get frustrated.

The button is great for her cause I show her the button. And if she forgets, at least when she looks at the device, she'll see the button, it reminds her it is there and all she has to remember is that she presses it and it goes home. It's much simpler to remember to press a button than remembering a gesture that doesn't even have anything to remind her of what she is supposed to do.
Click to expand...

+1 My sentiments exactly. Well put, sir.
 
Dusky600 said:
i fail to see how the touch sensor will be able to distinguish a thumb touch from a regular finger, elaborate please
Click to expand...

It's not specifically about the thumb. I said thumb because that is the finger I use to navigate when I'm holding the phone in one hand. To elaborate, I mean the gesture will be done with one finger.
 
jtredway said:
Indeed. I am one of those with limb disabilities ... I have no hands. In general, this makes smart-phone use difficult and multi-touch gestures impossible at times. The irony, is that we (me and my employer) develop, not only for the iPhone/iPad but also for Apple.
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interesting........ i have empathy with you, and kudos to you for overcoming the small? hurdle, which some of us take for granted, fortunately you do not have a brain disability like so many people posting here.......

x francois
 
tigress666 said:
You've never tried to explain something to some one who is computer illiterate, have you?
Click to expand...

I do computer support for a living, and if they're too stupid to remember how to pinch something, then they're too stupid to own the device. Or an ATM and PIN card. Or an email address with a password. Or a mouse with more than one button. Or a keyboard with more than one button. Or to own even the present-day iPhone which already requires you to know numerous gestures (which people seem to be able to handle). Or to sit and beg for a treat. Cos dogs can learn that last one. They will either sink or they will swim. If it's important enough to them, they'll learn to swim. Or they'll buy a different device and it'll become a non-issue. Any of those is fine by me. What do I care what phone they use if I don't get a cut and being "the Mac guy" means they come to me with their iPhone? If you won't learn the gesture I showed you, here's another gesture, and recommendation to buy a different device, especially if it means you'll stop coming to me.

You're also forgetting the on/off switch. If all else fails, turn the damn thing off and start again.
 
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