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Apple to Remove Home Button From Future iPads and iPhones?
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Heh, I fully agree with you but I think the reason why some people who dislike the idea are scared that Apple would do it is Apple is not about choice at all. In fact they try to not have too many choices cause their philosophy is to keep it simple and too many choices complicates things too much.
Not saying that is good or bad (I can see both sides. I think Apple goes too far sometimes cause I don't think it would add too much complexity to give choice where they decide not to but I can see where they are aiming it at the everyday person who could be easily confused if they have to deal with too many settings to get things right and just want it to work out of the box). Choice with Apple is either you like how we do stuff overall enough you will compromise on the stuff you dislike or you can choose to use some other OS/device if you don't like it.
Or in other words, I think Apple takes it a bit too far, but I can see where they are coming from.
That's probably the only trade-off I'd accept if they HAD to remove the Home Button.
Then Apple would get flamed for copying the Storm and all those other cheap phones that have tactile feedback screens, though.
Like when the 4th generation Nano screen went "Zune-like".
Removing the home button might suck
I have a couple reservations about removing the home button.
1. If a gesture is to replace the home button and multi-tasking bar, it better be simple. Users who have limited mobility, motor skill problems, or gloves on, won't be able to do this easily.
2. The home button let's me know which way is "down." Now, I know that in the Apple HIG documents, they don't want you to care about which was is "down." I suppose the orientation of the graphics on screen would be enough. But if the gesture is directional in nature-- such as swipe down, then developers need to start thinking that way. As it stands now, many apps are grumpy about even flipping. Though these tend to be games.
3. If anything, I would like a couple more buttons on the iphone. I find it baffling why they don't have a camera button, but two discreet volume buttons.
It's not to say that you can't solve these issues with gestures. You can. And it's also not to say you have to cater to all the newbies. People used to be baffled by a mouse, after all. People will start to associate these gestures as normal and intuitive over time. The swipe, for example, is now "obvious" to users of touchscreen devices.
I'll be interested to see how they solve this.
I have a couple reservations about removing the home button.
1. If a gesture is to replace the home button and multi-tasking bar, it better be simple. Users who have limited mobility, motor skill problems, or gloves on, won't be able to do this easily.
2. The home button let's me know which way is "down." Now, I know that in the Apple HIG documents, they don't want you to care about which was is "down." I suppose the orientation of the graphics on screen would be enough. But if the gesture is directional in nature-- such as swipe down, then developers need to start thinking that way. As it stands now, many apps are grumpy about even flipping. Though these tend to be games.
3. If anything, I would like a couple more buttons on the iphone. I find it baffling why they don't have a camera button, but two discreet volume buttons.
It's not to say that you can't solve these issues with gestures. You can. And it's also not to say you have to cater to all the newbies. People used to be baffled by a mouse, after all. People will start to associate these gestures as normal and intuitive over time. The swipe, for example, is now "obvious" to users of touchscreen devices.
I'll be interested to see how they solve this.
Placement of ear pieces and mics. Placement of volume buttons. Placement of Sleep/Wake button. I'm able to tell which side is up just by those.
- Beam me up, Scotty!
- Argh! I can't work the iTransporter, Captain!
(Sorry if the (bad) joke's been made already, but the search thread button has disappeared on me)
what if instead of a button they placed another a seperate single touch sensor. Or better yet, a heat detector like the PS3 power buttons, and this would act as the home button. Then they smoothed it out and placed a mark there.
Well, as awkward as this may sound. I am sure it will be very easy to figure once it is out. Apple always leads the way and I am sure what ever they do with this it will make sense once the iPhone or the iPad is in our hands. Go for it Apple and keep innovating. I will be the first in line to buy it!!!!
If gestures can be disabled on a per-application basis in 4.3, like for angry birds, how are you going to go back to the home screen without the button?
This isn't happening.
This isn't happening.
Hard to imagine they'll use this to make the iPad's bezel smaller, it has to be reasonably wide to enable users to grip it firmly without touching the screen.
If true, hopefully the full story is Apple have added a gesture for returning to the Home screen, and merely relocated the button elsewhere for other tasks (wake, 'force quit' apps etc.)
If true, hopefully the full story is Apple have added a gesture for returning to the Home screen, and merely relocated the button elsewhere for other tasks (wake, 'force quit' apps etc.)
There are different ways of getting back to the home screen. For instance the sixth-gen Nano does it by holding your finger in the middle of the screen.
Smaller iPhone -- WHY?
Who the heck needs a smaller iPhone? The screen is already too small. The phone is so short that it turns sideways in a pocket and jams in place. The spacing between my ear and mouth hasn't grown any shorter.
I would also tend to believe that despite gesture capability, the real reason the HOME button will remain a physical button is that it is a zero power way to wake up a CPU (a contact closure). Constantly scanning a multi-touch screen takes substantially more power.
Therefore, I claim BS on this rumor.
Who the heck needs a smaller iPhone? The screen is already too small. The phone is so short that it turns sideways in a pocket and jams in place. The spacing between my ear and mouth hasn't grown any shorter.
I would also tend to believe that despite gesture capability, the real reason the HOME button will remain a physical button is that it is a zero power way to wake up a CPU (a contact closure). Constantly scanning a multi-touch screen takes substantially more power.
Therefore, I claim BS on this rumor.
Exactly, I don't get why people think that the current setup is the only possible way for these actions to be performed.
But except for merely space-saving and making the front look a lot more clean, there is a huge possibility with making more things touch based: orientation-independence, simply picking up an iPad from a table and hold it in any way without minding the orientation of it, might sound silly but it would be very neat in everyday use, especially when handing it over to someone nonfamiliar with it.
^^^^YES THIS. I have met a ton of disabled individuals that got an iPad and it has increased quality of life immeasurably. To lose that on future iPads is a step backward. I love the idea of multi-touch gestures but eliminating the home button entirely is a very bad idea.
I really doubt this is going to happen because it would seem to be out of character for Apple. Apple always seems to strive towards making things as easy to use as possible, sometimes to the detriment of more advanced users, but that has been their pattern for a long time nevertheless. Removing the home button actually would make using an IOS device more complicated than it needs to be for a certain subset of people.
We've seen a lot of stories about senior citizens using iPads, in many cases it being the first computing device they've ever used in their lives. I have had first-hand experience with this with my parents. Even though the iPad is much easier to learn how to use than a computer it still took some doing for them to get the hang of it. But the first thing they understood was the home button. They understood that no matter what they were doing they could always get back to the home screen by pressing that button. They also almost immediately knew that pressing that button turned the iPad on and later on they picked up the double tap for the multitasking bar fairly easily. But in all their usage of the iPad I still have to remind them about pinch to zoom, and somewhat less so, about double tap to zoom. I guess gestures like that still haven't completely registered to them. So I have to wonder how on earth they would be able to keep track of the additional new gestures found in IOS 4.3, even if it was absolutely necessary because of the removal of the home button?
I'm a quadriplegic in a wheelchair which brings me to the second issue I have with this rumor. I use a specially modified mouth stick to operate my iPad much of the time. Sometimes I use the knuckles of my fingers. I cannot move my fingers but with a hand splint on they are stable which allows me to use my knuckles to touch the iPad screen. However, it's not nearly as accurate as the control I get from using a mouth stick. If the home button was removed in favor of these new multi-finger gestures IOS devices would essentially become little more than paperweights for me. I happen to know a number of other disabled individuals where the same would be true. Without the use of one's fingers the usage of IOS devices is obviously limited in certain ways but it still is quite useful for many activities regardless. Removal of the home button would make it all a moot point however.
In all honesty I just think the Apple rumor mill machine is overreacting to the appearance of these new gestures in IOS 4.3 because removal of the home button really does seem out of character for Apple. It also seems to me that there would always need to be a bezel of some sort to give people some room to hold the device without touching the screen. And as long as there is a bezel there is plenty of room for a home button. So I really can't see this happening.
But on the off chance that I'm wrong about this that will be the end of IOS devices for me, and most likely several people that I know. And I'm sure Apple will be hearing from us.
-PN
We've seen a lot of stories about senior citizens using iPads, in many cases it being the first computing device they've ever used in their lives. I have had first-hand experience with this with my parents. Even though the iPad is much easier to learn how to use than a computer it still took some doing for them to get the hang of it. But the first thing they understood was the home button. They understood that no matter what they were doing they could always get back to the home screen by pressing that button. They also almost immediately knew that pressing that button turned the iPad on and later on they picked up the double tap for the multitasking bar fairly easily. But in all their usage of the iPad I still have to remind them about pinch to zoom, and somewhat less so, about double tap to zoom. I guess gestures like that still haven't completely registered to them. So I have to wonder how on earth they would be able to keep track of the additional new gestures found in IOS 4.3, even if it was absolutely necessary because of the removal of the home button?
I'm a quadriplegic in a wheelchair which brings me to the second issue I have with this rumor. I use a specially modified mouth stick to operate my iPad much of the time. Sometimes I use the knuckles of my fingers. I cannot move my fingers but with a hand splint on they are stable which allows me to use my knuckles to touch the iPad screen. However, it's not nearly as accurate as the control I get from using a mouth stick. If the home button was removed in favor of these new multi-finger gestures IOS devices would essentially become little more than paperweights for me. I happen to know a number of other disabled individuals where the same would be true. Without the use of one's fingers the usage of IOS devices is obviously limited in certain ways but it still is quite useful for many activities regardless. Removal of the home button would make it all a moot point however.
In all honesty I just think the Apple rumor mill machine is overreacting to the appearance of these new gestures in IOS 4.3 because removal of the home button really does seem out of character for Apple. It also seems to me that there would always need to be a bezel of some sort to give people some room to hold the device without touching the screen. And as long as there is a bezel there is plenty of room for a home button. So I really can't see this happening.
But on the off chance that I'm wrong about this that will be the end of IOS devices for me, and most likely several people that I know. And I'm sure Apple will be hearing from us.
-PN
I could see getting rid of the physical button if they went to a backlit touch sensitive area somewhere on the bezel.
Yeah, I honestly never use that way. I just swipe to the right til the home screen comes up again. It's much quicker and not subject to misreading you if you move your finger a mm.