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Backlit home button?

Y

Yumunum

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 24, 2011
1,452
0
U.S.
Am I the only one who's wanted this for so long? I spend a lot of time on my iPhone/iPad at night in the dark, and I always have to pause for a second to feel which side the home button is on. Seeing as both devices have the same amount of bezel space on each side, it does make things annoying, and hard to tell which side is which. Just like we need backlit keys on a keyboard, I know want a backlit home button. Most Android phones already have this, Apple needs to hop along the bandwagon! (But for heaven's sake I hope Apple doesn't go to capacitive buttons, ever.) Anyways, am I the only one who's been wanting this? Anyone else feel the same?


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Sent from my second generation, tabular Apple product
 
It wouldn't look apple enough... This is why it doesn't have a charging led neither, it makes the phone look generic
 
What I want is a backlit home button that "pulses" a glow when there is a notification. Someone made a mock up of this in an iOS 5 thread a few months ago. I love the idea.
 
TEHi said:
It wouldn't look apple enough... This is why it doesn't have a charging led neither, it makes the phone look generic
Click to expand...

Saying that a charging LED would make the iPhone "look generic" is idiotic.
 
iFiend said:
What I want is a backlit home button that "pulses" a glow when there is a notification. Someone made a mock up of this in an iOS 5 thread a few months ago. I love the idea.
Click to expand...

Now that would be neat. :apple:
 
Padraig said:
Saying that a charging LED would make the iPhone "look generic" is idiotic.
Click to expand...

When your phone is charging you can just press the home button to see where the battery level is at or battery percentage? Why would you need a charing LED? A flashing red (or any color for that matter) LED would cheapen the phone's look.
 
awadeee said:
When your phone is charging you can just press the home button to see where the battery level is at or battery percentage? Why would you need a charing LED? A flashing red (or any color for that matter) LED would cheapen the phone's look.
Click to expand...

Agreed!

I like the phone how it is. I don't have a problem finding my home button and really don't want glowing stuff added on to it.
 
iFiend said:
What I want is a backlit home button that "pulses" a glow when there is a notification. Someone made a mock up of this in an iOS 5 thread a few months ago. I love the idea.
Click to expand...

If it looked similar to the pulsing sleep light on the MBP, then I feel like it wouldn't look so bad. But only if it came from the aluminum band (which I feel like is unlikely because they would most likely have to increase the thickness of the phone). A pulsing home button reminds me too much of the Nexus One and not very Apple-like.
 
TEHi said:
It wouldn't look apple enough... This is why it doesn't have a charging led neither, it makes the phone look generic
Click to expand...

Hate to say it but the iPhone IS generic


It would be a great place for a notification LED for notifications if the iPhone had notifications.:eek:
 
So you want it so that you don't have to spend time deciding which end of the phone is which? :confused:

A backlit home button would not work well, especially if you're trying to watch a movie in the dark.
 
vincenz said:
So you want it so that you don't have to spend time deciding which end of the phone is which? :confused:

A backlit home button would not work well, especially if you're trying to watch a movie in the dark.
Click to expand...

Obviously there would be some dimming option. I have a feeling Apple might go all touch with the next home button which makes this even more plausible.

And +1 on the glowing Apple logo!
 
Small White Car said:
I would VASTLY prefer doing that multiple times a day rather than having my phone glow at me all night long.
Click to expand...
It wouldn't bother me since I let it charge face down on my night stand already (I don't use a dock). This prevents the light from the LCD waking me up when a notification comes in. That drove me nuts until I figured out why my phone was doing that (not easy to figure out when you're groggy at 3am).

I also saw the mockup of the square on the home button pulsing and it looked exactly like something Apple would do as a notifications indicator. I loved the idea.
 
I would love some type of led notification light. Quick glance from across the room to see if I have a missed call/voicemail would be great instead of having to turn on the phone each time. Home button would be fine with me.
 
TEHi said:
It wouldn't look apple enough... This is why it doesn't have a charging led neither, it makes the phone look generic
Click to expand...

Except the MacBook Pro has charging LEDs. I actually disagree. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see LED tech used on the next iPhone.
 
I don't like the glowing Apple idea, or the backlit capacitive home button. They are things that sound cool at first but in real world use the would end up seeming cheap and tacky. The glowing Apple sign will be under your hand if you are holding your phone, meaning the only thing it will do is waste power or break. The capacitive home button would be too easy to press accidentally, and the glowing would be a distraction in the dark.

Every side of the phone has a distinguishable feature to easily determine the top from the bottom.
Top - lock button
Left - volume rocker and silent switch
Right - nothing
Bottom- 30 pin connector socket

It cant really be that time consuming to work out that if you feel the volume rocker on the right that the phone is upsidedown.
 
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