Buttonless iPhone X - solution to a problem that didn't exist?

[JazzyGB1]

Apple's decision to remove the touch ID/Home button on the iPhone X is a very poor one IMO.

I get that they were going for the whole phone is a screen effect...but they didn't achieve it anyway.

The middle top of the screen is lost to camera's, speakers etc, so it's removal was pointless

I could understand it if they'd made the whole screen a finger print sensor for example, so that touching the screen anywhere with your finger or thumb would then open it up - that would have offered an improvement by making it easier to unlock.

However the removal of the button completely alters the whole functionality of the phone, with users having to learn 'workarounds' to compensate for the functionality that has been lost by removal of the button.

The home button enabled shortcuts for app selection, screen shots and resetting that were long established to those familiar with using an iPhone - it was also an easy and convenient way to return to the home screen.

The removal of useful functionality isn't 'progress' and seems again (like with the headphone socket) to be change for the sake of it.

Plenty of Android phones manage to be waterproof with a headphone socket!

Every phone is operated by a hand anyway, so using a digit of your hand to unlock the phone is natural and expected.

Facial recognition is all well and good, but if it was really an improvement they could have added this 'feature' to the iPhone 8.

All face recognition really does is give Apple an alternative way to open the iPhone and make a little more screen available.

To the end user it offers no benefits in functionality - none.

There's already plenty of android based phones out there with no physical home button.

If Apple were that convinced that the extra screen space offered was so important they too could have chosen this path long ago.

It's a totally bizarre decision that conflicts with their past stance completely.

 

[DaveOP]

They very specifically introduced the iPhone X as a look into the future. If they had the technology to make the entire screen a fingerprint sensor, I bet they would have. Many have tried, the tech just isn't there yet. They kept the iPhone 8/8+ around for people who feel the way you do. It has the same processor, and many of the same features. If you don't like the X this year, don't buy it. This is pretty simple.

 

[Closingracer]

There is some value in removing the touch ID and the home button as well as the headphone jack. Removing the home button I gets rid of the horrible chin which is one reason why I went back to Android. Another reason is more screen real estate in a smaller body relative to their previous phones. The 5.8 screen isn't bigger the the 8 plus. As far as the jack goes while I prefer it I can also see it get rid of an analog connection and replaces it with a digital one which is "advancement". Bluetooth 5.0 could in theory help solve the issue of compression with music files.

 

[Dave245]

They removed the home button because it doesn’t need to exist anymore, gestures will do what the home button did, like it or not the iPhone X is the future of the iPhone.

Personally I like the iPhone X and will be Pre-ordering one come October 27th, I think like most of the time people will come to love the next iPhone and all this so called “controversy” will fade away, that’s not to say everyone will be happy, you can’t please everyone and you certainly can’t please everyone 100% of the time.

 

[Nozuka]

If all these functions can be performed without the home button anyway, the home button is obsolete and a waste of space.

You'll get used to it in no time.

 

[Renho]

They very specifically introduced the iPhone X as a look into the future. If they had the technology to make the entire screen a fingerprint sensor, I bet they would have. Many have tried, the tech just isn't there yet. They kept the iPhone 8/8+ around for people who feel the way you do. It has the same processor, and many of the same features. If you don't like the X this year, don't buy it. This is pretty simple.

Ya but I bet those are going away next year too, the 8,8+
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Apple's decision to remove the touch ID/Home button on the iPhone X is a very poor one IMO.

I get that they were going for the whole phone is a screen effect...but they didn't achieve it anyway.

The middle top of the screen is lost to camera's, speakers etc, so it's removal was pointless

I could understand it if they'd made the whole screen a finger print sensor for example, so that touching the screen anywhere with your finger or thumb would then open it up - that would have offered an improvement by making it easier to unlock.

However the removal of the button completely alters the whole functionality of the phone, with users having to learn 'workarounds' to compensate for the functionality that has been lost by removal of the button.

The home button enabled shortcuts for app selection, screen shots and resetting that were long established to those familiar with using an iPhone - it was also an easy and convenient way to return to the home screen.

The removal of useful functionality isn't 'progress' and seems again (like with the headphone socket) to be change for the sake of it.

Plenty of Android phones manage to be waterproof with a headphone socket!

Every phone is operated by a hand anyway, so using a digit of your hand to unlock the phone is natural and expected.

Facial recognition is all well and good, but if it was really an improvement they could have added this 'feature' to the iPhone 8.

All face recognition really does is give Apple an alternative way to open the iPhone and make a little more screen available.

To the end user it offers no benefits in functionality - none.

There's already plenty of android based phones out there with no physical home button.

If Apple were that convinced that the extra screen space offered was so important they too could have chosen this path long ago.

It's a totally bizarre decision that conflicts with their past stance completely.

That’s the name of the game, upgrade, revamp. Nothing last forever and learning new ways to get around is what we do for everything else in this world. A lot of people don’t like change but we would still be in the pager stage if we didn’t..lol

 

[eVolcre]

They removed the home button because it doesn’t need to exist anymore, gestures will do what the home button did, like it or not the iPhone X is the future of the iPhone.

Personally I like the iPhone X and will be Pre-ordering one come October 27th, I think like most of the time people will come to love the next iPhone and all this so called “controversy” will fade away, that’s not to say everyone will be happy, you can’t please everyone and you certainly can’t please everyone 100% of the time.

People will get used to it. It’s way more efficient. Btw the Nokia N9 did this way back in 2012 and BB10 (my old beloved Z30) absolutely nailed buttonless phones circa 2014.

 

[BeeGood]

Ya but I bet those are going away next year too, the 8,8+
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That’s the name of the game, upgrade, revamp. Nothing last forever and learning new ways to get around is what we do for everything else in this world. A lot of people don’t like change but we would still be in the pager stage if we didn’t..lol

The issue isn’t that people don’t like change. The issue is that it’s unclear if this change will be for the better. Change just for the sake of change is pointless.

I’m cautiously optimistic. I’m hoping it works out to be a step forward.

 

[Nozuka]

More screen on a device that is almost the same size is always better.

 

[JazzyGB1]

If all these functions can be performed without the home button anyway, the home button is obsolete and a waste of space.

You'll get used to it in no time.

Not necessarily.

It's not whether these functions can be performed without a home button that's important, it's whether they can be performed more easily without a home button.

And if by removing that functionailty they have made the process slower or more 'fiddly' then it's not an improvement - however clever the work around is.

 

[DaveOP]

Ya but I bet those are going away next year too, the 8,8+
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I bet, by this time next year, nobody cares about the home button anymore. Everyone said the headphone jack removal would be the death of Apple, touchID would have criminals cutting our fingers off, the move from 30-pin to lightning was highway robbery, etc. I would guess, iPhone X users will be used to the new method within a week, and won't look back.

 

[Rayban]

Remember when Apple didn't put physical keys on a keyboard as on a Blackberry? At the time people were saying: typing touch screen is way less convenient. How could apple be so stupid?

Face ID is the future of iPhone. Touch ID is gone with the wind unless face ID is a total utter failure. Think about it: less components and one less movable part prone to breakage.

 

[Falhófnir]

iOS’ iPhone gestures had become a confusing litany of ad hoc ‘where can we fit xyz’ Double presses and swipes, the X resets it all with a complete revamp to try and streamline it all again...

 

[Rigby]

The home button had multiple functionalities (click, double-click, double-tap for reachability). They replaced some of them with gestures, and in the process previous functionalities that used those same gestures have been displaced and moved to more cumbersome methods. For example, you will no longer be able to pull up the control center with one hand on the X (unless you have an extremely long thumb ), and reachability seems to be gone completely, even though the X has the tallest screen of any iPhone yet. Ergonomically this is not an improvement.

 

[DNichter]

So don't get an X. It's obviously not for everyone and they have given you the 8 and other options across all price points. You may think it's all a bad idea, but a lot of people don't.

 

[NT1440]

Facial recognition is all well and good, but if it was really an improvement they could have added this 'feature' to the iPhone 8..

No, they couldn't. Not if there's every going to be enough of a supply of devices for 2018. There simply isn't enough manufacturing ability on the planet for the front camera system to be made into every iPhone this year. It's literally that simple.

 

[JazzyGB1]

I bet, by this time next year, nobody cares about the home button anymore. Everyone said the headphone jack removal would be the death of Apple, touchID would have criminals cutting our fingers off, the move from 30-pin to lightning was highway robbery, etc. I would guess, iPhone X users will be used to the new method within a week, and won't look back.

You're missing the point. Look at the title of the thread.

And 'everyone' didn't say anything - I believe you mean 'some' said.

Remember when Apple didn't put physical keys on a keyboard as on a Blackberry? At the time people were saying: typing touch screen is way less convenient. How could apple be so stupid?

Face ID is the future of iPhone. Touch ID is gone with the wind unless face ID is a total utter failure. Think about it: less components and one less movable part prone to breakage.

Okay but touch ID worked pretty seamlessly, people's fingers were not being cut off AND the home button didn't just unlock the phone - that's my point. It was functional.

All the new gestures the iPhone X now has and indeed the facial recognition feature, have been introduced to 'work around' the limitation of the iPhone X not having a home button, rather than as an improvement of the UI.

If the new gestures were really an improvement to the UI, surely they'd have been added to the iPhone 8/8s too.

Hence the title of the thread.

I agree about the 'one less movable part' bit, but they could have achieved the same result using a static button with heptic feedback they way they do for a 'click' on a trackpad on the MacBook Pro.

It seems to me they've decided to pursue the 'whole phone is a screen' thing and from what I've seen it's a pyrrhic victory at best.

 

[macTW]

Apple's decision to remove the touch ID/Home button on the iPhone X is a very poor one IMO.

I get that they were going for the whole phone is a screen effect...but they didn't achieve it anyway.

The middle top of the screen is lost to camera's, speakers etc, so it's removal was pointless

I could understand it if they'd made the whole screen a finger print sensor for example, so that touching the screen anywhere with your finger or thumb would then open it up - that would have offered an improvement by making it easier to unlock.

However the removal of the button completely alters the whole functionality of the phone, with users having to learn 'workarounds' to compensate for the functionality that has been lost by removal of the button.

The home button enabled shortcuts for app selection, screen shots and resetting that were long established to those familiar with using an iPhone - it was also an easy and convenient way to return to the home screen.

The removal of useful functionality isn't 'progress' and seems again (like with the headphone socket) to be change for the sake of it.

Plenty of Android phones manage to be waterproof with a headphone socket!

Every phone is operated by a hand anyway, so using a digit of your hand to unlock the phone is natural and expected.

Facial recognition is all well and good, but if it was really an improvement they could have added this 'feature' to the iPhone 8.

All face recognition really does is give Apple an alternative way to open the iPhone and make a little more screen available.

To the end user it offers no benefits in functionality - none.

There's already plenty of android based phones out there with no physical home button.

If Apple were that convinced that the extra screen space offered was so important they too could have chosen this path long ago.

It's a totally bizarre decision that conflicts with their past stance completely.

You do realize they tried to make the screen Touch ID but a month before the event, couldn’t so they scratched it.

 

[Nozuka]

Not necessarily.

It's not whether these functions can be performed without a home button that's important, it's whether they can be performed more easily without a home button.

And if by removing that functionailty they have made the process slower or more 'fiddly' then it's not an improvement - however clever the work around is.

i've seen how they work in hands-on videos and it looks simple, fast and logical to me.

 

[Rigby]

I agree about the 'one less movable part' bit, but they could have achieved the same result using a static button with heptic feedback they way they do for a 'click' on a trackpad on the MacBook Pro.

That's exactly what they did on the iPhone 7 and 8. They already have solid state home buttons.

 

[JazzyGB1]

You do realize they tried to make the screen Touch ID but a month before the event, couldn’t so they scratched it.

No I had no idea, but that would support my argument that facial recognition and the new gestures are 'work arounds' rather than improvements.

 

[Puddled]

less buttons=less components=greater reliability=more profit.

The destination here is a solid state device with no ports or buttons or switches or anything even the least bit mechanical which costs money to make or fix.

 

[DaveOP]

You're missing the point. Look at the title of the thread.

And 'everyone' didn't say anything - I believe you mean 'some' said.

It was the solution to the problem of "We want to eventually have no physical buttons, ports, etc". The home button wasted a lot of space, and this was the solution. I know, you want to fight really, really hard on why you think it's better. It's gone now, not just for Apple but also for Samsung and others. Samsung has you press on a fake on-screen graphic, Apple has you swipe up.

To your question, FaceID and the gestures are an overall improvement to the experience by giving us more screen in a smaller body.

 

[Knowimagination]

All the new gestures the iPhone X now has and indeed the facial recognition feature, have been introduced to 'work around' the limitation of the iPhone X not having a home button, rather than as an improvement of the UI.

If the new gestures were really an improvement to the UI, surely they'd have been added to the iPhone 8/8s too.

According to you that's why they were implemented. To me it looks like a nice improvement to the UI, but it isn't one that would make sense on the 8 and 8 Plus because of the home button.

After using a software home button on the S8 Plus I am greatly looking forward to a swipe gesture when I get my X.

Also as far as the premise of the thread it doesn't make any sense. The iPhone X isn't a solution to anything, it is an improvement on the previous hardware and it has implemented changes. There is no way for us to say at this point if it is better or worse, but to me it looks like it is going to be a great improvement over my previous iPhones.
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You do realize they tried to make the screen Touch ID but a month before the event, couldn’t so they scratched it.

This is just not true at all, they have already said they have been working on Face ID for over a year.

 

[Rayban]

Calling it a workaround sounds a bit dramatic to me. I'm looking forward to just picking up my phone, flicking my thumb up to unlock. I won't need to worry about positioning my thumb or finger in a specific spot on the screen to unlock it. If things work as good as advertised then touch ID will seem like a cumbersome and archaic method. This is what I'm hoping anyways. Can't wait to see how the iPhone X works in the real world. I'm ready to beta test!