Dedicated Camera Button For Next iPhone?

[eaglesteve]

a physical shutter button that's able to invoke autofocus is something really useful and a strong commitment to the camera function of a phone.
Windows Phone 7 _requires_ phones to have such a button.

Why not also demonstrate a strong commitment to the music player function of a phone?

 

[boss.king]

haha, awesome job shopping that, at first i was amazed your desk looked exactly like mine

anyways, yeah, 2 hands is an entirely different thing.

but you can tell even Apple isn't perfectly happy with the placement

http://www.apple.com/ios/ios5/features.html#camera

try holding the phone like that demo-hand. there's a reason it's (quite badly) photoshopped. you can't.
and even if you could, move your middle finger by 2mm and it's on the picture

Haha that picture looks super-awkward, especially for Apple. I guess it's all down to personal preference, I think it's perfectly comfortable to hold, but then again my hand are huge so I can hold it fairly easily. They could possibly change the size of the volume buttons to make it more comfortable, but to be honest I don't see them adding another button.

BTW, this is one of the more pleasant discussions I've had on here in a long time, thanks for that.

 

[Fliesen]

Haha that picture looks super-awkward, especially for Apple. I guess it's all down to personal preference, I think it's perfectly comfortable to hold, but then again my hand are huge so I can hold it fairly easily. They could possibly change the size of the volume buttons to make it more comfortable, but to be honest I don't see them adding another button.

BTW, this is one of the more pleasant discussions I've had on here in a long time, thanks for that.

yeah, i think that'd be the way they'd go, most likely.
currently the volume button is just too small, too hard to click to be a 'good' shutter button.
i don't see them _adding_ another button either. (unless they run out of combinations of home button clicks / holds for additional functions.
we already lost a comfortable way to get into favorites due to HB doubleclick being re-assigned

 

[BlindMellon]

How do you hold a camera? When I take a photo with my phone I have an index finger and a middle finger on the top corners and my thumbs on the bottom corners, and the free index finger taps the screen to take the pic, the rest don't touch the phone. With the volume button mapped as a camera button I'd simply use my index fingers and thumbs to hold it with whichever is closest pressing the volume button. Simple.

I have found that with the beta, having the volume up be the shutter let's me hold the phone in a much more normal "camera" position and all my fingers are off the back of the phone.

 

[Fliesen]

I have found that with the beta, having the volume up be the shutter let's me hold the phone in a much more normal "camera" position and all my fingers are off the back of the phone.

that's definitely good for you.

but i'm very sure Apple is not really happy about 'having' to give users this physical camera button.

an even funnier experiment would be:
(without using your left hand)
hold iPhone in right hand, go to the camera from the lock screen, snap a picture using the volume button.
it's a struggle (unless you're a juggler, i suppose )

 

[err404]

The volume button is interesting and is great for taking photos at awkward angles. Still, for regular use I prefer holding the phone with the home button to the right and using the onscreen button. Ergonomically it just feels better on the iP4. Maybe the iP5 will swap the camera and headphone jack locations.