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I hate physical button, I love virtual control

Do you agree Apple should replace physical button with virtual one

  • Yes: Replace physical button with virtual one

    Votes: 19 17.6%

  • No: With fingerprinted reader, virtual one does not make sense

    Votes: 89 82.4%
  • Total voters
    108
Nanasaki

Nanasaki

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 26, 2010
320
0
Long time user of both iOS devices and Nexus devices. The virtual control on Nexus is really handy and efficient. For example, multi-tasking switch, all you need to do is tab the virtual control and select app. On iOS devices, however, you need double press the home button and select app.

The vertical alignment on Android actually show more apps at time than iOS with horizontal alignment.

Screenshot_2013-10-15-19-01-51_zpse24e0f6a.png


image_zps0a2f29ef.jpg


I understand fingerprinter reader, you could have it as it is and replace the home button with virtual one. And you will never deal with home button failure.
 
So what happens when your virtual button doesn't work because your virtual screen isn't responding to your virtual touch?

There is no other way to force restart an iOS device other than by holding down home and power/sleep together.
 
Armen said:
So what happens when your virtual button doesn't work because your virtual screen isn't responding to your virtual touch?

There is no other way to force restart an iOS device other than by holding down home and power/sleep together.
Click to expand...

You could easily replace key combination with sleep/weak and volume key
 
SakuraSuki said:
You could easily replace key combination with sleep/weak and volume key
Click to expand...

The problem is the physical home button has many functions.

1. holding it down triggers Siri or voice-control.
2. Double clicking it brings up the task switcher
3. triple clicking can be assigned as well.

I haven't used any virtual buttons lately except holding down home button on Android so I don't know if these functions are possible with a virtual button.
 
I much prefer how multitasking is on Android. I feel like Apple made it horizontal just so people won't say they copied Android.
 
Armen said:
How woudl you register a double or triple click on a virtual button?

I thought virtual buttons have 2 states: tap once or tap and hold.
Click to expand...
You can double tap on a message in Messages for example to bring up the options menu related to it. So it would seem things like double taps can be distinguished and used with virtual controls.
 
Armen said:
How woudl you register a double or triple click on a virtual button?

I thought virtual buttons have 2 states: tap once or tap and hold.
Click to expand...

You aldready can do that with assisstivetouch where you have the virtual home button... Only this thing floating around and it bothers me. With fixed virtual key, it does not get you way and it gets away when needed
 
SakuraSuki said:
You aldready can do that with assisstivetouch where you have the virtual home button... Only this thing floating around and it bothers me. With fixed virtual key, it does not get you way and it gets away when needed
Click to expand...

Assistive touch brings up a menu when you tap the virtual home button.

the physical home button has 4 functions:

1. tap
2. tap + hold (like to trigger siri)
3. double tap
4. triple tap

If Apple was to get rid of the physical home button they would need to be able to replace it with a virtual button that takes the same 4 commands. like I said I dont think a virtual button can work that way.

----------
C DM said:
You can double tap on a message in Messages for example to bring up the options menu related to it. So it would seem things like double taps can be distinguished and used with virtual controls.
Click to expand...

like I mentioned to Sak the virtual home button would need to be able to reproduce the physical home button's 4 functions tap, tap and hold, tap 2 times, tap 3 times.
 
albertxp06 said:
But they did definitely take a page out of the multitasking in HTC's Sense...
Click to expand...

So when Apple implements something, another company did it first. When Android does it, they invented it. Thought it was the other way around? Hmm... Regardless, it was Palm.
 
A buddy of mines phone froze one day, and I couldn't, for the life of me get it to fix itself. He has a Sumsung or somethin... not too sure. maybe a Note.

But the thing I absolutely LOVE about my iPhone is the home button. I like that if something is frozen, or acting up, I can use a physical button to get a response. If the virtual stuff is frozen, that would make your home button unresponsive. :apple:
 
Last edited:
Multitasking is the way it is because of how it was originally - The ions on the bottom. Makes more sense to just have them like that so it looks like the apps are just zoomed out.

And a virtual button? How does that even make sense?
 
Actually a button doesn't need to be a separate piece. It could work just like the power button on a G4 Cube... it had no trouble recognizing more than just a single tap and even when the machine was locked up it could still be long-pressed to force a power off. Just because iOS was locked up does not mean the button would be, as it's still a physical button.
 
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