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Sure. I'm not saying it can't be done... and done well. And I assume that Apple will do it well in the future when they (most probably) will at some point remove the home button.

I'm just pushing back against the idea that a "virtual home button" is inherently "better" than a physical one. They both have tradeoffs.

I'm for the virtual home button because in provides more screen real estate. I'm against it because, like you, I like having an actual button to touch.
 
If they remove it, the feel needs to stay the same. But tapping it to give the user vibrating feedback will get people to adopt to the change pretty quickly. Just my opinion after using a device that implemented it that way.
 
I've never had any issues but two of my kids did over the past couple of years.
 
Umm programmatically it can have a haptic feel when you touch it, it would be the same haptic feel as when you use 3d touch. Yes it might be problematic in the dark unless the glass actually curves. Think about all those poor android users who don't have a physical button for their home button.

Well they can't wake their phones for that button anyway. They have to press the power button.
 
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So just trying to see what everyone thinks of this possibility...
Apple-iPhone-7-renders-fan-1.jpg

Personally since 2013-2014 I've noticed Apple's QC has become kind of shoddy in some areas regarding their iDevices. And especially problems with Apple's home button (failing, becoming loose, or having an odd cracking noise when barely touching or pushing it.) I think if Apple designed something like the image above that would be super cool and also perhaps cut down on replacements and repairs. I've had to replace about 4-6 iDevices in the past year because the home button went had the problems I mentioned. And I think I'm getting paranoid now as I don't even touch my iPP's home button as I don't want it to break. lol
What about all you Macrumorians? Do you have issues with the home buttons and do you think having no physical home button would be practical?


Kallum.

The current home button serves me well tbh. Ditching it may lead to a smaller body/bezels, but then again the length of the iPhone does not bother me as much as its width.
 
To place a divot in the glass where a button used to be may seem cool in concept, but in real world use I think it would become a nuisance. Text and images would be distorted. Swiping disrupted. Full use of the screen would be hindered for games. Etc.

A virtual button could work, but lighting it up would be a UI/battery challenge.

Nobody is complaining about the same thing happening on the Galaxy S7 Edge because of the curved screen.
One may hate Android all he wants, but the current Samsung hardware design makes the 6s+ look like a gadget from an '80s sci-fi movie.
The oversized bezels are a problem screaming for a solution.
 
A button/fingerprint reader on the back... double tap to wake the screen on the front. Keep the screen sizes the same, but shrink the physical size of the phones.
 
I'd like to see Apple go hi-tech and do away with the physical home button. Instead develop software that would read your eye (s). A true retina scan of your eye for their retina display (ha!). Better than a fingerprint. And just as quick. Already in use in many medical settings.
 
So just trying to see what everyone thinks of this possibility...
Apple-iPhone-7-renders-fan-1.jpg

Personally since 2013-2014 I've noticed Apple's QC has become kind of shoddy in some areas regarding their iDevices. And especially problems with Apple's home button (failing, becoming loose, or having an odd cracking noise when barely touching or pushing it.) I think if Apple designed something like the image above that would be super cool and also perhaps cut down on replacements and repairs. I've had to replace about 4-6 iDevices in the past year because the home button went had the problems I mentioned. And I think I'm getting paranoid now as I don't even touch my iPP's home button as I don't want it to break. lol
What about all you Macrumorians? Do you have issues with the home buttons and do you think having no physical home button would be practical?


Kallum.
I've had iPhones all the way back since 2009. I replace get a new one everyou year except for the iPhone 4 (I wanted the white one.) So that's seven iPhones counting the SE. I've had no problems with the Home button in any of them.
I like the physical Home button. For me, it's an iconic design and I like it as it is.
 
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The physical, old tech, analog push to activate home button is an Apple "feature" that also defines iPhone style. At a glance it's the fat top and bottom bezels and large round button that Apple loves.

It's an amazing testimony to Apple's power over their users. An old, incredibly slow button that rarely is criticized, it reveals how millions will tolerate old tech on a modern phone.

Others that have had the eye opening experience of using a lightning fast, convenient, modern touch sensitive button know just how much time is wasted with Apple's archaic choice.

Proof positive, it's not about speed and efficiency for Apple users, it's about vanity and using the "cool kids phone" :D
What a load of....well....bovine processed feed...
 
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Nobody is complaining about the same thing happening on the Galaxy S7 Edge because of the curved screen.
One may hate Android all he wants, but the current Samsung hardware design makes the 6s+ look like a gadget from an '80s sci-fi movie.
The oversized bezels are a problem screaming for a solution.
That curved screen is a pain to use. Constant typing errors where the side of my hand touches the edge. Annoying as hell. Also launching the edge apps if I'm swiping left to right.
Royal pain.
 
What a load of....well....bovine processed feed...
No need to be so sensitive. It's OK to prefer Apple's old school approach to smartphones. Millions do. Located just above the clunky slow home button is a modern touch sensitive screen that reflects Apple's choice to mix old and new technologies on the same phone... :eek:

For those of us who prefer faster contemporary phones.. we've got several very nice choices. On my splendid Nexus 6P, both the gorgeous 5.7" display and the "buttons" below it are the exact same capacitive technology. Faster, smoother, and impervious to the elements, there's nothing but benefits.

Thanks Google!
 
No need to be so sensitive. It's OK to prefer Apple's old school approach to smartphones. Millions do. Located just above the clunky slow home button is a modern touch sensitive screen that reflects Apple's choice to mix old and new technologies on the same phone

That's pretty funny stuff, coming from you, since you posted this earlier on this thread -

"Being a hard core smartphone enthusiast that's fortunate not to be limited by budget, I have all current model iPhones."
 
That's pretty funny stuff, coming from you, since you posted this earlier on this thread -

"Being a hard core smartphone enthusiast that's fortunate not to be limited by budget, I have all current model iPhones."
I happen to enjoy staying current with all platforms via first hand ownership, not heresay. Sorry to burst your bubble.
 
Never had any real home button issues. The old iPhone 4 was starting to stick a little after many years of service.

The 6S+ is fine. Touch ID has suffered with 9.1 + though.
 
Had a problem with the home button on a 2nd generation iPod Touch BUT since then, I use assistive touch to move around the app screens.
 
I too like the home button...

How would we do hard resets and the like? Plus for me it's the thing that makes most sense in terms of how to implement the functionality.

For example, on the iPad there is the home gesture, but what if the app is not responding and has locked up the screen? Often the home button will get you out of the sticky rut.
 
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The home button is a simple, elegant, effective and iconic solution to its task.

All android devices are ugly slabs of glass and an even uglier operating system.

You look at an iOS device, with its instantly recognisable home button, and it works. It makes sense. People want to touch it, it's instinctive to press it.

On androids where the button is hidden on the back, or the side, or is virtual; you're left guessing from one device to another, even within the same manufacturer.

LONG LIVE THE HOME BUTTON
 
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Personally since 2013-2014 I've noticed Apple's QC has become kind of shoddy in some areas regarding their iDevices. And especially problems with Apple's home button (failing, becoming loose, or having an odd cracking noise when barely touching or pushing it.).
Do you have data to support this assertion, or just hearsay? I personally have never had a home button break nor has anyone in my circle of friends, to the best of my knowledge.
 
I also like having a physical home button. Between me and my extended family, there's probably been about 20 iDevices by now, and I also have some friends who use them. Never heard anyone have any probers with the home button.
The biggest reason for losing the physical home button would be the ability to make the overall footprint of iPhones smaller without having the display be smaller. I see so many in my Twitter feed complaining about how Apple needs to get rid of the iPhone bezels as though this some easily solved trivial matter. It's not.
 
There is huge benefit to having a physical button you can locate by touch alone. With your phone it means you can pull it out of your pocket and have the thing unlocked before you even have your eyes on the screen. I understand that we want smaller bezels on these devices; I do to. But the replacement better be really, really good.
Some Android phones can sense when you pull your phone out of your pocket and turn the screen on. Apple could do the same with the motion co-processor so it would use hardly any power. If and when they can incorporate the fingerprint scanner into the screen, all you would have to do is grab your phone out of your pocket like you normally would and by the time you're looking at it, the phone would be unlocked without you pressing a single button.

With multitasking gestures, Apple could easily get rid of the home button on the iPad once they figure out how to use the screen for Touch ID. The only other reason you need a home button on an iPad now is for screenshots, recovery/DFU, and force restart, but Apple could easily replace the home button in these situations with one of the volume buttons.
 
Take my home button and i'll find another device.

It provides tactile feedback with regards to the orientation of your device and the touchID sensor. Unless they move it to the back of the phone, but then that means you can't use it resting on a flat surface.

So... i think your proposal is a horrible idea.

2c.


edit:
"once they figure out how to use the screen for touchID".

that's not a trivial problem to solve...
 
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