Project Bongo: An In-Depth Overview of the iPhone 15 Pro's Canceled Haptic Buttons

[tim_apple]

Also, and this is related, the volume buttons can help the user orient themselves to the orientation of the phone at night, or when it’s not physically seen. I see no advantage to this. only cons.

 

[TeamMojo]

A good example of where Apple often obsesses over stuff that doesn't move the needle. Reminds me of celebs who get a lot of botox and work done trying to stave off aging. They already look great. I'd prefer they focus on reducing the size of the bump and thus/ prismatic cameras. Although if they went to completely capacitive buttons that then created more physical space inside the device, that might help.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I’m not seeing one single advantage to these Bongo buttons

You don’t have to take musical lessons to use them.

 

[Little Endian]

This really seems to be a solution looking for a problem. This project Bongo seems like something only a German auto engineer could come up with. Create overly complicated yet beautifully engineered nonsense to show off what we can do. Great until it breaks....

 

[Saturn1217]

I was kind of curious to see this feature. Apple does that "haptic replacement for real button presses" really well (see mac trackpads and the old 3D touch iPhones).

I respect them for not forcing this feature on us if they weren't 100% sure they could execute successfully. Changing the button input is definitely something you want to get right.

 

[Bobcat32]

An iPhone 3G3 style volume rocker would be so sick! That was a super sexy look I hope comes back. If I had to choose I think capacitve is asking for way too many issues and they need to be PRESSURE ONLY 😠 I don’t need my pants pockets turning against me and turning my phone up to max volume because my phone thought I was touching the button. The fabric in pants pockets are thin enough that with your thigh/leg there a ‘capacitve interaction’ is bound to happen. It’s a question of when not if. And I haven’t once ever had my 'normal' volume buttons accidentally activate on any of my phones. So anyways.. If Apple indeed makes the buttons both capacitive AND pressure sensitive not just one or the other and requires both signals to activate them; This actually might be a good thing. And adds some much needed critical redundancy for something this important to function as intended. So there is nothing for us to worry about I'm thinking. And this will be an Apple amazes us again moment hah and we are all old nippers resistant to change on this site lol get with the times now like omg Tiffany.

 

[gund1234]

Great write-up. Still don't see why Apple needs to over engineer this replacement of traditional buttons for minor improvements in water-resistance, etc.

iPhone is already water resistant.
going with haptic would probably reduce no of moving parts which would be better ?

 

[gund1234]

Capacitive would be bad. It needs to be a system that can measure pressure. Capacitance can jump small gaps without a touch. Apple will not do this.

touch ID was haptic, it was great. I am sure they have great ideas on how to use these buttons. May be touch ID and haptic button combined into one. Larger surface area for touch ID ?

 

[gund1234]

In what universe is a haptic volume button innovative?

Anyway, glad it didn’t make it to the iPhone 15 is all I have to say. The haptic home button was bad enough - constantly malfunctioning in the cold/heat/impossible to use with gloves/etc.

Designers from California really have a hard thinking about how anyone else in the world lives…well if the likes of Apple & Tesla are representative anyway…

Touch ID was not usable with gloves because it can't read finger prints, not becasue of haptic button.

 

[gund1234]

I honestly think they should spend that R&D money on trying to eliminate the front camera cutout (notch, dynamic island). I appreciate that Apple is trying to improve the camera, but man those lens are very big. I hope they find ways to minimize the back camera cutout while still retaining the same quality. Of course, give people the option to still have the dynamic island (remember, it's just software). Getting rid of the physical buttons should be the last thing on the list.

They have to get rid of Face ID to remove cutout.
Rear camera they need to be larger because image quality is mostly dependent on sensir size.

 

[gtjacket123]

“one of the most innovative features and ambitious undertakings initially planned for the device – haptic volume and power buttons.”

LOLOL. What ridiculous hyperbole.

You forgot to also call it “courageous”.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

I’m not seeing one single advantage to these Bongo buttons

Yeah, and the Action button is nothing but a massive downgrade for me. The ability to check that my phone sound is muted simply by feel, is a lovely feature.

I'd love the Action button IF it was an EXTRA button, rather than replacing the mute switch.

 

[svish]

Good to know more about this. Capacitive buttons should arrive in the next couple of years

 

[AlexESP]

So creating something that will improve waterproofing, provide more accurate feedback and reduce repairs AND making it work perfectly in key component of a phone produced at a huge scale is not innovation for the majority here. No wonder how people don’t understand why Apple succeeds.

 

[jasonsmith_88]

Capacitive haptic buttons makes no sense. Good luck pushing those buttons with gloves in the winter or imagine sweaty or greasy fingers.

Yeah, as if any of the thousands of people working on this would consider such normal situations while spending millions on R&D.

Luckily we have armchair warriors to point out such egregious issues that somehow got passed the best engineers at one of the most successful companies companies in the world.

Have you considered applying for a job at Apple?

 

[123]

As an engineer, this article strikes me as oddly specific. It seems someone wanted to show off their info instead of writing a good article.

Also, I'm glad Apple didn't do it. As long as they don't have a concept to use this button as a more dynamic input device it offers only disadvantages to the user.

 

[macduke]

I said this before but imagine if they were force sensitive. Could map all kinds of things. Honestly I would be fine with them doing this just for the action button, and maybe the lock button. Not sure why volume needs it, unless you can press in deeper to skip forward and back? Or change screen brightness? Idk still doesn’t seem very useful since we have AirPod controls typically and brightness is fairly automatic.

 

[123]

So creating something that will improve waterproofing, provide more accurate feedback

1. It doesn't improve waterproofing. Physical buttons can easily be sealed completely.
2. Different designs of haptic feedback can provide different levels of feedback. But they can never provide "more accurate feedback" than physical buttons.

 

[addamas]

Great article!
I laugh my ass reading „due to unsatisfactory test results and high hardware failure rates” as it was told to be replacement for physical button.
I don’t know even single failed physical button except as a result of over engineering it in some laptops

Physical button is all the way good:

- It’s waterproof by seals and movement improves this by creating pressure
- no battery required to operate and give feedback, just connects the circuits
- ultra reliable
- is not affected by SW updates and kill switches
- people know how to use it since they childhood

 

[AlexESP]

1. It doesn't improve waterproofing. Physical buttons can easily be sealed completely.
2. Different designs of haptic feedback can provide different levels of feedback. But they can never provide "more accurate feedback" than physical buttons.

1. They’re still moving parts, and therefore more prone to reduce waterproofing overtime. No entry point will be always more waterproof.
2. There are many scenarios where it can, i.e. shooting photos in burst mode.

 

[SpotOnT]

Touch ID was not usable with gloves because it can't read finger prints, not becasue of haptic button.

I don’t use Touch ID….

With gloves on there was no way to actually get into your phone….

Yes you could press the (mechanical) power button to enter the lock screen, but you couldn’t get to the point where you enter your passcode without taking off your gloves to press the haptic home button.

And again, that assumes your hands are warm enough that the haptic home button would register the press. The resistivity of skin changes with temperature due to changes in blood flow.

This isn’t about loosing Touch ID, this is about being able to get into your phone at all, in anyway.

 

[MuppetGate]

Great write-up. Still don't see why Apple needs to over engineer this replacement of traditional buttons for minor improvements in water-resistance, etc.

Agreed. Seems like a big waste of R&D time and money for a feature that nobody really cares about.

In many cases, Apple starts with something small (and nonsensical) as a stepping stone to something much bigger (and equally nonsensical).

I think this is part of a long-running experiment to come up with a laptop keyboard that is a screen with “keys” that can simulate key travel.

Why would they do this?

• Justify an eye-watering price hike.
• Save money. (They no longer need to manufacture separate keyboards for different regions).
• Keyboard layouts can be app/game specific.

And agreed: great write-up 👍🏾

 

[goonie4life9]

As an engineer, this article strikes me as oddly specific. It seems someone wanted to show off their info instead of writing a good article.

Also, I'm glad Apple didn't do it. As long as they don't have a concept to use this button as a more dynamic input device it offers only disadvantages to the user.

It is nothing but tutti-fruitti, phoney baloney, plastic banana, good time rock-n-roll Apple PR “leaks.” Apple did not redesign the iPhone after EVT failures with the Bongo design. The iPhone design was locked-in months ago and this was just one of the multiple versions Apple trials. The same thing happened a year or two before Apple released the “Plus” models. Apple PR started leaking things, leading to stories about “iPhone Math.”

 

[DDustiNN]

This sounds terrible. Physical buttons need to stay.

 

[ksnell]

I’m not seeing one single advantage to these Bongo buttons

I imagine this isn't for a sort of direct user "feature" but rather for durability (mechanical button failure, dust intrusion, water intrusion).