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Solid state home button with haptic feedback -WHY?!

pixel_junkie

pixel_junkie

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 31, 2015
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I get the "simplify to improve the user experience" design strategy and respect it greatly but this one is hard to comprehend. If battery life is one of the main concerns of every phone user, why take away a component like the mechanical home button which no one ever complained about? And substitute it with one that will take "valuable real-estate" and then suck battery juice just to behave like the mechanical button you had in your old iPhone? And this happens to be a part of the phone which you interact with A LOT.

The only reason I can come up with is marketing novelty only and lack of other innovation. Sounds very avant-garde but how is that ever going to benefit a user?

Apple did mention it is going to be customizable but if you can turn that part of it off, that would be pitiful.
 
Waterproofing may play a role, the number of home buttons they replace annually may play a role.
[doublepost=1473381741][/doublepost]Part of the thing is, keeping things the way they are is against the innovative spirit of Apple... Years ago people though a glass phone was insane. People were saying why can't I just keep my moto razr. Some ideas are expected to fail, but things like the wireless earbuds, while they may seen insane now, will probably advance wireless earbud technology ten-fold just by eliminating the crutch of an audio jack.
 
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They mentioned that you can change settings on the button now but didn't go into much detail beyond that. This could be cool depending on what they do. I haven't obviously used the button yet, but I do feel the physical buttons do tend to get "crunchy" after a while and, frankly, they have a limited number of presses. While I guess everything does, that theoretical number is probably much lower on a physical button.

I feel Apple will eventual move to getting rid of the button or incorporating it into the screen or something. The top and bottom bezels are bigger than they need to be (from an end user persoective not necessarily internal hardware perspective) and I expect changes to eventualy happen there. One step at a time.
 
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There have been some who complained about the physical button breaking on them and even go as far as using the button as little as possible to "make it last longer" (many of those people surfaced in early beta when Swipe to Unlock was removed.) So I wouldn't say "no one ever complained about"

As to why? Well. It was a mechanical button. Which is a point of failure, that wasn't super common to break, but not totally uncommon. It's also a point of failure for water. Sure it could be sealed like any other button, but no button will always be more waterproof than a button. Lastly, this is stage 1 of removing the button out of the bezel and into the screen in later iPhone generations (rumoured to possibly be as soon as next year)
 
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I've waited for this day since 4S. Always thought the physical button was archaic.

I hated the curved home button with a passion. It was harder to press due to the curve, and double clicking all the time for multitasking was a pain IMO. Yes in the scheme of things, it's not hard to press. But is tapping easier? Yes.

The flat buttons are much better and I don't mind it as much, but if this new one works as I imagined, I welcome it with open fingers.
 
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lagwagon said:
It was a mechanical button. Which is a point of failure, that wasn't super common to break, but not totally uncommon. It's also a point of failure for water.
Click to expand...

The haptic feedback engine is a point of failure plus it now sucks your battery juice. More lost than gained if you ask me.
 
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pixel_junkie said:
The haptic feedback engine is a point of failure plus it now sucks your battery juice. More lost than gained if you ask me.
Click to expand...

All hardware can be a point of failure, the main difference being the home button was actually something that had to get replaced often enough. Its a bit laughable you think the battery drain from it will even be noticeable. Combined the new A10 fusion and larger battery, it will have the longest battery life out of any iPhone ever made, despite the oh so battery draining new home button.
 
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rawlus said:
Waterproofing may play a role, the number of home buttons they replace annually may play a role.
[doublepost=1473381741][/doublepost]Part of the thing is, keeping things the way they are is against the innovative spirit of Apple... Years ago people though a glass phone was insane. People were saying why can't I just keep my moto razr. Some ideas are expected to fail, but things like the wireless earbuds, while they may seen insane now, will probably advance wireless earbud technology ten-fold just by eliminating the crutch of an audio jack.
Click to expand...

iPhone isn't waterproof, only resistant. Note 7 is waterproof, but has a physical home button, a headphone jack as well as the s pen slot, and still maintains its waterproofing, so, no your theory is wrong
 
I think the bigger question is why Apple didn't implement the haptic feedback from the MacBook mousepad and gave us this lesser version instead.
 
Sparkymoto said:
iPhone isn't waterproof, only resistant. Note 7 is waterproof, but has a physical home button, a headphone jack as well as the s pen slot, and still maintains its waterproofing, so, no your theory is wrong
Click to expand...
Meh... Waterproof/water resistant.. You catch the meaning.

Maybe a different question is, why you think the mechanical home button should not have evolved?

I don't understand the nostalgia angle... If you want nostalgia, there are 6's for sale with mechanical buttons... I sort of expect things to change with each generation but it's funny to read the posts around this time complaining that the changes are not enough for a major generation release and in the same post complaining about the changes that were made in the generation release.... Lol.
 
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Honestly, I really did hate the mechanical button. When first unboxing the iPhone, it always feels amazing, but after one or two years, it isn't all smiles and sunshine anymore and tends to become mushy and "old". The new button should age much better, I guess.
 
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pixel_junkie said:
The haptic feedback engine is a point of failure plus it now sucks your battery juice. More lost than gained if you ask me.
Click to expand...
So far the Haptic vibrations are said to be annoying and odd. Not much else has been said which seems to indicate this is a bad move on Apple's part. If it was a good button they'd be bragging about it.

One more reason to avoid iPhone 7, give Apple a year to correct the problem.
 
Firstly, it was inevitable that it'd happen, the Mac's have it and it works great. The new iPad's might have it next, it depends whether or not they want it to be water-resistant and that brings me on to my second point.

If it was the same Home button, no water-resistant in the iPhone.

And you do know Apple's endgame here; a phone with no buttons and bezels, only for it to essentially be a sheet of glass. Next year Touch ID will be built into the display.

Oh and no more moving parts so no more failures. Win-win.
 
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