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Why is Apple so damn stubborn to never include notification LED in its iPhone brand?

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ChristianJapan said:
What for ? In old days and flip phones the LED was ok as additional signal. These days we have a huge retina-(LED) display showing all kind of information/notification.

Don't miss that little flashy LED. And soon we can wrap a watch around our wrists. But that's just me. YMMV.
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Yet when apple does it, will you be praising them?

Many people here argued that a screen larger than 3.5 and then 4in was pointless. The range of motion for a thumb was perfect for that size and Apple made a point to state that in how they sized the screen the way they did. Now that the iPhone is substantially larger, the logic behind that is seemingly ignored and I for one, am amused by the turn face of that stance.
 
I don't see any need for it, tbh... Yeah, it'd be nice for them to put it in, but I'm sure they look at it from the stance of 'how many of our customers want this badly enough to warrant including it?'

When/if that number becomes a majority they'll include it.
 
I love notification LEDs. It's quick glance.. Without having to turn the screen on.

I do find it less useful if you have a smartwatch though.
 
Why is it so astoundingly difficult to understand? Battery life? The blinky light uses much less power than constantly lighting the whole screen. Just look at the screen? That's fine for the few seconds after the notification arrives. Why should I have to habitually wake my phone to see if I missed some messages? Old tech? Various other Apple products have LED indicators such as MacBook, Airport, ATV.

Why wouldn't it be nice to have a programmable indicator that let's you know about only the notifications you care about? You'd be able to focus more on time spent with family and friends versus constantly checking for that missed call or text.

If it's subtle and well integrated into the body of the phone why in the world would anyone complain about it? Don't like it or want it? Turn it off. Simple.
 
pragmatous said:
Because if you touch the home button you have the screen as your "LED indicator"

I don't understand the point of the LED indicator and when you get your indications on the screen?
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I never saw the point either but I actually thought about it recently/ saw on a thread on here. If you think about this: Every single time you get a notification, your screen turns on for 5 seconds. Now think about how many times this happens throughout the day. All of this adds up and takes up a "good" portion of your battery. Now by having an LED indicator, the screen wouldn't have to turn on, just the LED would have to flash, potentially saving some precious battery life.
 
dukebound85 said:
Yet when apple does it, will you be praising them?

Many people here argued that a screen larger than 3.5 and then 4in was pointless. The range of motion for a thumb was perfect for that size and Apple made a point to state that in how they sized the screen the way they did. Now that the iPhone is substantially larger, the logic behind that is seemingly ignored and I for one, am amused by the turn face of that stance.
Click to expand...

I know you're just ITCHING for a gotcha to emerge here, but guess what? Apple isn't going to add an LED notification indicator to the iPhone. No more than they're going to add a hard drive or a telescoping antenna or brass ringer bells. It just isn't going to happen, so there's going to be no opportunity for a flip flop here.

Sorry.
 
Yes, you can just hit the home button and look at your lockscreen for notifications. But think about how many times you do that everyday. It adds up. And we all know that the screen is usually the biggest battery hog. I'm all for adding features that will help increase my battery life.

That being said...I think little flashing LEDs, while convenient, look bad. I'm thinking if Apple was to do anything it would be something like the Active Display on the Moto X or the Glance Screen on the Lumia devices. Though in order for that to work Apple would have to switch to Amoled screens, otherwise it would be pointless. IMO that would be a more elegant solution than the blinking LED.


EDIT: Mr Buzzcut and campingsk8er beat me to the battery life point by a couple of minutes.
 
Surf Monkey said:
I know you're just ITCHING for a gotcha to emerge here, but guess what? Apple isn't going to add an LED notification indicator to the iPhone. No more than they're going to add a hard drive or a telescoping antenna or brass ringer bells. It just isn't going to happen, so there's going to be no opportunity for a flip flop here.

Sorry.
Click to expand...

Yet flip flops have happened with:

MMS
native GPS routing
notifications pull down
increased screen size
quick access to common settings
front facing camera
copy and paste
notifications indication (though implemented via LED flash)

just to name a few

How are you so sure they won't? Unlike your absurd examples of adding a hdd or telescoping antenna, a notification LED could be very easily integrated

It may not be a LED. For what we know, apple could make the case or rim of case glow akin to how they make their macs pulsate and claim it is a novel way to alert you of missed events with not having to actually see the screen
 
It isn't really an issue of whether there's demand for it or not, because I feel the demand would be there, it's about whether they can implement it in a cool, stylish way.

I've got one idea. The new ring around the home button should have been clear, with three segments, which glow in 3 different colors - one for message, one for email, and one for other stuff. Seems like a good opportunity. It would look nice.

EDIT: 4 segments, including one for missed call/voicemail.
 
TSX said:
It has to do with battery life, a vibration or alert should be enough to get your attention that you got a notification. What's a led going to do for you when your asleep you can't see it.
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So we wont use an extremely power efficient LED because of power concerns but people should wake up their CPU and phone screen (which use like 100x the power) in order to check for notifications? :confused:
 
pragmatous said:
You clearly don't own an iphone.

On the iphone notifications pop up on the screen. The entire screen. No need for an LED indicator light. It's not needed. It's an old philosophy for people who hate their phones and never want to look at it.

Iphone is different. People want to look at their phones. Just by looking at your phone you get all the notifications on the screen.
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Actually, by just looking at the iPhone, you see a dead, dark screen. In order to see the notifications you have to go to it and press the home button to check if you've missed anything. When I had an iPhone I got into the bad habit of doing this every 5 minutes.

With a notification LED I don't need to check it. If I've been out of the room and missed something, it's quietly flashes away so, when i return, out of the corner of my eye, I notice something's waiting for me.
 
fmalloy said:
Because that is such a perfect analogy. :rolleyes:
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It's a great analogy. Antiquated technology that works WORSE than what's already on the phone. If we're calling for retrograde features here why not go for broke? The chances of my analogy happening are just as likely as Apple abandoning a fully graphic notification system in favor of a flashing green light. You might as reasonably expect them to release the "iHomePhone" that plugs into the wall with a wire and only works with a land line.

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dukebound85 said:
Yet flip flops have happened with:

MMS
native GPS routing
notifications pull down
increased screen size
quick access to common settings
front facing camera
copy and paste
notifications indication (though implemented via LED flash)

just to name a few

How are you so sure they won't? Unlike your absurd examples of adding a hdd or telescoping antenna, a notification LED could be very easily integrated

It may not be a LED. For what we know, apple could make the case or rim of case glow akin to how they make their macs pulsate and claim it is a novel way to alert you of missed events with not having to actually see the screen
Click to expand...

Oh, I see. Hedging your bets already? It doesn't actually have to be an LED now, it could be anything even remotely resembling an LED, just so long as you can eek out the appearence of a flip flop?

Come on. Let's deal with some intellectual honesty here. It's clear that the notification strategy is screen based. Apple isn't going to add flashing lights to the iPhone. Bank on it.
 
Surf Monkey said:
It's a great analogy. Antiquated technology that works WORSE than what's already on the phone. If we're calling for retrograde features here why not go for broke? The chances of my analogy happening are just as likely as Apple abandoning a fully graphic notification system in favor of a flashing green light. You might as reasonably expect them to release the "iHomePhone" that plugs into the wall with a wire and only works with a land line.

----------



Oh, I see. Hedging your bets already? It doesn't actually have to be an LED now, it could be anything even remotely resembling an LED, just so long as you can eek out the appearence of a flip flop?

Come on. Let's deal with some intellectual honesty here. It's clear that the notification strategy is screen based. Apple isn't going to add flashing lights to the iPhone. Bank on it.
Click to expand...

I'll take that wager. Let's just see how the next release or 2 unfolds with the iPhone. I think they will implement a non screen based notification system

Remember, Apple also had the initial strategy of having only web based apps and not wanting to give developers APIs for native apps. The fact is that Apple is never set in its ways. They will move in the direction the industry wants to some extent. The list I made in my last post is evidence of that
 
BJabs said:
This thread is going in circles. We don't hear or feel every notification, because we're sometimes away from our phones or preoccupied.
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... and when we get back we tap the home button to check. I know. What a pain. If only there were a green flashing light on it.
 
fmalloy said:
So why do we have the pulsating white LEDs on the MacBooks if they're "so 1999"?
Click to expand...

We don't. They were removed when the retina MacBook Pro was introduced. Source: I have one. All that LED did was let you know your computer was sleeping to help protect the hard drive. The retina is flash, so you don't have to worry about damaging it if you pick it up too soon.

My BlackBerry Storm2 had one if those notification lights, and it was handy in 2011. I don't really care anymore because my iPhone is always with me :)
 
dukebound85 said:
I'll take that wager. Let's just see how the next release or 2 unfolds with the iPhone. I think they will implement a non screen based notification system

Remember, Apple also had the initial strategy of having only web based apps and not wanting to give developers APIS for native apps. The fact is that Apple is never set in its ways. They will move in the direction the industry wants to some extent
Click to expand...

You're picking the wrong battle. The only additional notifications Apple is heading towards are Apple Watch based. They're not going to put a flashing light on the phone. They're going to push you to buy an Apple Watch so that the (gag) Taptic Engine can flick your wrist when a notification happens.
 
QuarterSwede said:
You forgot the biggest, the App Store.
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Because anybody argued against an App Store?

In fact, most of that list is bogus when making this case that people would flip flop were Apple to suddenly decide to add an LED notification system, because with the exception of large screens no one argued against any of those things. The fact that Apple said they wouldn't do them? So what? You believe everything Apple tells you? Most of us learned not to way back in the NuBus days.
 
I would love an LED Notification type thing on an iPhone, I missed it when I went from BlackBerry to iPhone 4, and I'm going to miss it again going from my S3 to iPhone 6. I believe it's just more convenient to see notifications - especially for me where my phone is on mute at work and the screen is covered, so I can just quick glance at it to see if I've missed anything rather than actually turn it on.

That said I'd love if they could do something unique with it rather than the standard LED in the top left/right.

I think it's just another level of convenience for the device, although I'm doubting we'll see it with the advent of the apple watch.
 
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