Apple to Remove Home Button from Next iPhone?

[toastninja17]

The best way to cause people to think "how the HELL do I use this??" when picking it up

 

[Guest]

I'd prefer a smaller phone than a bigger screen. Besides, Apple isn't going to resize the screen and screw up every one of the zillions of apps in the store.

 

[teaser]

Apple proves......You cant go home again

 

[sportsfanboy]

No Home button and no flash support

 

[tburns1]

You know, Apple used to be known for a having a simple interface that made it easy for crippled people to use thier products. For example, the one button mouse. Now they've made it very hard for cripples to use thier devices.

Maybe they're just not cool ...

 

[orionltd]

I can see them going from a mechanical button to more of a soft button. Like my new directv receiver, the whole front panel is touch sensitive.
What i'd like to seem them improve on iPhone 5 is some kind of edge lip around the screen to help prevent the glass from cracking when you drop it one too many times. Yes, it was my fault I dropped my iPhone 3. And it is costing me $60 bucks to get it repaired. I would just like to see a design that would minimize the possibility of the screen cracking after a small drop.
I like both the iPhone and the Droid offerings. I want to see what a Windows 7 phone is like as well. I think each device has its niche market and Person A will like one while Person B will prefer another device.
Another feature I'd like to see is the ability to pull the battery. It would ease replacement. That probably won't happen.

 

[doomtomb]

[citation][nom]idisarmu[/nom]If you're bashing the iPhone, then you just might be an idiot. It's one of the most powerful phones out currently, only bested by the hummingbird-powered phones (and the only 2 phones I can think of are the galaxy S and Wave). The iPhone is actually a damn good PMP and MID with decent phone capabilities. However, the thing I hate about iPhones is that you need iTunes to use them. iTunes is slow as molasses and struggles with music libraries exceeding 100gb. Winamp, on the other hand, still searches like a champ through a 500+ gig library.[/citation]
Who listens to 500 gigabytes of music? No one. That's like 100,000 mp3s. I'll give you $50 if you've actually listened to each song once, the whole way through and another $50 if you'd listened to them twice.

 

[r0x0r]

Physical buttons are ergonomically superior. That's all there is to it.

Touchscreen has its uses, but for maximum ease of use, you gotta go buttons.

P.S. I have a 10" hand width. I always double key, but it happens a lot less with physical buttons than touchscreen.

 

[eddieroolz]

I would prefer having my buttons, thank you.

Also on the topic of waterproofing and buttons: many phones can achieve waterproofing and be relatively thin, while having many buttons. Almost all Japanese phones these days come standard with IPX8 waterproofing and they have 20+ buttons.

 

[mayankleoboy1]

tactile feedback is sychologically satisfying to have. it just feels better to have a few buttons on the phone.
but then, i use nokia 6300.

 

[choirbass]

0.02.. they may just relocate the home button to the sides too, or something similar. would make the most sense anyhow, thats where the other buttons are after all. and it would free up a lot of screen space too, like was said.

and, lots of spam posts :\ ...it seems toms needs an updated filter.

 

[adamboy64]

[citation][nom]mayankleoboy1[/nom]tactile feedback is sychologically satisfying to have. it just feels better to have a few buttons on the phone.but then, i use nokia 6300.[/citation]

Nokia 6300's are excellent phones.

 

[eeide]

[citation][nom]JOSHSKORN[/nom]Still don't care about the i(diot)Phone. Get a DROID![/citation]
Hey at least Apple is upfront about there intentions and at least has the dignity to tell there users when they think they are being stupid or even as far as to dictate what they think people want. Not that I agree 100% with Apple's approach but they don't even try to hide it. Microsoft, yep they are pretty upfront about ruling the world. Google, they preach open source but operate much differently. The passive aggressive BS that Google throws around that Google fanboys lap up as much as Apple / Microsoft / Sony fanboys is just as sickening.

Google's business model hinges on knowing more about you than you. I suppose if you're ok with that then great, but that might not be ok with other people. There's always downsides to every platform.

 

[eeide]

Also, why can't Tom's Hardware get some real Software Engineers and fix the spam?!? Oh yeah you have to care first...if only there was some tangible ROI it would have been fixed long ago.

Send me an RFP or SOW I will give you a very good deal.

 

[slipdisc]

What happens when the phone crashes or freezes? Without at least one hardware button, you would have to wait for the battery to run down. Even then it might still be locked up after charging.

I would think they need at least one button or some type of method to reset the device.

 

[DSpider]

I think I'd prefer it with just a 3.5 mm headphone jack to charge and hook up to the computer. Completely air tight, waterproof. No buttons, no dock ports (they could be controlled through the headphone jack).

Make it happen, Apple ! And I may consider a button-less iPad. Also make the bezel more slim ffs...

 

[DSpider]

PS: iTunes can put it in DFU mode. You don't need buttons if, God forbid, you really really need to reboot it.

I own an iPod touch 2G and I think I only had to reboot it twice last year (but it's jailbroken so yeah... that's probably why).