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New iPhone leaks show tap to wake, attention detection, and virtual home button

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Re: New iPhone leaks show tap to wake, attention detection, and virtual home button

#61

Post by fuzzygroup »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #59

Removing the home button would be a mistake. I know a novice user who sticks with iDevices (as opposed to Android) precisely because they have a physical home button. As they describe it, "it's a magic button that's always there and always gets you back out of whatever you're in". By contrast, they dislike Android devices because of the virtual buttons that are sometimes removed in favor of more content. Usability is…

I can't second this strongly enough. Honestly I didn't move to the iPhone 7 solely because of the shift from the traditional button style to the new non press-able button. I don't even want to think about an iPhone without a home button.

I do not think it is just novice users that like the home button.

Re: New iPhone leaks show tap to wake, attention detection, and virtual home button

#62

Post by jonathansizz »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #59

Removing the home button would be a mistake. I know a novice user who sticks with iDevices (as opposed to Android) precisely because they have a physical home button. As they describe it, "it's a magic button that's always there and always gets you back out of whatever you're in". By contrast, they dislike Android devices because of the virtual buttons that are sometimes removed in favor of more content. Usability is…

Modern Android phones have a fingerprint scanner that also acts as a home button.

I just got a $130 Moto E4, and its fingerprint scanner can actually be set to mimic the back/home/recents on-screen softkeys, if you swipe left/tap/swipe right. A long press (until you feel a vibration) switches the phone on and off, and a double-long press (two vibrations) launches Google Assistant.

It works well and is very intuitive, allowing me to remove the traditional Android softkeys, making the 5" Moto E screen seem closer to a 5.5". I assume Moto's more expensive models also do this, and possibly other phones as well.

It made me wonder how I lived for so long with the old setup, so I'd be surprised if Apple goes the other way.

Re: New iPhone leaks show tap to wake, attention detection, and virtual home button

#63

Post by jonursenbach »

Mathnerd314 wrote: post #40
jonursenbach wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you ever think that they'd go back and bring back a headphone jack?

The leaks/articles that mention it? http://bgr.com/2017/05/18/iphone-8-release-date-near-specs-h...

> No, it won’t be a 3.5mm headphone jack and you’ll still need an adapter if you want to connect 3.5mm headphones to your iPhone.

Re: New iPhone leaks show tap to wake, attention detection, and virtual home button

#64

Post by qubex »

potatolicious wrote: post #18
untog wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really - there's a reason why the Android phones that have tap to wake require two taps in quick succession, or similar. It's very difficult to accidentally trigger it. The facial recognition stuff seems odd to me, in the sense that I can't really figure out what it would be used for (aside from a silly smile detector in the camera app), but hopefully it'll be locked behind permission prompts (or barely accessibl…

The rumor mill suggests that the face detect is used for authentication, and is there because Apple hasn't been able to get the fingerprint sensor to read through the screen, and they need a quick-unlock feature like TouchID. I hope it works - I rather like TouchID and would be disappointed to have it replaced by something crappier.

I am very disturbed by the prospect of losing Touch ID. It works so damned well and in so many situations that I can imagine facial identification either failing (when wearing a balaclava, if the phone is partially occluded discretely beneath a desk, when unlocking it from bed when I am horizontal with my face smashed into the pillow) and functioning when I do not want it to (if somebody picks up my phone and flashes my face at it, has a photograph or 3D printed head of me, etc.).

Re: New iPhone leaks show tap to wake, attention detection, and virtual home button

#65

Post by lobster_johnson »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #59

Removing the home button would be a mistake. I know a novice user who sticks with iDevices (as opposed to Android) precisely because they have a physical home button. As they describe it, "it's a magic button that's always there and always gets you back out of whatever you're in". By contrast, they dislike Android devices because of the virtual buttons that are sometimes removed in favor of more content. Usability is…

Wouldn't the new virtual button use haptic feedback ("Force Touch")? If so, the lack of a physical button shouldn't matter. Today's home button (on the 6 and 7 series) is also haptic -- if your phone is dead, there's no click.

All this means is that they can use the screen real estate for something other than a button in some cases. If you're watching a video, I wouldn't be surprised if the home button still worked, it would just be hidden. (But it wouldn't be a huge loss if it didn't work, either, in my opinion.)

Re: New iPhone leaks show tap to wake, attention detection, and virtual home button

#66

Post by dragonwriter »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #59

Removing the home button would be a mistake. I know a novice user who sticks with iDevices (as opposed to Android) precisely because they have a physical home button. As they describe it, "it's a magic button that's always there and always gets you back out of whatever you're in". By contrast, they dislike Android devices because of the virtual buttons that are sometimes removed in favor of more content. Usability is…

> I know a novice user who sticks with iDevices (as opposed to Android) precisely because they have a physical home button.

Numerous Android devices (including, I believe, all the Samsung lines and certainly the flagship Sn and Galaxy Note lines) have physical home buttons. So its kind of odd that one would base a preference for iDevices over Android on a feature on which the two are not differentiated.

Re: New iPhone leaks show tap to wake, attention detection, and virtual home button

#67

Post by JoshTriplett »

dragonwriter wrote: post #66
JoshTriplett wrote: post #59

Removing the home button would be a mistake. I know a novice user who sticks with iDevices (as opposed to Android) precisely because they have a physical home button. As they describe it, "it's a magic button that's always there and always gets you back out of whatever you're in". By contrast, they dislike Android devices because of the virtual buttons that are sometimes removed in favor of more content. Usability is…

> I know a novice user who sticks with iDevices (as opposed to Android) precisely because they have a physical home button. Numerous Android devices (including, I believe, all the Samsung lines and certainly the flagship S n and Galaxy Note lines) have physical home buttons. So its kind of odd that one would base a preference for iDevices over Android on a feature on which the two are not differentiated.

Non-Google devices are typically infested with all sorts of vendor junk, so that's not an improvement. The flagship devices don't have a physical home button.

Re: New iPhone leaks show tap to wake, attention detection, and virtual home button

#68

Post by JoshTriplett »

lobster_johnson wrote: post #65
JoshTriplett wrote: post #59

Removing the home button would be a mistake. I know a novice user who sticks with iDevices (as opposed to Android) precisely because they have a physical home button. As they describe it, "it's a magic button that's always there and always gets you back out of whatever you're in". By contrast, they dislike Android devices because of the virtual buttons that are sometimes removed in favor of more content. Usability is…

Wouldn't the new virtual button use haptic feedback ("Force Touch")? If so, the lack of a physical button shouldn't matter. Today's home button (on the 6 and 7 series) is also haptic -- if your phone is dead, there's no click. All this means is that they can use the screen real estate for something other than a button in some cases. If you're watching a video, I wouldn't be surprised if the home button still worked,…

> All this means is that they can use the screen real estate for something other than a button in some cases.

That's exactly what I was describing as a bug, rather than a feature, in this case. A physical button is always there, always works, doesn't make the UI contextual, and gives a novice user confidence that they can always "escape".

I personally do prefer to have as much screen real-estate as possible, at the expense of a physical button next to the screen; however, that's not a universal preference, and I would not be at all surprised if more Apple users are particularly fond of that button.

Re: New iPhone leaks show tap to wake, attention detection, and virtual home button

#69

Post by LocalH »

lobster_johnson wrote: post #65
JoshTriplett wrote: post #59

Removing the home button would be a mistake. I know a novice user who sticks with iDevices (as opposed to Android) precisely because they have a physical home button. As they describe it, "it's a magic button that's always there and always gets you back out of whatever you're in". By contrast, they dislike Android devices because of the virtual buttons that are sometimes removed in favor of more content. Usability is…

Wouldn't the new virtual button use haptic feedback ("Force Touch")? If so, the lack of a physical button shouldn't matter. Today's home button (on the 6 and 7 series) is also haptic -- if your phone is dead, there's no click. All this means is that they can use the screen real estate for something other than a button in some cases. If you're watching a video, I wouldn't be surprised if the home button still worked,…

Pedant corner: The iPhone 6 has a physical home button, with Switch and all (I know this as I am writing this post on one). The haptic home "button" didn't appear until the 7.

Re: New iPhone leaks show tap to wake, attention detection, and virtual home button

#70

Post by soylentcola »

Eupolemos wrote: post #57
johnchristopher wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not really - there's a reason why the Android phones that have tap to wake require two taps in quick succession, or similar. It's very difficult to accidentally trigger it. That's not my experience. When I put the phone in my pocket I have to take care of positionning the back against my body otherwise my skin through the jeans trigger pocket calls.

On the M8 it is done really simple: if it is upside-down, it can't wake from tapping. Super simple and fluent in daily life (once you know it).

On the phones I've owned with tap-to-wake, it wasn't a full unlock, just some level of the lock screen being illuminated.

With my old Moto X, I could just wave my hand over the phone while it was laying next to me and a minimal version of the lock screen with clock and notifications would show up.

On my current phone (Pixel) it does the same with a double tap: clock, notifications, nothing else. The phone doesn't unlock until I use the fingerprint reader or swipe my lock pattern.

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