The Capacitive Button Cult Must Be Stopped

Post by waterlesscloud » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 5:41 PM UTC

Shenglong wrote: post #35

harshpotatoes wrote: post #22

Another issue people don't bring up: the weather. Living in Seattle I frequently wore mittens. With the physical buttons it would not be a problem to operate the phone, with the touchscreen there is this long ordeal of pulling off the mitten to answer the phone. If it is raining (or rather, when is it not raining?), the rain will mess with the touchscreen, making it sometimes impossible to answer a call. You might sa…

Who answers their phone in the rain with the face up? Isn't that a little ridiculous? I think every piece of technology has its limitations. I could argue that button phones are loud, and I can't text with them during class or meetings. If you answer your button phone while it's raining, the rain will likely also screw up your button-phone... probably with more permanent damage than touch-screens. Also, a lot of touc…

Post by bane » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 5:43 PM UTC

harshpotatoes wrote: post #22

Another issue people don't bring up: the weather. Living in Seattle I frequently wore mittens. With the physical buttons it would not be a problem to operate the phone, with the touchscreen there is this long ordeal of pulling off the mitten to answer the phone. If it is raining (or rather, when is it not raining?), the rain will mess with the touchscreen, making it sometimes impossible to answer a call. You might sa…

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 5:51 PM UTC

WrkInProgress wrote: post #37

raganwald wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an example of Apple's design brilliance. They have a feature that just works , and it's perfectly normal for users to have no idea why it just works or why other products that seem to have the same features are so frustrating to use. Of course, the downside is that people sometimes buy a product that seems to be "as good as an iPhone," and they have no idea that their user experience is worse than the iPhone'…

I think this is a standard feature of most modern touchscreen smartphones and not some "design brilliance" relegated to only Apple devices. I currently have to carry two phones, one is an Android device and the other is a Windows Phone 7 device, they both implement the proximity sensor and it works the same way as the iphone. IIRC correctly HTC (back in the days of Windows Mobile 5) already employed this feature in t…

Post by Shenglong » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 5:56 PM UTC

nodata wrote: post #40

Shenglong wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who answers their phone in the rain with the face up? Isn't that a little ridiculous? I think every piece of technology has its limitations. I could argue that button phones are loud, and I can't text with them during class or meetings. If you answer your button phone while it's raining, the rain will likely also screw up your button-phone... probably with more permanent damage than touch-screens. Also, a lot of touc…

> Who answers their phone in the rain with the face up? Or put to break this question into two parts: 1. Who would like to answer their phone when it rings, whatever the weather? 2. Could the phone sometimes be the "other" way up when you take it out of your pocket?

Post by digikata » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 6:03 PM UTC

jasonkester wrote: post #44

Those buttons hit their maximum disaster level when installed on an induction stove. You know, the ones that are one flat shiny panel with areas that magically turn red and hot at the push of a button? Of course, said buttons are always next to impossible to press correctly (except by accident), so the standard use case is to mash your finger onto it until some form of feedback occurs. More often than not, that feedb…