Apple May Remove the Home Button On the Next IPad

An anonymous reader writes "Steve Jobs is notoriously frugal when it comes to buttons so the latest rumor emanating out of Cupertino might not come as a huge surprise. Apple is reportedly planning to do away with the home button on the next-gen iPad and iPhone and replace its functionality with multitouch gestures. And as luck would have it, the newly seeded iOS 4.3 includes support for new multitouch gestures, one of which is the ability to use a four or five finger pinch to go back to the homescreen" The attached video demonstrates the new gestures for switching applications and demonstrates how you could function without the home button.

Comments

Fun for people

[somersault]

Great feature for those with missing fingers!

Okay okay so I'm just being awkward. But seriously, whenever I've used an iPad or iPhone, I've wished it had the Android "back" button. So much more convenient than hunting for application specific menus to get back to where you were.

Re:Fun for people

[Joce640k]

What about people who never heard of "five finger pinch"? Are they supposed to read a manual before they can use it?

Seriously, I can't see this 'rumor' being true. Most likely it's just some viral marketing crap to get horrified Apple fans posting the word "iPad" all over the Internet the week before it launches.

Re:Fun for people

[AvitarX]

I would be pretty upset if I couldn't use my phone with one hand.

I don't own an iPhone, so it may be better without home button, but I use it quite a lot on my android phone (long hold to change apps).

And would hate to need to hands to copy text out of an email into a search box, or a name from an email into a contact.

or to simply tap out a text and then call someone while web-browsing.

Re:Fun for people

[WrongSizeGlass]

Those of us with arthritis will be thrilled that we'll need to pass the iHandExercises test before we can buy a device without a Home button.

Let's not forget that the Home button is used with the Power button to take screen shots. It's also used to access the iPod feature when the iDevice is locked (double-push the Home button and you get the quick iPod controls).

Re:Fun for people

[Ephemeriis]

I would be pretty upset if I couldn't use my phone with one hand.

I don't own an iPhone, so it may be better without home button, but I use it quite a lot on my android phone (long hold to change apps).

And would hate to need to hands to copy text out of an email into a search box, or a name from an email into a contact.

or to simply tap out a text and then call someone while web-browsing.

Exactly.

This might work well on an iPad... But I can't see it happening on the iPhone.

You have to be able to use a cell phone one-handed.

I routinely place calls, look up contacts, check my calendar, and check my email one-handed (on an Android phone). It's a little slower, it's a little more cumbersome... But you need to be able to do it. I don't always have two hands free. And I sure as hell can't manage a multitouch gesture one-handed.

Re:Fun for people

[Anonymous Coward]

So spinning around the wheel to go up and down

Okay, see that right there? There's your first problem. "Around" somehow translates to "up"? "Around the other way" is "down"? That's not intuitive. Maybe if the iPod interface displayed everything actually in a wheel form it would be, but when something is arranged top-to-bottom, the intuitive way to do it is up and down buttons, or some other motion that implies an up/down motion, not rotation. Except, well, the iPod's wheel DOES "click" like buttons should in the up/down positions, but they don't do what the user expects them to do.

The definition of "intuitive" is not "the way Apple does things", and "the way Apple does things" is not, by default, "intuitive". If something is intuitive, it should NOT require the user to completely rethink or relearn how they do things or how certain actions relate to certain motions. Just because you forced yourself to get used to it for the shiny factor doesn't mean it's good, just because it's different doesn't mean it's clever, and just because Apple told you to do it doesn't mean it's intuitive.

Re:Fun for people

[mobby_6kl]

How about if you're carrying a briefcase, laptop bag, or groceries in one hand? Or if you're holding another phone to your ear and need to look something up on the smartphone. Or (if you're poor I guess) when you're holding on to the handrail in a bus? Even Android is pretty bad at this compared to my WM phone, anything worse than that would be unacceptable for me, and I only have to use public transport a handful of times per year.

Of course it all depends on how anal you are about defining "need". You don't actually need to own a mobile phone either, once you get down to it.

Re:Fun for people

[s73v3r]

Okay, see that right there? There's your first problem. "Around" somehow translates to "up"? "Around the other way" is "down"? That's not intuitive.

Ever used a volume knob before?

Home button will stay

[tekgoblin]

I do not think that Apple will remove a signature button from their iOS device lineup. The button also serves other uses such as a DRM or Hard reset on the device as well as other diagnostic functions besides just returning to the home screen.

Re:Home button will stay

[Deag]

I always thought the home button was a good design to make the iphone easy to use for everyone.

It also would affect the usability of the device to remove it. No matter what you do on your iphone, you have one button that brings you back to the start. This makes it very easy to use.

Some multitouch gesture would be the complete opposite.

Re:Home button will stay

[carou]

I do not think that Apple will remove a signature button from their iOS device lineup.

I never thought they'd ditch the iconic "scroll wheel" which had been a signature design feature since the very first iPod...

 

Re:Home button will stay

[jgagnon]

It's the "Doesn't Really Matter" button. Duh!

Re:Home button will stay

[ccoder]

What about removing DFU mode, which is the current way a lot of untethered jailbreaks work?  Making it harder for unlockers/jailbreakers isn't outside of what Jobs and company would do.

There's no place like home...

[digitaldc]

...but five fingers will work when you are in a pinch. (iPinch?)

Obvious play?

[emocomputerjock]

Is this because you can't patent a button but can patent multitouch gestures? Get enough people speaking your "language" and other manufacturers will have to pay to use your patented gestures.

What if you crash?

[Drakkenmensch]

Not all apps are as stable as you'd like. You need something to press to exit to your home screen if your app decides it just wants to freeze...

Re:What if you crash?

[Anonymous Coward]

Then you reboot with the five finger death punch

Re:What if you crash?

[beelsebob]

Luckily, the OS is in charge of handling events, and only hands them to apps if necessary. If it captures a 5 finger goatse gesture, it needn't pass it through at all, just switch apps straight away. In the same way as your app never gets told about alt-tab, and it always works whether the app has crashed or not.

Now it's a mandatory 2 handed device?

[LordKronos]

Replacing the home button with multitouch gestures? So using the device will now require you to use both hands? Great! That should be fun when the people driving around me need to not only divert their attention to controlling their iphone/ipod touch, but now must take BOTH hands off the wheel to operate it.

Being serious,

[Kupfernigk]

Any massmarket device needs to be usable with one finger. Multitouch needs an alternative and accessible one-finger backup operation. What happened to accessibility?

A "get me somewhere familiar" button should almost be mandatory on anything without a keyboard.

Re:Being serious,

[TOGSolid]

Apple
Accessibility

Bhahahahahahahahahahah

Re:Being serious,

[Moryath]

Accessibility is being sacrificed to Steve Jobs' irrational (bordering on personality disorder) dislike of buttons.

It's almost to the level of a phobia.

The iPhone would be FAR better with a slide keyboard. "Touchscreens" are shit-poor interfaces for trying to type on a mini-chiclet keyboard space unless you are using a stylus; sure the iPhone pops up a "larger" image of the button you are "pressing", but I can't read it past my thumbnail anyways, so it does little good.

I've lost count of the number of times I misdialed a number simply because I was on the "edge" of the damn touchscreen dialing interface and bumped the 4 instead of 5 or 5 instead of 6. With a real touch interface, I'd have tactile feedback and I'd know which damn button I was on.

Re:Being serious,

[Captain Splendid]

Eh, I don't get the hate. As someone with ridiculously large hands and fingers, I find using iOS a lot easier than some of the teensy keyboards found on other smart phones.

Point is: It's not black and white, and Apple's success in this field obviously means they have at least a clue what they're doing. Listening to most /. geeks, you'd think the opposite was true.

Re:Being serious,

[dloose]

I thought Apple was widely noted for its accessibility features. I've read a few articles about how great the iPad is for blind people. Did I miss a joke here?

Re:Being serious,

[beh]

The iPhone would be FAR better, if it could brew coffee on demand at any time and place...

Yet, I think the extra weight of the coffee maker might not make the device quite as portable as it is without.

The same goes for keyboards - I wouldn't type long texts on my iPhone or even iPad. But for most of the time when I'm out of the house, for the limited things I do when 'on the road', the onscreen keyboard helps. And it's certainly making the device lighter and with less moving-parts that could break, than if it HAD a keyboard.

If I'm on a longer trip, I tend to have my laptop with me - keyboard problem solved.

Just because YOUR usage pattern makes a slide keyboard THE thing to have, does not make it so for most people. I don't think most people are sharing the exact usage patterns I have, but if XYZdevice doesn't match the functionality I need, I just wouldn't buy it - instead of ranting on about Steve Jobs's irrational side (or anyone else's for that matter).

Re:Being serious,

[CohibaVancouver]

I thought Apple was widely noted for its accessibility features

Are you joking? The iPad isn't even allowed to have arrow keys.

[Insert fanboy rants here about how arrow keys are 1970s technology, only losers need them and Jobs Knows Best.]

Re:Being serious,

[Captain Splendid]

They don't have a clue on interface design.

Oh, OK. You didn't pay an ounce of attention to what I wrote. As I said to your sibling, IT DOESN'T MATTER. The proof in the pudding is their amazing sales. It doesn't matter if you and the rest of the one percenters don't like or if it fails any kind of standard test, they obvioulsy figured something out.

Shorter: My "clue" was generalized. Your response was specific, and therefore missing my point.

Re:Being serious,

[contrapunctus]

you are coreect
http://www.cbc.ca/spark/2010/10/full-interview-austin-seraphin-on-the-iphone-for-blind-users/

Re:Being serious,

[Rosy At Random]

Slashdot thanks you for your input

Screen Space

[kellyb9]

I like the idea for one reason - Maximized Screen Space. The entire front of the device will be a multitouch surface.

Re:Screen Space

[mmustapic]

You need a border around the mutitouch surface so you can grab the device. Otherwise your thumb would be generating touch events all the time.

Jiggle

[tomasf]

FWIW, there's no way (afaik) to stop icons from jiggling when you're done rearranging them, other than pressing the home button. I guess they'll have to fix that one.

Think different (from usability)

[Daetrin]

Perhaps it's just because i'm not in the crowd Apple is aiming for, but i really wish my Android phone had _more_ buttons, not less, and i wish they were physical buttons rather than the damn stupid software buttons.

It's nice that i can turn the volume up and down without waking my phone up, but if there were actual physical buttons then other functions could be mapped to those buttons for use when the screen was locked/off. I could even get by with just one working remapable button (though more would be better of course) which i would map to "next track" when using the music app and to "go back 30 seconds" when using Audible's app. Both of those are functions that i frequently want to do while driving but are made awkward by the need to wake the phone up and unlock it in order to enable the soft buttons, while keeping my eyes on the road at the same time. Switching from a dedicated mp3 player with physical buttons to a phone was definitely a case of two steps forward, one step back.

The gesture for Flash

[DiamondGeezer]

...is bring up a picture of Steve Jobs, then place the back of your middle finger against the screen and move up and down. It won't do anything but it makes you feel better

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Need to be able to disable the home button

[wombatmobile]

I would like to be able to disable the home button so the child with learning difficulties doesn't accidentally keep pressing it while I'm trying to get him to concentrate on the game unsupervised.

Apart from the fatal home button flaw (in this context), the iPad is a marvelous opportunity for teaching and rehabilitation.

It currently works on iPads only

[YaHooL]

On their What's new in iOS 4.3 page (You need an Apple ID to view link) they wrote:

Test Multi-Touch Gestures for iPad - This beta release contains a preview of new Multi-Touch gestures for iPad. You can use four or five fingers to pinch to the Home Screen; swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar; and swipe left or right between apps. We are providing this preview before releasing them to the public to understand how these gestures work with your apps. Test them and give us your feedback on the Apple Developer Forums.

I attempted a 4-finger-pinch on an iPod-Touch-4th-Gen development device with the latest 4.3 iOS Beta. Beside of being a very uncomfortable thing to perform on a small screen, I didn't notice anything else happening.

iPod Nano touchscreen model lacks home button

[leamanc]

The latest iPod Nanos, with touchscreens, lack a home button. You press and hold (with one finger) anywhere on the screen to return to the home screen. I have gotten used to it, but would still prefer a real home button.

And if the Nano is any indication of what Steve likes, I don't think it's fewer buttons. The top of the Nano has one volume up button, one volume down button, and a "power" button (actually more of a "sleep the screen" button). I would have gladly taken a rocker switch for the volume (or even a dial!) and traded in one of those volume buttons for a real Home button.

This is a bad idea.

[Tei]

I have used the iPad extensivelly, so I can label myself as iPad poweruser. Enough stress on the machine do result on problems, like the concurrent installation of multiple Apps, or running anything after the 2 bigger games currently (memory swapping?). For the most part, the 99.99% of the time, you will not need a "reset" button, but having one (the home) is very handy!. But theres that 0.01% time wen you *NEED* the home button.

Removing the home button is like removing Enter, ESC and the power button, from a PC. hopping for the best... that you can always resort to the mouse for these 3 functions.

Bad idea

[mrjb]

Not off-topic, bear with me. People whine about drawing with GIMP. To draw a line, all you need to do is to press the shift button while moving the mouse. The problem is, it's not *obvious* to most people that the shift key has that magical effect. One of the first thing many people want to do when using a new drawing program is to draw a line - not to dive into a manual to find out how to do it. The problem, of course, is that GIMP does not provide any visual clues that assist people in drawing a line- so in that respect it is not user friendly.

Five finger pinch instead of a home button? Same problem. You "just need to know" but if you happen not to, you won't have a home button. If there's no visual clue to certain parts of using a GUI, it's not user friendly.

I don't care that it's simple to press shift three times followed by caps lock twice and the computer enables its "Do what I want, not what I tell you" interface- if it's not obvious enough that people intuitively guess that key combination, it's useless.

So Steve, just keep that home button, OK?