The camera button had so much potential.
As many others have said before, touch ID could have finally existed again. The scrolling capabilities of the camera button can also be used for scrolling in general use such as a news article or TikTok. There is so much potential for it, but it's only limited by that one use, similar to the mute button on previous iPhones.
Not all heroes wear capes.
Some of them are drawn in MS Paint.
@MS Paint: Thank you! I am really amazed by Apple's new button. It’s a game changer, innovation of the century.
Also worth watching Apple Reacts to Huawei’s Triple Fold Phone
Making a folding phone isnt hard, making a folding phone that does not have a end date is. Even non descript chinese company called tecno can make one - meaning the hardware is commoditized to a large extent. Its not that Apple cant make one, it is that they wont want to given the current state of this tech.
Last statement shows a lot of cope.. lol
@bchliu: Its not a cope. I have bought last 3 folds from samsung and came back to a bar phone again.
As far as i know the scroll button is open to developers to be used in their apps, good chance you will see lots of uses for it.
This is true, but only for camera functions.
You call it a camera button but in actuality it's them scrambling to highlight the AI functions. It's like how Samsung tried to make the Bixby button but then eventually caved in to make it a customisable short cut button because it was just shit.
Just a mediocre phone through and through.
Well there's been no real innovations in terms of hardware. It's all AI these days. I'm waiting for the day where people are nostalgic for phones that don't have AI built into them.
That day is already here.
Just a mediocre phone through and through.
Compared to what though? I'm looking to upgrade my 13 Pro Max to the 16 and I can see the value in it.
You're asking this question to people who are decrying that Touch ID isn't coming back, they don't know what they want.
The most powerful efficiency chipset on a phone, best battery life, best biometrics, one of the best screens, one of the best camera system, best video by far including log recording which no one offers yet - its such well rounded phone, not mediocre.
My secondary phone, Blackview N6000 has a fully customisable physical button. It's used on my phone to launch the camera app and can be used as a the camera button.
My Sony Xperia 15 years ago had a dedicated camera button. The 16gb of memory wasn't helpful though.
xperia
I haven’t been this excited for a phone for 15 years? Damn
Can't remember which one I had, but was before the Galaxy S1 (so circa 2009 probably), but was a Sony phone with a Cybershot proper camera with flash
I'm thinking the C905
Loved that, until it went in for repair and they lost it lol
Oh man, that brings back memories. My first “proper” phone on a plan was a Sony Ericsson K800i.
Loved me an Xperia, used to get complimented on it all the time as well which is weird. The beginning of the end was when they renamed the Walkman App
The 16gb of memory wasn't helpful though.
What do you mean? That's really good for a phone, mine only has 8GB.
*hard drive/flash memory.
I'm assuming yours has 8GB of ram?
To clarify that was 16GB of storage, RAM was 2GB if memory serves me correctly.
I had a 32GB micro SD in it for storing photos and some apps.
Except its not a button per se. Its a solid state touch surface which acts as a button and therefore can do many more things than a mere button would.
You can just call it the View N6000
Can you adjust aperture/iso/shutter speed with these buttons?
"Of course Android has this feature since 1951"
Oh, extending that feature to other apps will be in the next version so that you'll have a reason to upgrade.
We've gone full circle here, the revolutionary new innovation from Apple is….. um… a physical button.
Then everybody clapped and cheered.
Okay but there's essentially no difference with the s23 vs the s24 or the P8 vs P9. I'd argue the button is a big improvement when you compare it to other brands even if it's a bit gimmicky.
I'd argue the button is a big improvement when you compare it to other brands even if it's a bit gimmicky.
Out of curiosity, is the 60Hz refresh also "a big improvement when you compare it to other brands"?
My 16 will be 120hz
@nea ozb: Then the question for you would be is the 120Hz refresh also "a big improvement when you compare it to other brands"? Other brands being recent Android phones that are many times cheaper and already have that…
@RiseAndRuin: I've had my iPhone XS since 2018. It's currently running the latest iOS. I'm not sure there are many Android phones from 2018 which are supporting the latest system.
@RiseAndRuin: The extended support of iOS is a fantastic feature rather than buying a new android, 2 years of support then no more updates. Worth it in long term.
@nea ozb: This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how Android updates work. Unlike iOS, Android's core applications and security can be updated entirely independent of the OS version, and sometimes get multiple updates each calendar year.
Also, mainstream Android phones get updates for more than 2 years, and the idea that people replace their Android phones to get a new OS version is laughable.
@klaw81: I'm sure there are numerous reasons, but I'm happy it's been six years with my iPhone XS and I still have the latest security and software whereas any Samsung or Google (are those mainstream enough) phone from that time has been end of life a couple of years ago now. I am now at a point where enough new features have accumulated that it's worth an upgrade to the latest phone.
@nea ozb: Besides your other meaningless points, at $1,629 when it was released, you could have bought a new Android phone almost every year, and you'd currently own a phone with much higher specs and support for the next 3-4 years of OS updates.
at $1,629 when it was released, you could have bought a new Android phone almost every year, and you'd currently own a phone with much higher specs
How do you figure? A Galaxy S9 which released the same year as the XS, which was vastly less powerful than the XS, was $1199 on release.
@RiseAndRuin: I prefer not to have to buy cheap and subpar products that need to be replaced repeatedly.
Not that I agree that it's revolutionary, it's definitely not……but it's not just a physical button. It's a capacitive button on top of a normal button. It's pretty impressive tbh.
It's a capacitive button on top of a normal button. It's pretty impressive tbh
Neat, perhaps. But I don't think there's anything particularly impressive about it.
Laptops (including Macbooks) have had similar technology in trackpads for ages, and it's really just a tiny version of that. Pixel phones from years ago had fingerprint readers on the back that were also capacitive sensors.
Yeh but it's on a phone now, and it has both a physical button and the capacitive button. It's impressive and hasn't been on a phone before.
@MrFunSocks: Physical button + capacitive sensor + haptics have been a feature on laptop trackpads for a long time. This is merely a smaller version of that same technology.
It's neat, but not especially impressive or novel
@klaw81: But again - not on phones. This is like saying bringing telephoto cameras to phones wasn't impressive because they existed on dedicated cameras.
@MrFunSocks: Adding telephoto lenses to cameras is not particularly impressive either.
The exception is the genuine innovation around the creation of the periscope lens, which allowed much higher zoom levels than the form factor of phones would normally allow.
looking forward to the major android devices having a similar feature next year ,
It seems in the last half decade it's actually apple that has been following innovation from other companies. And I use innovation very lightly, as phones have been a bore, mostly differentiated only by software.
I would not call a shutter button a gimmick. It's something that's sorely missed from smart phones, which can otherwise be powerful and fun photographic tools.
I couldn't find a better word for what I was trying to say. I'm just saying that there was so much potential and usage for the camera button such as using to scroll or fingerprint sensor.
It's something that's sorely missed from smart phones
Is it?
Did it go somewhere?
Because using the volume button as the camera shutter works, it's even a real press button too.
It's a bit different from the shutter button on a camera though.
wtf??? they have a button to take a pic… what are the apple iphone uses that lazy they cant be bothered to touch the screen to take a pic now… what the F???
Maybe you should look into how the switch actually functions before making such mundane observations.
wtf, you can't read… are you too lazy to look things up… what the F???
what are the apple iphone uses that lazy they cant be bothered to touch the screen to take a pic now… what the F???
Touch screen -> accidentally change composition
wow ok, i have never had an issue with taking pics and looking good.but i am on a sumsung
Phones haven't really changed or had any innovations in the last 3-4 years.
Just bigger and better cameras, but it'd probably be worth them dumping the yearly increases and focussing on more substantial 2 yearly refreshes at this stage.
Apple is just making changes to basically make it Android at this stage on top of that - kinda ironic seeing them claim how innovative new changes are that Androids have had for 5+ years.
Why would they do this? They haven't cared about innovation since Steve Jobs. They care about money, and the new iPhones sell like hotcakes every year.
Uhm, this comment has been posted before this phone has shipped. Nothing to see here.
I heard the iPhone 17 will have a physical keypad.
Yups Apple will call it iBerry😉😉😉 and all Apple fanboys will line up to buy their latest technology at premium price.
Androne sheep comment.
Using a physical button to scroll what's on the screen? That's certainly not… gimmicky.
They got rid of the stickers we will be lucky in the near future, for the phone to come in a box at all and not just in a plastic bag lol
My Sony Xperia Z2 from 2014 have this camera button. It's not just a normal button but a real 2-Stage focus/shoot camera button. It's a wonderful idea for someone like me who's into digital photography.
However unlike my instant action DSLRs the wait to load the camera app is a big let down. I never enjoy using the button to start the camera app. It was faster to tap on the screen.
The scroll feature on the iPhone16 to adjust the zoom is brilliant. Hopefully the feature catches on now that chips are more powerful and responsive my previous experience shouldn't stop the button from returning.
The scroll feature on the iPhone16 to adjust the zoom is brilliant
It's not a bad idea, but the execution doesn't seem that great. Lots of reviewers say that the "scroll" isn't as easy to use as they hoped, and it's a bit fiddly. And to be honest, I think dragging the zoom on the screen is still likely to be more precise and thus easier to achieve the desired result.
I had an Xperia SP, which also had a shutter button - I'm fairly certain I could adjust zoom levels with the volume buttons…
those features you requested will arrive on iOS 19 and later
Ppl freaking out about a button is wild
Yeah I really don't understand why they can't put a physical fingerprint scanner on the side of these iphones in either the power button or this new button
They could have even made one on the screen as well. I do prefer the fingerprint scanner on the side or even the back compared to an on-screen scanner.
Because they don't want to, simple as that. They don't care what some people are asking for.
Because FaceID works fine and is more secure! Your wife can’t unlock your phone while you are sleeping.
Your wife can’t unlock your phone while you are sleeping.
Caveat: you need to have "face aware" enabled for that functionality
It is enabled by default. If my eyes are shut or not looking at the screen it won't unlock.
OP, could you expand how a system wide touch ID can be brought back to life by this magic botton, even in theory? Yes I am the one who still like to have a physical touch ID even I do find Face ID useful.
TouchID is not coming back - it’s redundant hardware that is unnecessary. Move on people!
This is classic apple releasing a phone with a "new must have feature" to entice people to upgrade.. especially since the ai stuff isn't coming for a few months.
Other manufacturers tend to release new phones with spec bumps which many people are meh to, but apple are much better at marketing and know they need a new thing to convince people that what they have is a POS and they need the new one.
They did this with 3d touch, face id, dynamic island etc.
apple are much better at marketing
Yep, the new models are such a big success that they're already being sold at a discount https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apples-iphone-16-already-sell…
The scrolling capabilities of the camera button can also be used for scrolling in general use such as a news article or TikTok.
Why? If I hold a phone in my left hand I'd be using my middle or ring finger to scroll which seems awkward to do, if I hold it in my right hand I can scroll with my thumb sure, but I can just scroll with my thumb on the screen instead? It might even be more ergonomic to scroll using the screen because unless I hold the phone towards the end of my fingers I'll have to flex my thumb to scroll using the button.
IMO this button is change for the sake of change. It's like how Apple made the trackpads on their Macbooks stupidly big. I still use a Late 2013 MBP and the trackpad is perfectly sized, I've never had issues with phantom clicks yet the MBP I use for work has a huge trackpad and I experience the odd issue here and there with the palm rejection not working properly. I probably only use 30% of the usable area of the trackpad. It's change for the sake of it and just another gimmick to trick people into buying a new phone despite their phone from two or three years ago working perfectly (despite not having this camera button) to drive the over-consumerist culture that pervades developed nations.
Here's something that I would prefer they implement rather than this button; put a thermometer in the phone so I can tell what the temperature is in my immediate surroundings. Figure out a way such that the processor or the warmth of my hand doesn't affect the temperature reading. There, that feature would be way more useful than this button IMO, especially since it's never really been an issue to take a photo or change the camera settings using the touchscreen. They can even harvest that data if they wish to calculate more granular temperature data instead of relying on weather stations to gather data and incorporate it into some sort of geospatial tool and then sell that data for research, or use that data to innovate and create new technology to combat climate change.
put a thermometer in the phone so I can tell what the temperature is in my immediate surroundings. Figure out a way such that the processor or the warmth of my hand doesn't affect the temperature reading
So you want them to invent something that measures the temperature of the things not surrounding it?
That's not how temperature measurement or physics work…
temperature is in my immediate surroundings.
So you want them to invent something that measures the temperature of the things not surrounding it?
That's not what I said. Did you read my comment properly?
That's not how temperature measurement or physics work…
Yet the iPhone can measure your elevation and stairs you've climbed because Apple put a barometer in the iPhone several years ago (and I'm pretty certain it sits behind one of the grills to be able to detect air pressure).
I believe that Apple engineers are pretty smart, they can probably come up with a way to measure air temperature. If I can go out and buy one of these which detects ambient temperature and humidity digitally, why can't something like that be miniaturised and incorporated into the iPhone? I actually believe they could do it, if you don't want to believe it is possible to miniaturise a digital thermometer and hygrometer then that's understandable.
It's like how Apple made the trackpads on their Macbooks stupidly big.
lol, first time I've heard anyone complain about MacBook trackpads.
Fair enough, I just don’t see the point in having such a large track pad where I only use 30% of it (at max) and I experience misclicks every now and then because of it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this Apple’s initial test of this button type (even though they won’t call it a button). They could replace the volume controls, the power button and the action button all with similar multifuction buttons to increase their usefulness.
Honestly, the volume definitely could be replaced with a slider of some sort however there might be some issues.
android had this before.
my samsung galaxy note 8 had a neat feature of scrolling using the fingerprint sensor, plus i managed to get it working with the camera in a limited way but worked….. anyway a lot of companies have a feature that might not have all the features the armchair engineers in the world would say it should have done but this is the case and watch the potential grow.
a lot of androide devices had the camera button and canned it because of cost etc blah blah blah. how long will this fad grow, i dont know but watch the isheep salivate over this.
For those, like myself, who have no idea what the OP is banging on about.