Wait, are we really at the point where physical buttons are viewed as a revolutionary feature?
wait until they hear about headphone jacks!
It's not the button that's revolutionary. It's how it's used.
Smartphones are in such a sorry state that a single hardware button seems like a big deal.
Huh? In the exact same place on this Pixel and my last three Pixels is the Power button, Double tapping the Power Button on my Android phone opens the camera. Press and hold to talk to Assistant. Hold a long time to open Emergency and eventually call 911 automatically. It's been a option for a long time. It would be nice if Google made these use assignable actions but they already exist.
I have butt dialed 911 because of that. Total misfeature
The power button on my wife's old phone (Pixel 3, I think) started to flip it's shit and we got woken up by police knocking on our door because of it one time.
You can turn it off now. I think it's the Feature called Crisis Alert in Safety and Emergency
This is what I don't get. Well obviously they want to push usage of their own services, but shortcut stuff like this should always be customisable. To a degree I even understand it for assistant, but why would you want to push the usage stats of the camera app? Android has been about choice for such a long time, but they have been fucking this up for so many years now, letting Apple get the points here.
I know basically nothing about the Action Button, but fwiw, iPhones use the power button in a similar manner already. Double press opens Apple Pay, press and hold for Siri.
I'm fairly certain that on some Android phones it is programmable. I could have sworn it was on my OnePlus 5, anyway.
Samsung and Google were literally ahead with a Bixby button and the Edge Squeeze. Too bad they didn't make it more functional than just an assistant macro. I had a rooted 2 XL and I still miss squeeze for flashlight.
I always was sad to see people bashing the Bixby buttons existence. I never used Bixby ever but it was so useful as a macro button. Now they took the button away.
On my s22+ you can double tap the power button to open up the camera or any app that you'd like automatically.
Motorola shake flashlight was the best. Just a quick chop chop and you'd have a light
I now have a little flashlight button on my lock screen I can slide to turn on the flashlight. Not as convenient but way better than not having it there.
Actually youre right on the moto gesture. I used to have droid turbo and the only reason I rooted my 2 XL in the first place was because I missed chop chop. Double twist for camera was also great.
I was so in love with the first two pixels. The lines really not lived up to expectations.
so like Samsung had the Bixby button for half a decade now? No, thanks.
also, a mute button is pointless when we can just hold the volume down for a second.
The Bixby button sucked because for so long you couldn't remap it to do anything else. And even when they finally relented at the end, they only allowed it to have the functions of press and hold or double tap to activate extra features, but single tap was always still reserved for Bixby.
Having a dedicated mute button is good when your default volume controls are for media volume. Not that it makes a difference for me because my phone is forever on vibrate, but I get the utility.
You could always just download an app to remap it with far more functionality. Used to love that feature.
I could?! The best I could find back then was to disable it.
Yeah, it was called BxActions iirc
I'm still using that on my s10+. Having the flashlight mapped and Bixby completely disabled is all I care about, and it works perfect. And I'm pretty sure you get full remap control if you spend the few bucks for it, but I haven't needed to.
I had mine remapped as far back as the Note 4.
Yes, but you had to set up Bixby first which I refused to do, so just cut off the part of my phone case that pushed the button so I'd stop accidentally pressing it.
No? I had Bixby removed from the phone entirely.
I have a Note 8, they've now had it for a while where you can single tap to open an app or run a command. But if you choose to do that, double press opens Bixby. So sadly you get Bixby no matter what.
The mute toggle on iPhone doesn’t mute media if you play something with it enabled, and you can still increase/decrease the volume of that, you just don’t get any notification sounds. So bit different than just turning the volume down for the whole device.
I keep mute enabled all the time because I get the notifications on my watch, and I forget it’s on because media still plays with sound. It’s actually really nice. One of the few things I actually like about iPhone.
This volume button pair is actually configurable on my phone, that's why I brought it up. I can choose whether the buttons affect notifications or media by default, and when media is playing it'll always change the media volume.
Yeah, it wasn't used much so they removed it ig. But its apple so now its new and innovative and everything needs it! ffs
Gimme expandable storage and 3.5mm ports back first.
Best feature in a phone is the Motorola shake flashlight
And the shake-twist camera
Yes! My colleague was astonished that I had this feature with my old Motorola. 😅
is there a way to get in lineageos or other roms?
Yes. Tasker or Macrodroid, both automation apps, will do this pretty easily, along with many other things.
Yeah, just have a Motorola😝 I mean it's in lineage on my old Motorola, anyway I have an OnePlus phone now and miss it dearly, this and twist for camera, changing songs by holding volume buttons etc
Man this so much!! I switched to a Galaxy (because it was part of the free deal with the phone network) from my Motorola and was baffled it wasn't a default Android feature. It was easily one of the top 5 handiest features. I know I can't get a third party app that can still do the that but it's just not the same knowing how spot on and nifty Motorola did.
I hope the 16 has a headphone jack so that "everyone should steal this revolutionary new feature from apple" as well.
My S23 Ultra does this now. It no longer has the bixby button, but the power button can be remapped. I have it now so that double clicking the power button opens my camera app, but long pressing it shuts off my phone.
It's been like this for at least a few years using the stock Samsung OS.
You can do it on pixel too. I have it open assistant on long hold or double tap cam.
I'd still like an extra button and/or squeeze function like the early pixels had. The big thing for me on the ultra while you're in the camera app would be a shutter button like some of Sony Xperia phones have. Being able to double tap the shutter button for the camera could open the power button to open another app or function, also wouldn't mind seeing a triple tap function added to the button as well.
It is a good concept tbh. I even miss the physical ringer switch when Im on Android (unless it's a OnePlus)
Many Android phones already have had buttons and more. My phone has an assistant button which I wish would become a shutter button when I open the camera, and do something else when I double tap. But it's not programmable sadly.
Now that Apple has done it, maybe it will make a comeback on Android...
At least I have really useful ports like a headphone jack and SD card slot. iPhone doesn't have that yet.... Lol
Headphone jack and sd card slot? You must have an old phone, wait till you buy a new one lol. It's annoying af how many manufacturers have removed this
I bought it new actually. Last December. Sony Xperia 10iii. In the meantime the 10v just came out a month ago.
I specifically bought Sony because it has a headphone jack and SD card slot.
But I know what you mean. It's so hard to find anything above €450 the has a headphone jack. Only the Sony Xperia's and the Asus ZenFone as far as I'm aware.
Aw man Sony has good phones but they're always like... 50% pricier than their counterparts.
I wouldn't say 50% but definitely more expensive. I don't think they have the mass manufacturing that the Chinese companies have so their components and build costs are probably higher.
Try key mapper from fdroid?
I'll take a look. Thanks
So many people in this thread saying “who cares it’s just a button” without having any idea what it actually does.
Want the mute switch behavior? Well that’s the default thing the button does and you can use it without looking at it.
Want to program the button to do like literally anything? You can do that. For example:
Launch the camera app, or any other app
Control your smart home accessories
Toggle Do Not Disturb, or another focus mode
Run a command on a remote server via ssh
Start recording audio in case you’re around cops doing cop stuff
Or anything else you can program in with a Shortcut
Being able to remap keys is very important, but the thing is that this is basic functionality since forever.
Samsung XCover's have that button. I have never used it for anything and just disabled it as it was just annoying. That little mute switch that apples have though is fantastic used that all the time, when I had an iPhone for work.
My Samsung Galaxy S10 has already:
The bixby button which opens my calendar (no root necessary)
The powerbutton pressed twice: opens the camera.
The volume down button: takes a picture.
iPhone once more is just missing options and settings
No, no you don't understand!! My Samsung galaxy 3 did that decades ago, although it's not the same!!!!
Pixel 6a does this... calm yourself young one.
RIP onepluses alert slider, loved it
They ditched the alert slider? When? I'm on a OnePlus 6, and have been considering installing LineageOS on it to give it a few more years of life. The alert slider is one of the reasons why I don't want to give it up just yet.
No, they still have the alert slider. It wasn't on the OnePlus 10, but they brought it back on the 11 and it looks like it will be included on the upcoming 12.
Weird that they left it off the OnePlus 10 and brought it back for the next generation. I'm glad they did, though. I still think I'll stick with my OnePlus 6 for a bit, if I can keep it running.
I recently got lineageos on my old 6t and it is a bit buggy, specifically WiFi
The slider was probably the feature that I liked least about my OnePlus phones, and it was actually a factor in me deciding to not get a OnePlus phone again. Unlike the iPhone switch, which had an action that was perpendicular to the direction that my phone was moving when putting it into my pocket, the OnePlus phone's slider was parallel to that movement. So the slider would change positions every time my phone would go into my pocket. I like my phone on vibrate 99.9% of the time, so I always needed it in the middle position, which was the hardest one to get it into. I always found myself wishing I could disable that feature, but I never found a way to.
Any time I’ve switched to android over the years that little switch is one of the biggest, yet smallest features on the iPhone that I end up really missing. It is so convenient, and now that it’s reprogrammable with different taps it will be even better.
It will be the think I probably miss the most when I eventually upgrade. The brilliance of the switch is that it is a switch - which means can be verified by feel or by sight to be in the silent position without needing to wake or even take you phone out of your pocket.
I never liked the physical switch because I would switch it on accident. I want my phone on vibrate 99.9% of the time, so the switch is kind of wasted space, which is why I like the idea of the programmable button better than the switch.
Android actually improved their silent/vibrate/ring switching a couple of years ago. You no longer need to go into the settings or even the quick settings. You just press one of the volume buttons, and a little pop-up comes up showing your volume level. On that pop-up, there's a button to toggle the silent/vibrate/ring state. I think it's easy enough, but you do need to have your screen on, which I could see defeating the purpose for people who use that feature a lot.
wdym, that switch isnt even out yet
The silence switch on the left side of the iPhone has been around for forever
Looking at my iPhone 11 Pro work gave me and it's silent switch on the side. Lol
Definitely out already.
silent switch has been there since the 3g
now it's an 'action button', not a silent switch iirc
How much money do you all think Apple paid Will Sattelberg to write this 'article'?
Reminds me of this thing I bought a long time ago, back when phones still had headphone jacks. It was a button that plugged into that, and you could program it to do whatever you wanted. It was neat, but often didn't work too well. I wish I could remember what it was called.
Anyway, Pixels have the feature where you can tap the back of the phone and map that to an action, so we already kind of have that. Mine is mapped to the flashlight.
I use double tap on the back to activate “Reachability” (screen slides down) on my iPhone, works somewhat okay
Not sure if you knew this already, but swiping down from just above the home bar thing at the bottom also activates Reachability
My Pixel 7a nearly has this. The "Power" button by default does:
Short Press: Sleep/Wake
Long Press: Assistant
In order to actually get the power menu to pop up, you hold the power button + volume up. You can switch the behavior so that a long press can either be the assistant or the power menu, but otherwise not fully configurable. Feels like that would be an easy win to let us do whatever we want with it.
I can't remember the button combo, but there's a way to use the power and volume buttons to switch between silent and back. I used to hit it all the time by accident.
The same one they mentioned, if the power button is set to assistant then it brings up the power menu and if the power button is set to the power menu then it sets the phone to silent/vibrate, but doesn't switch it back.
I thought that we only required one button.
Ah yes Android Police. A site I used to know.
Meeeeeh.
There should be 2, one at each of the corners on the right. Label them L and R.
Useless "feature" bring back easily unlockable bootloaders.
and while that might sound second nature on any Android device
exsqueeze me?
every android phone needs what every android phone is capable of? got it. welcome to 2015 apple, weve been expecting you
Nah, bring back the context menu button that some Androids had that pops up the main menu of whatever application you're using. Fuck, I miss that.
After all that, i have no idea what this guy even wants, what makes a button an action button?
The author is under the impression that the button will be infinitely remappable. Given Apple's history, I expect it to be rather limited. I will sorely miss the mute switch which has both a tactile and visible position indicator which does not require waking the phone, or even having the phone on, to actuate (should you want to turn on your phone without getting bombarded with notification sounds).
It is infinitely remappable. To anything you can program in with a Shortcut, which is a ton of non-trivial stuff. Which they said explicitly.
I see a lot of people mentioning a mute switch...is that anything other than what it sounds like it does? Cus I've had volume buttons since the old Nokia brick days.
iPhones have always had a switch that toggles the phone between mute and sound on. This button replaces that switch
The iPhone has volume buttons as well but the mute switch was a way to quickly mute your notifications completely. Its honestly the one thing I miss about having an iPhone.
So is the volume buttons, i dont get it.
I mean TVs have volume buttons but also a mute. It's nice to be able to use volume to set a specific level but then also quickly toggle between that perfect level and silent.
It's not something you strictly need a physical button for, but the way they implemented it on old iPhones was nice. It was a physical switch rather than a button, and it looked different in the two positions--the slider under the switch was red on one side and black on the other. (or maybe silver, i forget, but it didn't stand out the way the red did.) So you could tell at a glance if it was muted as well without turning on the screen.
The new button seems like a step back from that to me, but if you don't use the silencing feature then a reprogrammable button is maybe more useful to you.
Sorry, in advance, for the long, descriptive post, but the value of a dedicate, slide mute switch is somewhat nuanced.
The mute switch on an iPhone is a physical slide switch. Without looking, you can feel if it's muted (back) or active (front) position. Alternately, you can see the condition as, when it's in the "mute" position, it has an exposed orange (painted) indicator. Neither of these verifications require that the phone be awake or to light up the screen. It can also be activated with the device off, so that if you turn the phone on in a quiet place you don't have to wait for the UI to become responsive (usually after start notifications have actuated, which occur before software buttons can be pressed to mute the phone). It is a single action to mute, compared to a 5 gesture sequence to silence the phones primary sounds (which can be ringtone OR playback volume, but not both) and an 6-8 gesture sequence (depending on the wake-status of the last used app) to silence the secondary phone sound. Note: I'm assuming that face unlock is active and you are staring at your phone obtrusively; entry of the unlock code would add 7-9 additional touch gestures.
While I agree that a button is nice, it still takes at least two actions - press the button and visually confirm its actuation puts it into the desired mode. There are times when you are unsure what mode the phone is in. On an iPhone, that is not visible from any screen until you either a) wake the phone and actuate a volume button (neither visual nor haptic feedback occurs when a volume button is pressed) or are logged into the phone (two minimum gestures plus face authorization) and use the action center (swipe function) to visually verify th volume position.
Now, you could easily argue that this is fucking terrible UI design, and I would 100% agree with you. I would, likewise agree, that most technical features on an iPhone are certifiably obtuse - ex: you cannot turn on your hotspot without entering the settings app; it's not even an action center icon option as it is on Android. I would add that it's also monumental dumbfuckery that your hotspot is the name of your phone and cannot be changed. Or that there is no function to alter the Prompt volume in the phone (ie. for GPS directions) unless the prompt audio is actively playing - difficult if the prompt volume is accidentally (or temporarily) set to zero. In 3rd party apps the prompt volume is several menus deep; for the OEM map application, it doesn't exist - there is literally no setting.
But, it remains - if you want to mute the alerts on your phone, the switch requires fewer actions and zero view of the device to actuate, and zero activation of the screen or login to verify it's condition. You may never need to discretely silence your phone or check that it is in silent mode without taking the phone out and unlocking it, but many of us find it quite useful.
How is there an essay about muting a phone.
LOL
Unpopular opinion, but phones these days don't really need more buttons, but less. We have a huge touch screen after all, let's take better advantage of it!
"Action button" - Android phones have had a long press of power button be the assistant button since Android 12, just set your "assistant" as whatever action you want (e.g. with Tasker).
Sleep/wake button - can be the power button for now, but also don't forget double-tap on the home screen/lock screen/status bar.
Power off/on - virtual button since Android 12, physical button for turning on. In case of emergency, I guess hold down for longer or do something like triple-tap.
Volume keys - every video app should use onscreen gestures, same could be applied for music. In other contexts, statusbar or side swiping gesture could suffice, plus a notification shade slider like some OEMs already provide.
Yeah, nothing is preventing the same device from having a big touchscreen and a bunch of buttons at the same time.
On the other hand, buttons give tactile feedback that a screen will never, ever, ever give.
!remindme 25 years
Oneplus phones have/had screen off gestures that I miss. Like 2 lines down to pause the music.
Wait, are we really at the point where physical buttons are viewed as a revolutionary feature?
wait until they hear about headphone jacks!
It's not the button that's revolutionary. It's how it's used.
Smartphones are in such a sorry state that a single hardware button seems like a big deal.
Huh? In the exact same place on this Pixel and my last three Pixels is the Power button, Double tapping the Power Button on my Android phone opens the camera. Press and hold to talk to Assistant. Hold a long time to open Emergency and eventually call 911 automatically. It's been a option for a long time. It would be nice if Google made these use assignable actions but they already exist.
I have butt dialed 911 because of that. Total misfeature
The power button on my wife's old phone (Pixel 3, I think) started to flip it's shit and we got woken up by police knocking on our door because of it one time.
You can turn it off now. I think it's the Feature called Crisis Alert in Safety and Emergency
This is what I don't get. Well obviously they want to push usage of their own services, but shortcut stuff like this should always be customisable. To a degree I even understand it for assistant, but why would you want to push the usage stats of the camera app? Android has been about choice for such a long time, but they have been fucking this up for so many years now, letting Apple get the points here.
I know basically nothing about the Action Button, but fwiw, iPhones use the power button in a similar manner already. Double press opens Apple Pay, press and hold for Siri.
I'm fairly certain that on some Android phones it is programmable. I could have sworn it was on my OnePlus 5, anyway.
Samsung and Google were literally ahead with a Bixby button and the Edge Squeeze. Too bad they didn't make it more functional than just an assistant macro. I had a rooted 2 XL and I still miss squeeze for flashlight.
I always was sad to see people bashing the Bixby buttons existence. I never used Bixby ever but it was so useful as a macro button. Now they took the button away.
On my s22+ you can double tap the power button to open up the camera or any app that you'd like automatically.
Motorola shake flashlight was the best. Just a quick chop chop and you'd have a light
I now have a little flashlight button on my lock screen I can slide to turn on the flashlight. Not as convenient but way better than not having it there.
Actually youre right on the moto gesture. I used to have droid turbo and the only reason I rooted my 2 XL in the first place was because I missed chop chop. Double twist for camera was also great.
I was so in love with the first two pixels. The lines really not lived up to expectations.
so like Samsung had the Bixby button for half a decade now? No, thanks.
also, a mute button is pointless when we can just hold the volume down for a second.
The Bixby button sucked because for so long you couldn't remap it to do anything else. And even when they finally relented at the end, they only allowed it to have the functions of press and hold or double tap to activate extra features, but single tap was always still reserved for Bixby.
Having a dedicated mute button is good when your default volume controls are for media volume. Not that it makes a difference for me because my phone is forever on vibrate, but I get the utility.
You could always just download an app to remap it with far more functionality. Used to love that feature.
I could?! The best I could find back then was to disable it.
Yeah, it was called BxActions iirc
I'm still using that on my s10+. Having the flashlight mapped and Bixby completely disabled is all I care about, and it works perfect. And I'm pretty sure you get full remap control if you spend the few bucks for it, but I haven't needed to.
I had mine remapped as far back as the Note 4.
Yes, but you had to set up Bixby first which I refused to do, so just cut off the part of my phone case that pushed the button so I'd stop accidentally pressing it.
No? I had Bixby removed from the phone entirely.
I have a Note 8, they've now had it for a while where you can single tap to open an app or run a command. But if you choose to do that, double press opens Bixby. So sadly you get Bixby no matter what.
The mute toggle on iPhone doesn’t mute media if you play something with it enabled, and you can still increase/decrease the volume of that, you just don’t get any notification sounds. So bit different than just turning the volume down for the whole device.
I keep mute enabled all the time because I get the notifications on my watch, and I forget it’s on because media still plays with sound. It’s actually really nice. One of the few things I actually like about iPhone.
This volume button pair is actually configurable on my phone, that's why I brought it up. I can choose whether the buttons affect notifications or media by default, and when media is playing it'll always change the media volume.
Yeah, it wasn't used much so they removed it ig. But its apple so now its new and innovative and everything needs it! ffs
Gimme expandable storage and 3.5mm ports back first.
Best feature in a phone is the Motorola shake flashlight
And the shake-twist camera
Yes! My colleague was astonished that I had this feature with my old Motorola. 😅
is there a way to get in lineageos or other roms?
Yes. Tasker or Macrodroid, both automation apps, will do this pretty easily, along with many other things.
Yeah, just have a Motorola😝 I mean it's in lineage on my old Motorola, anyway I have an OnePlus phone now and miss it dearly, this and twist for camera, changing songs by holding volume buttons etc
Man this so much!! I switched to a Galaxy (because it was part of the free deal with the phone network) from my Motorola and was baffled it wasn't a default Android feature. It was easily one of the top 5 handiest features. I know I can't get a third party app that can still do the that but it's just not the same knowing how spot on and nifty Motorola did.
I hope the 16 has a headphone jack so that "everyone should steal this revolutionary new feature from apple" as well.
My S23 Ultra does this now. It no longer has the bixby button, but the power button can be remapped. I have it now so that double clicking the power button opens my camera app, but long pressing it shuts off my phone.
It's been like this for at least a few years using the stock Samsung OS.
You can do it on pixel too. I have it open assistant on long hold or double tap cam.
I'd still like an extra button and/or squeeze function like the early pixels had. The big thing for me on the ultra while you're in the camera app would be a shutter button like some of Sony Xperia phones have. Being able to double tap the shutter button for the camera could open the power button to open another app or function, also wouldn't mind seeing a triple tap function added to the button as well.
It is a good concept tbh. I even miss the physical ringer switch when Im on Android (unless it's a OnePlus)
Many Android phones already have had buttons and more. My phone has an assistant button which I wish would become a shutter button when I open the camera, and do something else when I double tap. But it's not programmable sadly.
Now that Apple has done it, maybe it will make a comeback on Android...
At least I have really useful ports like a headphone jack and SD card slot. iPhone doesn't have that yet.... Lol
Headphone jack and sd card slot? You must have an old phone, wait till you buy a new one lol. It's annoying af how many manufacturers have removed this
I bought it new actually. Last December. Sony Xperia 10iii. In the meantime the 10v just came out a month ago.
I specifically bought Sony because it has a headphone jack and SD card slot.
But I know what you mean. It's so hard to find anything above €450 the has a headphone jack. Only the Sony Xperia's and the Asus ZenFone as far as I'm aware.
Aw man Sony has good phones but they're always like... 50% pricier than their counterparts.
I wouldn't say 50% but definitely more expensive. I don't think they have the mass manufacturing that the Chinese companies have so their components and build costs are probably higher.
Try key mapper from fdroid?
I'll take a look. Thanks
So many people in this thread saying “who cares it’s just a button” without having any idea what it actually does.
Want the mute switch behavior? Well that’s the default thing the button does and you can use it without looking at it.
Want to program the button to do like literally anything? You can do that. For example:
Being able to remap keys is very important, but the thing is that this is basic functionality since forever.
Samsung XCover's have that button. I have never used it for anything and just disabled it as it was just annoying. That little mute switch that apples have though is fantastic used that all the time, when I had an iPhone for work.
My Samsung Galaxy S10 has already: The bixby button which opens my calendar (no root necessary) The powerbutton pressed twice: opens the camera. The volume down button: takes a picture.
iPhone once more is just missing options and settings
No, no you don't understand!! My Samsung galaxy 3 did that decades ago, although it's not the same!!!!
Pixel 6a does this... calm yourself young one.
RIP onepluses alert slider, loved it
They ditched the alert slider? When? I'm on a OnePlus 6, and have been considering installing LineageOS on it to give it a few more years of life. The alert slider is one of the reasons why I don't want to give it up just yet.
No, they still have the alert slider. It wasn't on the OnePlus 10, but they brought it back on the 11 and it looks like it will be included on the upcoming 12.
Weird that they left it off the OnePlus 10 and brought it back for the next generation. I'm glad they did, though. I still think I'll stick with my OnePlus 6 for a bit, if I can keep it running.
I recently got lineageos on my old 6t and it is a bit buggy, specifically WiFi
The slider was probably the feature that I liked least about my OnePlus phones, and it was actually a factor in me deciding to not get a OnePlus phone again. Unlike the iPhone switch, which had an action that was perpendicular to the direction that my phone was moving when putting it into my pocket, the OnePlus phone's slider was parallel to that movement. So the slider would change positions every time my phone would go into my pocket. I like my phone on vibrate 99.9% of the time, so I always needed it in the middle position, which was the hardest one to get it into. I always found myself wishing I could disable that feature, but I never found a way to.
Any time I’ve switched to android over the years that little switch is one of the biggest, yet smallest features on the iPhone that I end up really missing. It is so convenient, and now that it’s reprogrammable with different taps it will be even better.
It will be the think I probably miss the most when I eventually upgrade. The brilliance of the switch is that it is a switch - which means can be verified by feel or by sight to be in the silent position without needing to wake or even take you phone out of your pocket.
I never liked the physical switch because I would switch it on accident. I want my phone on vibrate 99.9% of the time, so the switch is kind of wasted space, which is why I like the idea of the programmable button better than the switch.
Android actually improved their silent/vibrate/ring switching a couple of years ago. You no longer need to go into the settings or even the quick settings. You just press one of the volume buttons, and a little pop-up comes up showing your volume level. On that pop-up, there's a button to toggle the silent/vibrate/ring state. I think it's easy enough, but you do need to have your screen on, which I could see defeating the purpose for people who use that feature a lot.
wdym, that switch isnt even out yet
The silence switch on the left side of the iPhone has been around for forever
Looking at my iPhone 11 Pro work gave me and it's silent switch on the side. Lol
Definitely out already.
silent switch has been there since the 3g
now it's an 'action button', not a silent switch iirc
How much money do you all think Apple paid Will Sattelberg to write this 'article'?
Reminds me of this thing I bought a long time ago, back when phones still had headphone jacks. It was a button that plugged into that, and you could program it to do whatever you wanted. It was neat, but often didn't work too well. I wish I could remember what it was called.
Anyway, Pixels have the feature where you can tap the back of the phone and map that to an action, so we already kind of have that. Mine is mapped to the flashlight.
Pressy was one https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressy_Button
That was it! Thank you!
I use double tap on the back to activate “Reachability” (screen slides down) on my iPhone, works somewhat okay
Not sure if you knew this already, but swiping down from just above the home bar thing at the bottom also activates Reachability
My Pixel 7a nearly has this. The "Power" button by default does:
Short Press: Sleep/Wake
Long Press: Assistant
In order to actually get the power menu to pop up, you hold the power button + volume up. You can switch the behavior so that a long press can either be the assistant or the power menu, but otherwise not fully configurable. Feels like that would be an easy win to let us do whatever we want with it.
I can't remember the button combo, but there's a way to use the power and volume buttons to switch between silent and back. I used to hit it all the time by accident.
The same one they mentioned, if the power button is set to assistant then it brings up the power menu and if the power button is set to the power menu then it sets the phone to silent/vibrate, but doesn't switch it back.
I thought that we only required one button.
Ah yes Android Police. A site I used to know.
Meeeeeh.
There should be 2, one at each of the corners on the right. Label them L and R.
Useless "feature" bring back easily unlockable bootloaders.
exsqueeze me?
every android phone needs what every android phone is capable of? got it. welcome to 2015 apple, weve been expecting you
Nah, bring back the context menu button that some Androids had that pops up the main menu of whatever application you're using. Fuck, I miss that.
After all that, i have no idea what this guy even wants, what makes a button an action button?
The author is under the impression that the button will be infinitely remappable. Given Apple's history, I expect it to be rather limited. I will sorely miss the mute switch which has both a tactile and visible position indicator which does not require waking the phone, or even having the phone on, to actuate (should you want to turn on your phone without getting bombarded with notification sounds).
It is infinitely remappable. To anything you can program in with a Shortcut, which is a ton of non-trivial stuff. Which they said explicitly.
I see a lot of people mentioning a mute switch...is that anything other than what it sounds like it does? Cus I've had volume buttons since the old Nokia brick days.
iPhones have always had a switch that toggles the phone between mute and sound on. This button replaces that switch
The iPhone has volume buttons as well but the mute switch was a way to quickly mute your notifications completely. Its honestly the one thing I miss about having an iPhone.
So is the volume buttons, i dont get it.
I mean TVs have volume buttons but also a mute. It's nice to be able to use volume to set a specific level but then also quickly toggle between that perfect level and silent.
It's not something you strictly need a physical button for, but the way they implemented it on old iPhones was nice. It was a physical switch rather than a button, and it looked different in the two positions--the slider under the switch was red on one side and black on the other. (or maybe silver, i forget, but it didn't stand out the way the red did.) So you could tell at a glance if it was muted as well without turning on the screen.
The new button seems like a step back from that to me, but if you don't use the silencing feature then a reprogrammable button is maybe more useful to you.
Sorry, in advance, for the long, descriptive post, but the value of a dedicate, slide mute switch is somewhat nuanced.
The mute switch on an iPhone is a physical slide switch. Without looking, you can feel if it's muted (back) or active (front) position. Alternately, you can see the condition as, when it's in the "mute" position, it has an exposed orange (painted) indicator. Neither of these verifications require that the phone be awake or to light up the screen. It can also be activated with the device off, so that if you turn the phone on in a quiet place you don't have to wait for the UI to become responsive (usually after start notifications have actuated, which occur before software buttons can be pressed to mute the phone). It is a single action to mute, compared to a 5 gesture sequence to silence the phones primary sounds (which can be ringtone OR playback volume, but not both) and an 6-8 gesture sequence (depending on the wake-status of the last used app) to silence the secondary phone sound. Note: I'm assuming that face unlock is active and you are staring at your phone obtrusively; entry of the unlock code would add 7-9 additional touch gestures.
While I agree that a button is nice, it still takes at least two actions - press the button and visually confirm its actuation puts it into the desired mode. There are times when you are unsure what mode the phone is in. On an iPhone, that is not visible from any screen until you either a) wake the phone and actuate a volume button (neither visual nor haptic feedback occurs when a volume button is pressed) or are logged into the phone (two minimum gestures plus face authorization) and use the action center (swipe function) to visually verify th volume position.
Now, you could easily argue that this is fucking terrible UI design, and I would 100% agree with you. I would, likewise agree, that most technical features on an iPhone are certifiably obtuse - ex: you cannot turn on your hotspot without entering the settings app; it's not even an action center icon option as it is on Android. I would add that it's also monumental dumbfuckery that your hotspot is the name of your phone and cannot be changed. Or that there is no function to alter the Prompt volume in the phone (ie. for GPS directions) unless the prompt audio is actively playing - difficult if the prompt volume is accidentally (or temporarily) set to zero. In 3rd party apps the prompt volume is several menus deep; for the OEM map application, it doesn't exist - there is literally no setting.
But, it remains - if you want to mute the alerts on your phone, the switch requires fewer actions and zero view of the device to actuate, and zero activation of the screen or login to verify it's condition. You may never need to discretely silence your phone or check that it is in silent mode without taking the phone out and unlocking it, but many of us find it quite useful.
How is there an essay about muting a phone.
LOL
Unpopular opinion, but phones these days don't really need more buttons, but less. We have a huge touch screen after all, let's take better advantage of it!
Yeah, nothing is preventing the same device from having a big touchscreen and a bunch of buttons at the same time.
On the other hand, buttons give tactile feedback that a screen will never, ever, ever give.
!remindme 25 years
Oneplus phones have/had screen off gestures that I miss. Like 2 lines down to pause the music.
No they suck.