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Report: Apple is testing foldable iPhones, having the same problems as everyone else
(arstechnica.com)
this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2024
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Most of the buyers think that touchscreens are very future and normal buttons are very past, because touchscreens are like magic, look! And because everybody uses them. And because more pixels. And because they don't have to reliably enter text most of the time. Especially not looking at the phone.
I think it all still gets down to people poking screens with their fingers thinking it looks smarter and more elegant (LOL). It has a lot to do with how it looks for others.
It’s more the fact that hardware buttons take away from screen real estate. Yeah, the touch method kinda sucks, but when you’re done with the keyboard it poofs away into more screen.
If you try to put a keyboard on a recent phone for example, and you don’t try to minimize it into oblivion, you’re losing about 4/5ths of the screen. That isn’t a crazy amount, but when you’re playing a game or watching a video, that loses out on quite a bit of space.
Not to mention the aspect ratio would be off for so many things.
That's what I said in other words - it's for people for whom bigger display is more important than input.
Sad that Jolla's thing with "the other half" didn't take off. Or some other standard way to extend these things.
I remember hearing something a few years ago about some companies working on better tactile feedback on touch screen buttons, making them more "clicky" and feeling more like real physical buttons. Sounded complicated and I don't think anyone really did anything with it except for Samsung making the home button super clicky on my old Galaxy. I wonder if that will ever resurface, it seemed like a good compromise for folks who wanted real buttons.
Nope. It’s still a touch screen. The issue isn’t tactile feedback or a lack of it because with touch screens you can miss the button you’re trying to hit.
A miss is still a miss regardless of the touch screen vibrating or whatever the hell it’s doing to give you “tactile feedback”.
Nothing will change how shitty touch screens are and how easy it is to fat finger. I never had any of these problems on my old phone that had a physical keyboard.
My fingers are not very precise, and also sweaty very often. When they are sweaty, I basically use touchscreens only if I absolutely have to. Sweaty fingers are an inconvenience with everything, but they weren't a practical problem with normal buttons.
It's not about feedback only, also clear tactile button separation, not registering touches.
Repurposable physical buttons - maybe.
The more expensive way is with them being transparent and having their own small displays or being above the matrix, and has some similarities with what you say, the less expensive way is like Sony controllers.
BTW, PSP Slim was the most usable pocket computer I've touched. Text input was slow, but compared to touchscreens - more comfortable.