Hacker News Reader

Comment by tammer | Hacker News Reader

All these comments about hardware buttons will in a few years inspire the same chuckles reading comments about how hardware keyboards are absolutely essential for cellphones from 2007.

View on HN

I don't completely buy that argument - we still use hardware keyboards for laptop and desktop computers. Some hardware interfaces are just naturally superior. Humans are tactile beings, and if you want to operate an interface without looking at it, you need an interface that a person can feel.

I have a Cadillac XTS, and it is a 100% touch interface. I cannot do anything with the radio/climate without taking my eyes off the road. I absolutely hate it. It doesn't respond well in the hot Texas summers, and requires more effort to operate than even the cheapest in-dash car UI. Contrast to my friend's Audi, which I can do most things with the center mounted dial without looking, just by memorizing how the console feels.

Somehow almost all phone manufacturers in 2018 still include hardware buttons in their phones, precisely when the UX of a hardware button is better.

The Model 3 also has some hardware buttons.

Just because something happened in one situation doesn't mean it'll happen again in a different situation. By your logic we'd all be using laptops with touchscreen keyboards now, but we aren't.

To belabour an obvious point: when you are driving a car it is vitally important that you keep your eyes on the road. When you are operating a mobile device, much less so. So hardware controls are far more useful in a car than they are on a phone. Touchscreen keyboards on phones are a trade-off - what you lose in tactile feedback, you make up on valuable screen real estate. That logic doesn't apply to cars either.

I still hate giving up my screen to onscreen keyboard and would love a clamshell keyboard for my android phone...

They also said SD card are going away, that hasnt worked out so well. Neither has the headphone jack for audiophiles.

I'd argue the headphone jack is staying around because most people including myself don't want to be forced to use bluetooth ones which are more expensive and require recharging.

A headphone converter dongle that plugs into the usb connection is also an option.

The dongle is one more thing to buy, to keep around, to carry, to plug, to replace when misplaced...

Yeah, my brother has to use one of those with his new iPhone and hates it because it prevents you from also charging the phone (a problem while he is using battery costly GPS). He has also had to buy like 4 now because apple cords are so awful.

If anyone at Apple reads this comment, for the love of god fix your cords. Fake Chinese dongle/cords are better than the ones you guys make which is atrocious from a company that brands itself as high quality.

Here are your macbook pro power charger reviews of which 152 out of 170 reviews are 1/5 mostly because they are so fragile they break: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MD565LL/A/apple-60w-magsa...

Here are your iphone jack to headphone jack reviews of which 376 out of 479 are 1/5 mostly due to breaking: https://www.apple.com/shop/reviews/MMX62AM/A/lightning-to-35...

Everyone thinks they'd hate the Tesla interface, but I don't personally know a single owner that doesn't love it. I understand the argument for tactile feedback, but the pros I get from the Tesla display outweigh them for me, personally. I dread going back to a dash full of buttons.

Maybe _owner_ means there is already bias in your sample...

Definitely. However, speaking of myself personally, I was apprehensive of the touch screen when I bought it. I thought it looked cool but was worried about usability. 2 year (and one major UI refresh) later, I have no more concerns.

I'm now imagining trying to drive a car with a touch screen steering wheel and touch screen pedals.

Saab once made a prototype with a steer-by-wire joystick. All the reviews I've read were that it wasn't so great -- and clearly, they must have agreed, since they never put it into production.

It's very different from phones, where you don't need to keep your eyes on the road to avoid ramming your 3000lb metal box into the car in front of you.

Tactile controls facilitate use without having to look at them, so you can keep your eyes on the road where they belong.

Hardware keyboards are obviously not essential for cellphones, but that doesn't mean there's no place for them. Markets can be weird sometimes, right now it's just too damned easy to make a huge profit margin selling people smartphones, that limits the pressure to innovate. I, for one, would easily pay a 50% premium (maybe more) for a smartphone that had a good built-in keyboard.

Yeah, I also look forward to when the same concept that brought us "damn you autocorrect" means several pedestrians are dead in the street.

They're not essential but I miss the hardware keyboards.

They were essential. Even the best touchscreen keyboards are still slower for typing. Cellphones have gotten worse in the name of reducing manufacturing costs and allowing a single SKU to be sold in every region.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com