How could an iPhone work without a home button? We now have some idea.
IMAGE: LORIS RAVERA/MASHABLE
We now have a good idea how the iPhone 8 will work with no home button
Apple is widely suspected to unveil three new iPhones at a September event: the iPhone 7S, iPhone 7S Plus, and the highly anticipated iPhone 8.
A new report from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, who has historically been one of the most reliable Apple reporters, reveals at least one possible way the iPhone 8 will make up for the lack of a home button. Apple is said to be testing multiple solutions, including one that is entirely gesture-based, meaning the user would return to the home screen by swiping with a finger in a specific way.
Here's how it would work. The bottom of the iPhone 8's display will show a thin bar. It's unclear from the report whether the bar would be present just on the lock screen or at all times, but swiping up "opens the phone," presumably calling up the keypad for a passcode or whatever biometric security is in the iPhone 8 (it's rumored to be face recognition and possibly Touch ID if Apple can find a place for the fingerprint sensor without a home button).
The iPhone 8 will look similar to our imagining of the iPhone in 2020, with a virtually bezel-less screen
The notch up top means the status bar at the top of the display is split into two areas, which some Apple employees apparently call "ears." The current time, which currently resides in the center of the status bar, has been relocated to the left side, and wireless connection status (Wi-Fi, cellular) moves to the right. That status bar would also change based on the current task, since space is more limited.
The front and back of the iPhone 8 are rumored to both be glass, but the report says there will be a steel band along the edge that functions as an antenna.
The report cautions that it could only say Apple has "tested" the new gesture controls and that it's likely one of multiple solutions for making up for the lack of a home button. But so far it's the most detailed report we've seen so far of exactly how the iPhone 8 will actually work.
source: mashable.com
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