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Poll: iOS devices to lose their home buttons?

It all started with the news of the four finger swipe today in iOS 4.3 for iPad which replicates the functionality of the home button.  Soon, BGR coincidentally got a tip that the home button was going missing from future iPads and iPhones running around Cupertino.

We have exclusively been told that the reason Apple just added multitouch gestures for the iPad in the latest iOS 4.3 beta is because the iPad will be losing the home button. Yes, we are told that Apple, at some point in time, will remove the home button from the iPad’s design. Instead of button taps, you will use new multitouch gestures to navigate to the home screen and also to launch the app switcher.

Other things to consider:

  1. How do you do a hard reset without a home button?
  2. And what about people without all of their fingers?
  3. The physical home button is still functioning when the touch panel interface crashes.  Soft buttons and gestures crash here too.
  4. There are too many reasons to need a home button for us to believe this.  Maybe the home button moves to the bottom?

What do you think?

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Avatar for Seth Weintraub Seth Weintraub

Publisher and Editorial Director of the 9to5/Electrek sites.


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