Apple's new patent exposed: Touch Bar will be added to the side of the iPhone!

As long as the Touch function is used, it will be cut off by Apple. On March 14, according to information from IT House, the patent list recently published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) shows that Apple has obtained an iPhone/iPad patent. The patent is mainly used to add a touch display to the side of the device. This function is similar to the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro series.

(Picture source: United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO))

Could it be said that the Touch Bar, which has disappeared on the MacBook for three years, will "resurrect" and "reincarnate" on the iPhone?

Apple’s original intention of adding Touch Bar to MacBook was to change the physical buttons to virtual buttons to achieve diversification and customization; and to use Touch Bar to achieve different functions in different scenarios and when using different applications. function.

(Picture source: Apple official website)

This idea is beautiful, but the final experience is far from Apple’s original intention of designing it. For example, it cannot achieve "blind operation" by relying solely on muscle memory when using a computer. Because when we use computers, our attention and eyes are almost focused on the screen, and the addition of Touch Bar allows us to frequently shift our eyes to the keyboard when using this function, which reduces the problem to a certain extent. Office efficiency.

In addition, the Touch Bar does not have any pressing feedback, so its pressing experience is much worse than that of physical buttons.

Perhaps for workers such as video editors, it will be a function to improve efficiency. For example, it can accurately drag the timeline, but for most users, the functions provided by Touch Bar are very important for improving work efficiency. limited.

According to the pictures of Apple’s new patent, it will be used to implement various control buttons, as well as display user interface and various status information, such as volume adjustment, song switching, etc. And Apple also plans to cancel the original volume buttons and integrate all functions into the side screen.

(Photo source: United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)) This is similar to the waterfall screen on the previous Huawei Mate 30 Pro. Huawei Mate 30 Pro uses a large curvature waterfall screen that extends to the side of the fuselage, and cancels the volume button, leaving only the power button, which is replaced by virtual gestures.

(Source: Huawei official website)

You can adjust the volume by long pressing the screen on the side and sliding up or down. Since the system will give feedback such as vibration when using gesture operations, the actual usage experience is almost the same as that of physical buttons.

Xiao Lei’s opinion is that it may not be the best choice to cancel the physical buttons on the side of the phone and use virtual gestures instead. This design change may result in:

1. Users need to adapt to new operating methods and increase learning costs.
2. The stability may not be as good as the physical buttons.

The practicality still needs further discussion and verification.

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