5 ms·

It would be nice to have that feature. On the down side switches are expensive and can fail though so they add warranty cost and another 'hole' in the case. T

It would be nice to have that feature. On the down side switches are expensive and can fail though so they add warranty cost and another 'hole' in the case. That said, a phone case that covers up all of those bits until you expressly open access to them would probably sell well.

sdinsn 7y ago
> switches are expensive Uh, no they aren't.
- Arbalest 7y ago
  The switch itself may not be, but the mechanical effects (hole in case, board space, waterproofing, design testing and as GP said, warranty) makes it expensive.
  - Teever 7y ago
    How come they can make a thin, power sipping high resolution OLED panel for like $100 that fits in a phone but they can't make a reliable switch that ensures privacy?
    - Flockster 7y ago
      And the iPhone is coming with an mechanical switch since the first one, even in the waterproofed phones from the newer generations.
    - Arbalest 7y ago
      That's a business case problem. Not enough people are asking for it. It's expensive because it lowers their margin by a notable (maybe not huge) amount. No one said it couldn't be done, just that it's effort for too little payoff.
    - vageli 7y ago
      I have no horse in this race, but switches are constantly manipulated physically, and can see more abuse and stress because of that.
- bsder 7y ago
  Relative to a transistor, they sure are. In addition, since switches are an electromechanical component, they also affect your mechanical case engineering which electronic components don't do. Finally, if your device is "water resistant" or somesuch, you now have an even bigger engineering headache waiting for your design team. Especially since you don't want a pushbutton, you probably want a slide switch. Switches and buttons are really expensive on electronics components from a relative cost and engineering cost standpoint.
  - Johnny555 7y ago
    Finally, if your device is "water resistant" or somesuch, you now have an even bigger engineering headache waiting for your design team. Especially since you don't want a pushbutton, you probably want a slide switch The easy way to ensure that a switch is waterproof is to use something like a magnetic reed switch or hall effect sensor, so the switch just moves a magnet, which is sensed thorugh the plastic case. It uses more real estate than a pure switch, but requires no open holes through the case.
    - vageli 7y ago
      > It uses more real estate than a pure switch, but requires no open holes through the case. This is at odds with the (apparent) consumer preference of smaller everything.
    - bsder 7y ago
      > The easy way to ensure that a switch is waterproof is to use something like a magnetic reed switch or hall effect sensor, Um, using a hall effect sensor is exactly the kind of "soft switch" we're trying to avoid, no? And magnetic reed switches are big, very expensive, vibration sensitive and failure prone. Since this is security, you're going to want it to fail open and you're not going to want a switch that closes briefly if you vibrate the phone. Mechanical engineering is hard. Let's go shopping! ;)
      - kazinator 7y ago
        Let's go shopping ... for a metallic surgical implant for our index finger so we can operate the hall-effect-based camera/mic on-off switch. :)
hvm 7y ago
Well if we didn't have an economy that makes us replace everything every year (an exaggeration but you get the point), we wouldn't care about the expensiveness. We already have good enough technology that a phone should last us 10 years at least without having issues with the performance. The only problem is having replaceable batteries. We need to move back towards things that last and backwards compatibility. Then it would make sense to pay $1000 or even $2000 on a phone, since you know it works perfectly and it'll last you 10-20 years.

sdinsn 7y ago

> switches are expensive Uh, no they aren't.

Arbalest 7y ago
The switch itself may not be, but the mechanical effects (hole in case, board space, waterproofing, design testing and as GP said, warranty) makes it expensive.
- Teever 7y ago
  How come they can make a thin, power sipping high resolution OLED panel for like $100 that fits in a phone but they can't make a reliable switch that ensures privacy?
  - Flockster 7y ago
    And the iPhone is coming with an mechanical switch since the first one, even in the waterproofed phones from the newer generations.
  - Arbalest 7y ago
    That's a business case problem. Not enough people are asking for it. It's expensive because it lowers their margin by a notable (maybe not huge) amount. No one said it couldn't be done, just that it's effort for too little payoff.
  - vageli 7y ago
    I have no horse in this race, but switches are constantly manipulated physically, and can see more abuse and stress because of that.
bsder 7y ago
Relative to a transistor, they sure are. In addition, since switches are an electromechanical component, they also affect your mechanical case engineering which electronic components don't do. Finally, if your device is "water resistant" or somesuch, you now have an even bigger engineering headache waiting for your design team. Especially since you don't want a pushbutton, you probably want a slide switch. Switches and buttons are really expensive on electronics components from a relative cost and engineering cost standpoint.
- Johnny555 7y ago
  Finally, if your device is "water resistant" or somesuch, you now have an even bigger engineering headache waiting for your design team. Especially since you don't want a pushbutton, you probably want a slide switch The easy way to ensure that a switch is waterproof is to use something like a magnetic reed switch or hall effect sensor, so the switch just moves a magnet, which is sensed thorugh the plastic case. It uses more real estate than a pure switch, but requires no open holes through the case.
  - vageli 7y ago
    > It uses more real estate than a pure switch, but requires no open holes through the case. This is at odds with the (apparent) consumer preference of smaller everything.
  - bsder 7y ago
    > The easy way to ensure that a switch is waterproof is to use something like a magnetic reed switch or hall effect sensor, Um, using a hall effect sensor is exactly the kind of "soft switch" we're trying to avoid, no? And magnetic reed switches are big, very expensive, vibration sensitive and failure prone. Since this is security, you're going to want it to fail open and you're not going to want a switch that closes briefly if you vibrate the phone. Mechanical engineering is hard. Let's go shopping! ;)
    - kazinator 7y ago
      Let's go shopping ... for a metallic surgical implant for our index finger so we can operate the hall-effect-based camera/mic on-off switch. :)

hvm 7y ago

Well if we didn't have an economy that makes us replace everything every year (an exaggeration but you get the point), we wouldn't care about the expensiveness. We already have good enough technology that a phone should last us 10 years at least without having issues with the performance. The only problem is having replaceable batteries. We need to move back towards things that last and backwards compatibility. Then it would make sense to pay $1000 or even $2000 on a phone, since you know it works perfectly and it'll last you 10-20 years.