4 ms·

I wish phone makers weren't all designing down to the lowest common denominator. You can spend a thousand dollars on a "gaming phone" but you haven't been able

I wish phone makers weren't all designing down to the lowest common denominator. You can spend a thousand dollars on a "gaming phone" but you haven't been able to buy a phone with actual buttons for playing games in eleven damn years because god forbid anybody diverge from the "glass monolith" design.

Izkata 4y ago
> because god forbid anybody diverge from the "glass monolith" design. A few years ago my building's elevators were breaking down and had to be completely replaced. The new ones have a touchscreen that only ever displays the floor numbers, and real buttons that only go up to 9 (in a grid like a phone) where you have to hit two of them to go to floors 10+.
- bombcar 4y ago
  I feel for you - those buttons will stop working very well quite soon and trying to enter "12" will get you 1, 2, and finally 12. Check every elevator carefully, ADA regulations sometimes require at least ONE elevator in the building to have real buttons (for the blind, for example).
  - SnooSux 4y ago
    Sounds like the buttons are all real, there are just only 10 of them.
    - bombcar 4y ago
      Yeah, which could be really annoying for someone who has a challenge pressing two buttons fast enough to trigger. A hotel I stayed at had touchscreen "requests" for elevators (you put in your floor and it would call a elevator for you) and it was super annoying (trying to get floor 12 would doublebounce on 1 and 2 so you'd often get 11 and 22 before getting 12) until I found a pedestal out of the way that had real buttons for all floors. The "hold your keycard up against the thing" is also really annoying when it is 5 feet off the ground; imaging having to wait for an elevator until someone comes along who can hold your card up there for you.
      - 10000truths 4y ago
        > Yeah, which could be really annoying for someone who has a challenge pressing two buttons fast enough to trigger. Sounds like that can easily be fixed with enter and backspace buttons.
        PhasmaFelis 4y ago
        It can be fixed even more easily by using normal elevator buttons.
    - mortenjorck 4y ago
      This was the same setup in a condo tower I used to live in. Touchscreen grid of floor numbers and a keypad (with Braille) at ADA wheelchair height.
bombcar 4y ago
Now you get to buy weird "gaming cases" and who knows how bulky those are, and if they even work (random obvious SEO link thing: https://www.imore.com/best-gaming-cases-iphone-13-pro https://www.imore.com/best-gaming-cases-iphone-13-pro )
leereeves 4y ago
Perhaps Valve could add a phone to the Steam Deck.
jeroenhd 4y ago
The physical buttons get in the way of day-to-day use. That's why brands like Asus and Razer design phones that are shipped with special cases containing things like joysticks, trigger, and other physical buttons (using USB-C ports or Bluetooth for transmissing buttons). Others still experiment. The ROG Phone 2 came with distance sensors on the side to function as analogue triggers. Phones with buttons have been tried and failed. Same with using your phone's processor for a desktop environment by simply plugging it into a dock; Samsung's DeX comes closest, but very few people seem to use it. In practice, the easiest way to combine phones and games is to either stick with the touch screen interaction all games are designed for, or to grab a Bluetooth controller. Works across many games, almost all phones, and you have a pick in the hand feel or button quality rather than being limited by the design choices of the phone designer. If you're into playing games on the go, tools like the Steam Deck or one of the more recent cloud streaming handhelds are probably better.

Izkata 4y ago

> because god forbid anybody diverge from the "glass monolith" design. A few years ago my building's elevators were breaking down and had to be completely replaced. The new ones have a touchscreen that only ever displays the floor numbers, and real buttons that only go up to 9 (in a grid like a phone) where you have to hit two of them to go to floors 10+.

bombcar 4y ago
I feel for you - those buttons will stop working very well quite soon and trying to enter "12" will get you 1, 2, and finally 12. Check every elevator carefully, ADA regulations sometimes require at least ONE elevator in the building to have real buttons (for the blind, for example).
- SnooSux 4y ago
  Sounds like the buttons are all real, there are just only 10 of them.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    Yeah, which could be really annoying for someone who has a challenge pressing two buttons fast enough to trigger. A hotel I stayed at had touchscreen "requests" for elevators (you put in your floor and it would call a elevator for you) and it was super annoying (trying to get floor 12 would doublebounce on 1 and 2 so you'd often get 11 and 22 before getting 12) until I found a pedestal out of the way that had real buttons for all floors. The "hold your keycard up against the thing" is also really annoying when it is 5 feet off the ground; imaging having to wait for an elevator until someone comes along who can hold your card up there for you.
    - 10000truths 4y ago
      > Yeah, which could be really annoying for someone who has a challenge pressing two buttons fast enough to trigger. Sounds like that can easily be fixed with enter and backspace buttons.
      - PhasmaFelis 4y ago
        It can be fixed even more easily by using normal elevator buttons.
  - mortenjorck 4y ago
    This was the same setup in a condo tower I used to live in. Touchscreen grid of floor numbers and a keypad (with Braille) at ADA wheelchair height.

bombcar 4y ago

Now you get to buy weird "gaming cases" and who knows how bulky those are, and if they even work (random obvious SEO link thing: https://www.imore.com/best-gaming-cases-iphone-13-pro https://www.imore.com/best-gaming-cases-iphone-13-pro )

leereeves 4y ago

Perhaps Valve could add a phone to the Steam Deck.

jeroenhd 4y ago

The physical buttons get in the way of day-to-day use. That's why brands like Asus and Razer design phones that are shipped with special cases containing things like joysticks, trigger, and other physical buttons (using USB-C ports or Bluetooth for transmissing buttons). Others still experiment. The ROG Phone 2 came with distance sensors on the side to function as analogue triggers. Phones with buttons have been tried and failed. Same with using your phone's processor for a desktop environment by simply plugging it into a dock; Samsung's DeX comes closest, but very few people seem to use it. In practice, the easiest way to combine phones and games is to either stick with the touch screen interaction all games are designed for, or to grab a Bluetooth controller. Works across many games, almost all phones, and you have a pick in the hand feel or button quality rather than being limited by the design choices of the phone designer. If you're into playing games on the go, tools like the Steam Deck or one of the more recent cloud streaming handhelds are probably better.