This needs some simple hardware trigger, that can be queried by bootloader, but specific wnough so it won’t trigger in your pocket. If buttons are unavailable, I can propose several idead:
Cover the proximity sensor 10 times per second. Requires good motor skills.
Shine separated red, green, and blue lasers into three of the phone cameras. You’ll need a box with three different-colored LEDs to cover cameras module.
There is a low-speed data channel in wireless chargers. Just add the button to the charger instead of the phone.
Put your phone at exactly 2.5G of acceleration. Accelerometer is easy to use even from the bootloader, however you will need to put your phone in a centrifuge and reboot it while it’s rotating.
An option ‘Reboot into recovery’ in system settings, duh. Won’t help if your ROM fails to boot.
What’s the point of removing the buttons if you still have holes for the speakers, mic and charging port. Unless they are planning to remove those too it seems kinda pointless.
You can already charge wirelessly. As for the speakers, Samsung has an OLED TV that vibrates the glass of the screen to produce sound, maybe something similar would be possible on a phone too. Don’t know if something similar would be possible for the mic.
Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want a phone like that but it would be cool to see if it’s possible.
I think that you need a relatively large display in order for integrated speakers to be feasible, my 32 inch monitor has it but not sure it will work on a 7-8 inch display.
It mentioned in the article that Meizu already has a phone with capacitive pads instead of buttons, screen-based speaker, 18w wireless charging and no USB port.
Hard pass for me. I get where they are coming from - no buttons, next stage will be wireless charging only, means it’s a fully enclosed system with zero ingress for water or dirt, so that’s kind of neat.
But personally I need at least a power button and volume up/down. And I love the slider for different sound profiles on OnePlus phones.
How this is a desiderable feature? I always use the volume buttons for reject calls, shoot photos (although on my latest MIUI phone the volume button didn’t shoot a photo but set the auto timer), quickly adjust volume during a call or media playback.
Same for the power button, even if I set double tap to wake and double tap (on empty part of launcher) to standby, the power button is faster.
I’d even want more buttons. I want an extra programmable button(s) like the iphone and I also want a mute slider that can be programmed as rotation lock
Some people prefer the clean look, I guess. I prefer having a physical fingerprint reader too; it’s fucking annoying how so many phones have switched to those awkwardly placed under-display ones.