![]() ![]() The fundamental problem is that smartphones have been around for more than a decade and a half and we all know how to use them. But that isn’t saying much, and I still don’t fancy its chances. It certainly has a better chance of success than the poor Touch Bar. The iPhone 15 Pro’s Action button, like the Action button on the Apple Watch Ultra, does not have the same physical shortcomings as the Touch Bar: it offers physical feedback so you can use it blind, and occupies the same place as a previous control. In fact, it was probably doomed from the start for quite elementary ergonomic reasons. In a similar fashion, I expressed reservations about the Touch Bar in the short term but predicted that user habit and developer buy-in could make it a vital part of the user’s repertoire in the future. ![]() Regular readers, indeed, might feel like I should have known better, having also reviewed the first Touch Bar-equipped MacBook Pro back in 2016. Needless to say, I barely used the Action button once the honeymoon period was over (indeed a few months after posting my review I switched back to the Series 9 and didn’t miss that extra button), and nothing I’ve heard about the second-gen Ultra makes me think it has become essential. “Now that the hardware is in place Apple can brainstorm different functions that users can bind to the button,” I observed, adding my suspicion that “once we’re used to this new design it will prove to be only positive.” In that article I said the Action button was “a ‘nice to have,’ not a ‘must have’ feature,” but expressed some optimism about the future. ![]() I speak here from bitter experience, having reviewed the first-gen Apple Watch Ultra last year. But I remember the similarly optimistic reception for previous hardware upgrades on Apple products that went on to gather dust, and I doubt that even a very thorough pre-launch review or exorbitant early adopters can truly evaluate the long-term prospects of a feature that needs to grow into the user’s daily habits. ![]()
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