You’re missing the point…

Thank God, the buttons are back! This was my expression when I watched the Apple event on September 9^th. Call me old school, but I really like physical buttons on my phones, like the ones that we used to have back in the Blackberry days, remember that mute button? I am very happy that there are additional buttons, dedicated or customizable, that's my kind of phone... I will get my hands on the iPhone 16 when possible and I will keep you posted...

I want things to be a certain way, I can deal with a microwave oven with a touch screen, whereas I can’t deal with a cooktop stove without knobs, for the simple reason it is convenient!

I used to drive a Mitsubishi Mirage, once upon a time. It had a simple rotatable knobs for volume control on the radio. I replaced that original cassette player with the newer CD player… oh, boy, what a mistake that was. The volume control, and CD in and out controls were very tiny buttons on the front. There was no way I could operate them without looking at them.

Similarly, if you ask me to operate a touch screen to open/close a window while I am driving, I don’t want that car either. The buttons and knobs should be user-friendly, always accessible when we need them, and most importantly they should be located where they have always been.

One would ask, what about using voice control? They are not my kind of things either… why should I utter a 6-word phrase “Hey Siri, turn up the volume!” loud enough in an accent it is recognized by a machine to ruin my mood, instead, I prefer a very less intrusive volume up/down knob that can do that job without even knowing, involuntarily, to my perfect desirable audio output.

Also, why should I say these stupid things over and over again anyway? “Hey, Google!”, “Ok, Google”, “Hey, Siri”, “Alexa…”, “Hey Bigsby”, and so on and so on… I paid the money for them to work for me, not the other way around… if it is an option to wake Siri up, I always press and hold the Power button on my iPhone, without uttering a word!

You’re missing the point, one might say, I agree with you… Some things ought to be simpler and easier… everything does not have to be touch-sensitive, calling out random company AI bot’s names like a mantra should not be a chore, and critical things like cars, phones, etc must work even when we wear gloves (yes, it is not tropical weather all the time, everywhere). Imagine, your turn signals in the cars become touch-oriented instead of a lever that’s conveniently situated, where it should be! Don’t you dare buy the argument that by eliminating the turn signal lever, we are making cars eco-friendly to save the world! The world has been around for a million-plus years and it will be here… we need to save ourselves first, and keeping things simple is our first step in the right direction.

Are you with me on this?