iPad 2 and iPhone 5 to get rid of the home button?

Apple's new multi-finger options could replace physical button

iPad 2 and iPhone 5 to get rid of the home button

13 January 2011 9:43 GMT / By Paul Lamkin

You may have just read on Pocket-lint all about the new features in the iOS 4.3 beta, including the news about the swanky new multi-finger gestures.

One of the gestures on board is a four or five finger pinch that takes you back to the homescreen, a task that was previously only possible with a push of the home button.

And an Apple source (not the kind you have with roast pork) has informed Boy Genius Report that this is the reason that the next-gen iPad and iPhone will be sans a physical home button.

The move makes sense, the home button does take up valuable space on the front panel - space that could be better utilised for more screen real estate (and possibly mean a 16:9 aspect ratio?).

The source stated that employees over at One Infinite Loop were already testing iOS devices without home buttons.

The BGR report also states that Photo Booth is making its way onto the iPad 2, and there's also a chance that iLife apps could land on the tablet as well.

It's all go over in Cupertino...

A home button-less iPad and iPhone, what do you guys think? We think we kinda like the idea.

Via: bgr.com

Read our review of the new iPad (3rd generation)

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