

Apple Doesn’t Want Coders Messing With iPhone Buttons — Sometimes - kmfrk
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/12/camera-plus-volume-snap/

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senorprogrammer
What's more likely here? That there's a nefarious plot inside Apple to let
some developers use forbidden functionality hoping no one else notices the
double standard, or that a human app reviewer missed this and it slipped
through? I invoke Occam's Razor on this non-story.

~~~
rsuttongee
Which is actually what the article says:

"Apple can’t stick to its own rules with the gigantic iOS App Store."

and at the end:

"App Store reviewers are not consistent with enforcing the rules, and
therefore censorship still seems arbitrary."

Also, there's no allegations of special treatment in the article at all.

Did we even read the same thing?

~~~
senorprogrammer
Indeed we did. My comment is more a remark on the sensational tone of the
headline, which I read as implying by the author a deliberate intent on
Apple's part. I find the article disingenuous in that, since it does, as you
note, leave the salient part for the very bottom.

However I certainly take your point.

~~~
jdc
However pendantic, I feel compelled to point out that including the word
'want' in the title does imply intent.

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gaustin
Surely they have some sort of process to make sure the rules are applied
somewhat evenly. It's not like modifying the function of hardware buttons is
subjective, like some of the other criteria for inclusion in the App Store.

Does the App Store approval group have any sort of developer community liaison
to manage this sort of thing? Sounds like a cool job to me.

~~~
tedunangst
Likely the approver forgot about that guideline from their training and let it
through by accident. From the history of the other mentioned apps, it sounds
like it will get pulled soon enough and all will be right again.

I can understand that inconsistency is annoying, but wikipedia applies the
"notable" standard at least as inconsistently and stories about that don't
make the front page. Thankfully.

~~~
joe_the_user
There aren't dollars riding on whether a wikipedia story makes the front page.

~~~
tedunangst
"I hope the approver overlooks our egregiously violating app" isn't a very
good business plan.

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joe_the_user
The approver overlooking someone else's violating app isn't good for your
business plan...

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gojomo
Anyone do a camera app that triggers the shutter by voice? For example, just
after the phone hears 'cheese'?

~~~
glhaynes
Wow, how has this _not_ been done!

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edge17
kinda unrelated, but is there proper framework to do this? I remember hacking
the volume button for the camera back when I was doing stuff in the jailbreak
space and all i remember was it was hella annoying

~~~
edge17
also, something no one bothers pointing out - atleast it's the case with first
two generations of iphone - taking a photo with the volume button causes the
user to move the camera and results in an out-of-focus image. I can't imagine
the autofocus re-focuses fast enough to resolve this issue in later generation
iphones.

On the plus though, for the developer, advertising the feature certainly helps
drive sales; as does "negative" press on Wired like this :)

~~~
Zak
How does pressing the volume button move the camera more than using the
touchscreen? I've always considered the lack of a physical camera button on
the iPhone to be a UX flaw.

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glhaynes
Because more force is required (and thus more movement) to press down a button
than to brush against the touchscreen, in theory at least. But yeah I'd like
to have a physical camera button. I'd imagine it'd be best if it wasn't as
stiff as the iPhone 4's volume control buttons.

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Tyrant505
Since this is not a serious camera, why not a small delay on capture so the
movement has ended?

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glhaynes
I'm guessing that'd be more annoying than helpful, but it'd be interesting to
try. If it were timed exactly right it could maybe work.

It's not a serious camera in the sense that I wouldn't take one to do a
magazine shoot, but lots of people take _really_ good photos with phone
cameras these days, they've come a long way.

~~~
Tyrant505
The best camera is of course the one you have with you. People have taken
amazing photos with the iphone for sure! However, action shots are not likely
among those unless in some abstract form.

