Report: iPhone 8 To Feature Gesture Controls, Dock Like iPad

Apple’s iPhone 8 is expected to be the first iPhone not to feature a home button. Now it’s being reported that iOS 11 for the iPhone 8 will feature full gesture controls to replace the functions of the home button and will have also have the iPads’ dock feature.

Apple has already tested the complete removal of the home button on the iPhone 8, including a virtual version of it, according to Bloomberg which cited people familiar with Apple’s plans. The report describes a thing software bar on the bottom of the screen which users can drag up to the middle of the display.

When users are inside an app, the similar gesture will initiate the multitasking window. The multitasking interface is said to have been redesigned to look like a series of standalone cards instead of the current version where apps are stacked on top of one another.

Evidence of this was actually already spotted by developer Guilherme Rambo, as IBT reported last week. He even shared a video, which he claims he found within the latest iOS 11 beta, showing exactly how the gesture control will work.

The iPhone 8 dock will be similar to the dock feature that’s on iOS 11 for the iPad. The dock will allow users to access their commonly used apps. That said, the iPhone 8’s user interface will still have six vertical rows of apps, with each page containing 24 app icons.

Bloomberg’s report also reiterated previous suggestions that the iPhone 8’s display will be taller and will have rounded corners like the LG G6. The iPhone 8’s display said to be flat, and won’t have curved edges like the ones feature on the Samsung Galaxy S8.

Speaking of the display, there’s a lot of hubbub surrounding the iPhone 8’s cutout for its earpiece, front-facing camera and sensors. Bloomberg’s report clears it up by stating that the cutout will be visible while people are using apps and Apple won’t hide it by giving the status bar at the top with a black background.

The report claims that the status area on the iPhone 8 is being called internally by Apple employees as “ears,” as it’s split into two areas on either side of the cutout. Based on test images that Bloomberg saw, the left “ear” will display the time, while the right will display cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity, and the battery life. The status bar is also capable of changing depending on the task because of the limited space.

Finally, the report claims that the iPhone 8 will have a stainless steel band around its frame. This stainless steel band will have small antenna cuts on the corners like past iPhones, which is believed to improve cellular reception.

Most of the hardware covered here may have already been finalized by Apple long ago, as pointed out by MacRumors. However, the tech giant still has time to tweak the user interface of iOS 11 before the official announcement of the iPhone 8. The gesture controls and the dock feature might still turn out to be different in their final forms.

Apple is expected to announced three new iPhone models next month: the iPhone 7S, iPhone 7S Plus and the iPhone 8. The popular rumor now is that the tech giant will hold its iPhone event on Sept. 12, where a 4K Apple TV and the Apple Watch Series 3 are also expected to make their debut. The iPhone 8 release date is belived to be Sept. 22.