The phone that ushered in the modern mobile era was a Nokia, but not the one you're thinking of, not the Nokia 3210 (the one with the snake). Nokia N95a multimedia marvel, it preceded the iPhone by a year and offered more features than the iPhone had offered for generations. Finally, the rumored iPhone 16 It could bring back one of my favorite lost features, the same camera button that the N95 had, and it would be the best thing that ever happened to iPhone photos.
If a camera button sounds simple, I swear it's the biggest change coming to smartphones this decade… forgetting about AI, of course. This camera button will make all your photos better, especially when you zoom in. This new camera button will do more for smartphones than the invention of the megapixel. It will be bigger than selfies. It's the button I've been asking for.
The Nokia N95 had lots of buttons, lots of buttons. On the front of the Nokia N95 were 13 buttons, including Send and End, and a 4-way keypad. You could also slide the phone to one side to reveal a 12-key numeric keypad, or to the other to reveal media playback controls. The iPod was all the rage, so media playback keys were a prominent feature. I'm not talking about those buttons, though.
On the side of the Nokia N95 was a camera button, much like the action button on the current iPhone 15 Pro. You could press and hold the button to activate the camera. In fact, the first Nokia N95 had a sliding cover for the camera, and the camera would activate when you opened it. It still had this amazing camera button, the same kind of button you'll find on any standalone camera today.
What makes a camera button so cool? If you press it a little, the camera will focus first. Then you press harder to take the photo. There's even some resistance when you press it halfway to let you know it's time to focus.
All standalone cameras have this type of shutter button, and other smartphones, including the latest Sony Xperia phones, have used it as well. The ill-fated Windows Phone operating system required a two-stage camera button on all Windows phones.
A shaky hand is a photographer's biggest enemy
I'm so excited about this feature… I might have to update it.
The biggest problem with my camera phone isn't the camera, it's me. My shaky hands ruin far more photos than my iPhone.
A good rule of thumb for photography is that you can reduce hand shake by using focal length as the denominator of the fraction for shutter speed. Here's an explanation: If you're using a 35mm lens, you'll need a shutter speed of 1/35 of a second to eliminate hand shake. If you have a 200mm lens, you'll need a shutter speed of 1/200 of a second or faster.
My 5X zoom lens iPhone 15 Pro Max It's equivalent to a 120mm lens, and lo and behold, I see my iPhone taking photos at 1/120th of a second when I use that lens. That's nice, but it could be better. Knowing that my iPhone takes photos at the slowest shutter speed for my shaky hands makes me wish I could take photos faster or have them shake less.
That's what my favorite Nokia button is for! The camera shutter button helps me shake less. In fact, it helps me with the shakiest moment of all: the moment when I touch the shutter button. Think about it: I have my photo perfectly aligned, my hands are steady, and suddenly I touch my phone? That's how I take my photo? Of course, my photos are blurry. I moved my camera at the worst moment.
Of course, there are other options on today’s cameras, but they’re not as satisfying as an actual two-step camera button. On many phones, like my Galaxy S24 Ultra, I can trigger voice commands to take a photo. With a Samsung phone, I can just say “Shoot” or “Cheese.” Um, yeah. That’s not ideal. Try walking through an arboretum full of people yelling “Shoot!” “Shoot!” at your phone for a day. You’ll get a lot of stares.
You can also use the default volume keys on almost all smartphones to take photos. However, that still adds a small bump to the side of the phone when you want to take a photo. What I need is not a bump or a single press: I need to squeeze.
The two-stage camera button allows me to slowly press the shutter. I line up my shot and then press a little, which tells the camera to autofocus. It also allows me to hold the camera a little tighter, meaning there's less travel when it's time to press the shutter. To take the photo, I simply press a little harder and that's it. I've moved as little as possible.
This is a feature that makes me want to upgrade.
I’m so excited about this feature coming to the new iPhone 16 Pro that I may have to upgrade from my iPhone 15 Pro Max. I wasn’t going to; I felt like the action button was sufficient, especially once I knew I could press it to open the camera and then again to take the photo. It’s like having the camera button I crave… but not quite.
I promise that whatever improvements Apple makes to its camera, nothing would improve photo quality for all iPhone users as much as a two-stage camera button. We'd have to teach iPhone owners how to use it properly, but that's our job here at TechRadar. We'll write the “How To” story, Apple. Just give me my camera button, please. I've waited too long for this advancement to come back.
