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 Snake). The Nokia N95a multimedia wonder, predated the iPhone by a year and offered more features than the iPhone would have for generations. Finally, the rumors iPhone 16 could bring back one of my favorite lost features, the same camera button from the N95 – and it would be the best thing to ever happen to iPhone photos.
If a camera button sounds simple, I swear it’s the biggest change smartphones will see this decade… forgetting AI of course. This camera button will make all of your photos better, especially when you zoom in. This new camera button is going to do more for smartphones than the invention of the Megapixel. It’s going to be bigger than selfies. It’s the button I’ve been begging for.
The Nokia N95 had a lot of buttons – a lot of buttons. There were 13 buttons on the front of the Nokia N95, including Send and End, and a 4-way pad. You could also slide the phone one way to reveal a 12-key numeric keypad, or you could slide it the other way to reveal media playback controls. The iPod was all the rage, so media playback keys were a noticeable feature. Those aren’t the buttons I’m talking about, 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 hold that button down to activate the camera. In fact, the very first Nokia N95 had a sliding camera cover and the camera would turn on when you slid it open. It still had this great camera button, the same type of button you find on every separate camera these days.
What makes a camera button great? When you press it down slightly, the camera first focuses. Then you squeeze harder to take your shot. There’s even a bit of resistance when you press it halfway down to let you know it’s time to focus.
All standalone cameras have this type of shutter button, and other smartphones, including recent Sony Xperia phones, have also used it. The ill-fated Windows Phone OS required a two-button camera button on all Windows Phones.
A shaking hand is a photographer’s worst enemy
I’m so excited about this feature…I might have to upgrade
The biggest problem with my camera phone isn’t the camera, it’s me. My shaky hands ruin far more photos than my iPhone could.
A good rule of thumb for photography is that you can reduce hand shake if you use your focal length as the denominator of your shutter speed fraction. Let me explain: If you’re using a 35mm lens, you’ll need a shutter speed of 1/35 second to eliminate hand shake. If you have a 200mm lens, you’ll need a shutter speed of 1/200 second or faster.
The 5x zoom lens on my iPhone 15 Pro Max is equal to a 120mm lens, and lo and behold, my iPhone is shooting at 1/120 of a second when I use that lens. That’s good, but it could be better. Knowing that my iPhone is shooting at the slowest shutter speed possible for my shaky hands makes me wish I could shoot faster or shake less.
That’s what my favorite old Nokia button is for! The camera shutter button helps me shake less. In fact, it helps with the most shaking moment of all: the moment I press the shutter button. Think about it: I have my photo perfectly lined up, my hands are still, and then I go and touch my phone?! This is how I take my photos? Of course my photos look blurry. I moved my camera at the worst moment.
Sure, there are other options on today’s cameras, but they’re not as satisfying as a proper, two-button camera button. On many phones, like my Galaxy S24 Ultra, I can activate voice commands to take a photo. With a Samsung phone, I can just say, “Shoot” or “Cheese.” Um, yeah. It’s not ideal. Try walking around a crowded arboretum and yelling “Shoot!” “Shoot!” at your phone for a day. You’ll get plenty of stares.
You can also use the standard volume keys on almost every smartphone 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 have to pinch.
The two-step camera button allows me to slowly press the shutter. I line up my shot and then press it a little, which tells the camera to autofocus. It also gives me a slightly firmer grip on the camera, which means less movement when it’s time to press the shutter. To take the shot, I just squeeze a little harder and it’s done. I’ve moved as little as possible.
This is a feature that makes me long for an upgrade
I’m so excited about this feature coming to the new iPhone 16 Pro that I might have to upgrade from my iPhone 15 Pro Max. I wasn’t going to do that; I felt like the Action button was enough, especially once I learned I could press it to open the camera and then press it again to take the photo. It’s like I have the camera button I’ve been wishing for… but not quite.
I promise you, no matter what upgrades Apple makes to its camera, nothing would improve photo quality for all iPhone users like a two-button camera button. We should be teaching iPhone owners how to use it properly, but that’s our job here at Ny Breaking. We write the how-to stories, Apple. Give me my camera button, please. I’ve waited too long for this advancement to come back.