I wanted that ghastly physical vestige gone from the very first day I set sight upon it (when I acquired my first iPhone2G in late 2007). There’s no excuse for wasting real estate on an actual physical switch.
As for TouchID I do miss it, but I’m hoping they’ll eventually get their under-screen sci-fi tech working.
My excuse is that it feels nice to press. Simple as that.
I miss tactile keyboards and button on smart devices in general. I enjoyed using them a lot more back in the dumbphone days. Even one of my synths (Yamaha Reface DX) has a uselessly touch-based workflow that steers people away from it, even though it's an amazing synthesizer.
I understand why we made the leap to lose physical keyboards though, don't get me wrong.
Don’t get me wrong you don’t “need an excuse” to prefer one thing over another, just as I don’t need to apologise for not liking it you don’t need to apologise for liking it. Indeed, at least until very recently, I think you’d be considered in the main. Personally I grew up in awe of entirely software-defined interfaces (mainly due to the Star Trek LCARS touch-interface specifically designed to look as if it were a very simple manner of controlling very complex processes) and that will probably stick with me my whole life. Keys and buttons are just cool to me in a retrofuturistic/Blade Runner kind of way.
As for TouchID I do miss it, but I’m hoping they’ll eventually get their under-screen sci-fi tech working.