[hessenwolf]

'Invented'. For fuck sake, how else were you going to do it on a touch screen phone?

[thebooktocome]

Hindsight bias.

[hessenwolf]

Maybe there is different version of the galaxy with a slider that more closely resembles the Apple version?

For mine, I just have to rub my thumb along anywhere on the screen to open it, and I can choose a special pattern if I want (I really don't trust that one to work).

How else would you open a screen without buttons? By tapping on it in a pattern? Or by rubbing it in a pattern? Tap-rub-tap just to avoid a patent?

[hnhg]

The point is that it's not worth a patent.

[0x44]

With the proliferation of buttons on most android phones I've seen, they could have easily added a hardware unlock button.

[hessenwolf]

Expensive. Touchscreen phones have few parts, less assembly, less testing... even if the hardware costs more, the design and labour surely costs less?