why have the Back, Home and Recent Apps buttons moved to the screen?

almoststew1990 · 28 Dec 2014 at 09:46

On my One S the 'soft buttons' or whatever they're called were separate from the screen allowing apps to go full screen but the buttons still being accessible. Why have manufacturers ditched these "physical" buttons for virtual ones that hide and get in the way and reduce your usable screen space? Will they ever come back?

Akagi · 28 Dec 2014 at 09:48

I think they did it to make Android a more "uniform" operating system. Of my three Android phones for example, two have search 'buttons', one does not, and on two of them the contextual menu 'button' is on the right and the back 'button' on the left, and on one they are the other way round.

almoststew1990 · 28 Dec 2014 at 10:26

Oh that sucks, I thought android was meant to be open!

Rusty! · 28 Dec 2014 at 10:46

It is open, OEM's have the choice of whether to use onscreen buttons or not.

TheVoice · 28 Dec 2014 at 11:01

Can't say I miss the physical buttons, in a fullscreen app they don't serve much purpose anyway and the navigation bar is only a swipe away if you do need it. Also means you get a much cleaner look of the device itself. My Z3 Compact would look weird with physical touch buttons.

almoststew1990 · 28 Dec 2014 at 11:32

I find it very annoying having to swipe up from the bottom to unhide the nav bar, especially as half the time my phone thinks I want to launch Google Now (even though GN is set to off it doesn't really seem to be off

)

TheVoice · 28 Dec 2014 at 11:45

As above, there are still phones out there that have the physical capacitive buttons. Samsung for example, no doubt because it's just another Android design recommendation they can completely ignore.

Rusty! · 28 Dec 2014 at 11:47

almoststew1990 said:
I find it very annoying having to swipe up from the bottom to unhide the nav bar, especially as half the time my phone thinks I want to launch Google Now (even though GN is set to off it doesn't really seem to be off )

So swipe down from the top instead then?

cjgardens · 28 Dec 2014 at 12:30

I like the buttons on my s3 seems odd when I use another phone or tablet. It's the main reason I don't like I phones. I'm sure I would get used to having them on screen on another android phone

reflux · 28 Dec 2014 at 12:41

I've always preferred on screen buttons. Means that you can have a bigger overall screen size and you aren't hamstrung by having to save space for hardware buttons.

Rimsy · 28 Dec 2014 at 13:02

reflux said:
I've always preferred on screen buttons. Means that you can have a bigger overall screen size and you aren't hamstrung by having to save space for hardware buttons.

Tell that to Sony...

Whilst Samsungs hardware buttons are sort of unsightly they have nailed keeping overall phone dimensions to a minimum without excessive bezel / maximised screen.
Personally I dont mind either- both have advantages and disadvantages but my purhasing decision certainly wouldnt be swayed by one or the other.

C.R.A.Z.Y · 28 Dec 2014 at 13:48

Who cares?? Both soft and hard NAV keys are so last year anyway!!

It's all about the Pie NAV control

Rusty! · 28 Dec 2014 at 16:13

Unless Pie controls use some sort of futuristic floating virtual reality, they are still on screen nav keys

twist3d0n3 · 28 Dec 2014 at 17:12

reflux said:
I've always preferred on screen buttons. Means that you can have a bigger overall screen size and you aren't hamstrung by having to save space for hardware buttons.

this plus being able to resize navbar buttons with certain roms

twist3d0n3 · 28 Dec 2014 at 17:12

C.R.A.Z.Y said:
Who cares?? Both soft and hard NAV keys are so last year anyway!!
It's all about the Pie NAV control

i'd say pie is last year tbh

photoshop · 28 Dec 2014 at 17:43

I prefer them on screen....atleast then they can be edited.

almoststew1990 · 28 Dec 2014 at 17:52

Rusty! said:
So swipe down from the top instead then?

But then I have to move my finger all the way to the bottom of my phone. Just another unnecessary action.

...What is this world hunger you speak of?