why hard keys?

[novemberwhiskey]

Why did the droidx get hard keys whereas nearly all other motor droid products (2, global, pro, 1) get the capacitive touch buttons? Is there some logic behind the decision?

 

[tom108]

probably cause you need the extra buttons to access bootloader,recovery and so on from a boot with key combos.

 

[nj02vette]

Why did the droidx get hard keys whereas nearly all other motor droid products (2, global, pro, 1) get the capacitive touch buttons? Is there some logic behind the decision?

Size would be my guess. The buttons are much slimmer than any capacitive buttons and I'm sure the designers didn't want to increase the phone height any more.

It's a moot point. I was hesitant on the physical buttons but prefer them by far over capacitive ones. No more acciental pushes, plus the home key turns the phone on, something the other phones can't do.

 

[mlclm]

No more acciental pushes, plus the home key turns the phone on, something the other phones can't do.

I completely agree. I had a D2 for about 2 weeks before I made the switch to the X and one of my biggest gripes was having to press the power button to get to the lock screen.

 

[Nightwind Hawk]

I like the feeling of some hard keys on the phone - the touch-sensitive ones always make me feel like I don't have control.... perhaps not as accurate?

 

[quickaudi]

Yup, the touch keys on the 2 really stink compared to our physical ones

 

[apavolka]

I love the hard keys. On my eris when typing iI would always hit another button but now I have no problems.

 

[mxsjw]

Why? So when you hold it in landscape mode you don't accidentally press the buttons.

 

[JediJesus]

Size would be my guess. The buttons are much slimmer than any capacitive buttons and I'm sure the designers didn't want to increase the phone height any more.

It's a moot point. I was hesitant on the physical buttons but prefer them by far over capacitive ones. No more acciental pushes, plus the home key turns the phone on, something the other phones can't do.

+1

I can't count how many times I hit the home button in Fruit Ninja.

At first the buttons bothered me but after awhile I prefer them.

 

[WTF]

+1 to the above posts.

I also like the fact of hitting the home key to get to the lock screen. I always use that rather than the power button. On a side note, the hard keys have been pretty solid in the months since I got my DX. I've seen some complaints about these keys being/becoming loose but I haven't noticed that. Moto's build quality seems pretty damn good IMO.

 

[theineffablebob]

Because those have keyboards.

 

[Outlaw71]

They did it so people wouldn't go online asking why their phone had capacitive keys on it instead of hard ones.

 

[sawtooth]

i like them alot. glad they went that route personally

 

[BillyGates]

I gotta go against the grain here and say I really don't like the hard keys at all (I do love my Droid X tho ). I really hate the extra pressure you need to use to activate the keys... I might complain about accidental pushes if they had 'touch' keys tho... but I really like my friend EVO touch keys instead.

 

[eraursls1984]

The only thing I hate about the hard keys is the noise, when I'm using my phone in bed at night it wakes up my fiance

 

[StrifeJester]

All neat insight but I agree with the post about getting into recovery. They need something that doesn't require the software to be loaded. The camera and volume keys apparently weren't enough to accomplish this. But that brings me to another point the Droids thankfully have physical keys for the camera and volume. Too many phones are doing away with them and I personally cannot stand that.

 

[nycebo]

Why? So when you hold it in landscape mode you don't accidentally press the buttons.

This is huge. I gave my mother my old Droid when I upgraded to the DX and she often hits the 'back' or 'home' key when she is holding/turning the phone.

 

[nycebo]

The only thing I hate about the hard keys is the noise, when I'm using my phone in bed at night it wakes up my fiance

Is she a bat?

 

[Deleted User]

All neat insight but I agree with the post about getting into recovery. They need something that doesn't require the software to be loaded. The camera and volume keys apparently weren't enough to accomplish this. But that brings me to another point the Droids thankfully have physical keys for the camera and volume. Too many phones are doing away with them and I personally cannot stand that.

Huh?

All phones have bootloaders, including phones with only soft buttons. You don't need software loaded to use capacitive buttons, that firmware is built onto the chips.

 

[mikeydooodie]

the volume keys and camera button i dont mind but i really dont like the other 4. if the etna comes out 4g with same specs as the dx im jumping on that no hard keys!

 

[Deleted User]

My DINC always frustrated me with soft keys and exiting games by accidental brushing. Love the hard keys!