ICS buttons vs. capacative buttons

[eddiesox]

Curious to know if I'm the only one who will miss the four dedicated hardware/capacative buttons when they (eventually) upgrade to ICS? I am somewhat familiar with both as I have an android phone (gingerbread) and a honeycomb tablet, I love the four buttons on the phone but don't see how the honeycomb buttons could be practically implimented on a phone. I understand Google's desire to make a cohesive whole but I think they may have taken it too far this time. Any one else have opinions on the matter?

 

[Stuntman]

I've had a Honeycomb tablet for a while and I have no issues with the lack of dedicated buttons. I think that the lack of dedicated buttons is the way to go. You don't always need cetain buttons. For instance, I hardly ever use the search button in most of my apps. No need to dedicate space for it. Also, the virtual buttons on the tablet move to better locations when rotating the tablet between landscape and portrait orientation.

 

[eddiesox]

Does your transformer give haptic feedback when you press one of the on screen keys. My xoom doesn't and it kind of annoys me. If is doesn't give haptic feedback for the on screen keys I may forever be a gingerbread guy.

 

[Stuntman]

Does your transformer give haptic feedback when you press one of the on screen keys. My xoom doesn't and it kind of annoys me. If is doesn't give haptic feedback for the on screen keys I may forever be a gingerbread guy.

I checked my keyboard settings and could not find an option to turn on haptic feedback. I don't really like the haptic feedback myself. I generally use the keyboard dock, so I have tactile feedback from my physical keyboard. When I do use the screen keyboard, I generally use trace which is basically Swype.

 

[chanchan05]

I'd think ICS would be tweaked to make use of the buttons on already existing devices, otherwise it would be redundant.

 

[IOWA]

I've had a Honeycomb tablet for a while and I have no issues with the lack of dedicated buttons. I think that the lack of dedicated buttons is the way to go. You don't always need cetain buttons. For instance, I hardly ever use the search button in most of my apps. No need to dedicate space for it. Also, the virtual buttons on the tablet move to better locations when rotating the tablet between landscape and portrait orientation.

This, but I definitely miss search in Honeycomb.

 

[eddiesox]

I agree. Although its not used all that often, when the search key is needed it is nice to have. I just don't understand the fascination with eliminating buttons on phones. The iPhone has 4 buttons the prime (refuse to call it the the galaxy nexus) has 3. At a certain point minimalism becomes a drawback. I would rather have a working practical phone than one that is so simplified it becomes hard to use.

 

[IOWA]

I agree. Although its not used all that often, when the search key is needed it is nice to have. I just don't understand the fascination with eliminating buttons on phones. The iPhone has 4 buttons the prime (refuse to call it the the galaxy nexus) has 3. At a certain point minimalism becomes a drawback. I would rather have a working practical phone than one that is so simplified it becomes hard to use.

Preaching to the choir. Im still someone who misses a dedicated call/end button lol.

 

[eddiesox]

Exactly, since after all it is a phone. People like us can only hope that some manufacturers will buck the trend and make an ics phone that has physical or capacative buttons

 

[chanchan05]

Exactly, since after all it is a phone. People like us can only hope that some manufacturers will buck the trend and make an ics phone that has physical or capacative buttons

Or at least a dedicated call/end button whether capacitive or not.

 

[IOWA]

Exactly, since after all it is a phone. People like us can only hope that some manufacturers will buck the trend and make an ics phone that has physical or capacative buttons

Capacitive buttons or on screen buttons really dont make much of a difference. Its the same thing really. Physical buttons are different though.

 

[dan330]

Capacitive buttons or on screen buttons really dont make much of a difference. Its the same thing really. Physical buttons are different though.

I agree... 100%

with the onscreen.. at least it can be more content sensitive with more information.. more customizable..

but lets say.. we are watching a vid or viewing media or web surfing.. and we are taking full advantage of the bigger screen real estate; with no buttons onscreen... then we need to exit it (asap for whatever reason).
there should be one hardware button that is a Home / phone button.
wait.. that would be very similar to the iphone?

 

[Gmash]

I'd rather have some buttons myself.

 

[daveybaby]

I dont think there is anything in ICS which prohibits the use of dedicated buttons (either capacitive or physical). ICS is designed to be compatible with as many existing phones as possible, so i imagine it's pretty flexible w.r.t. softkeys & dedicated buttons.

Capacitive buttons or on screen buttons really dont make much of a difference. Its the same thing really. Physical buttons are different though.

Amen to that. I'm hoping at least some phones will retain physical buttons regardless of ICS's softkeys.

 

[A.Nonymous]

I think the search button is gone because there's now a search bar on every screen. I'm not too thrilled with that as I think it will drive manufacturers to make bigger and bigger screens. I have nightmares of going to the store one day in the future and find that all phones offered are 5-6" or more and require two hands just to operate. In the future, due to antenna issues and people wanting 3-4 TB of space and 16 cores of processor power, phones will require a backpack with an antenna on it that you will carry around. You will get awesome reception though and your phone will fly.

 

[daveybaby]

I think the search button is gone because there's now a search bar on every screen.

A lot of phones have been without dedicated search buttons for quite a while now. Havent missed having one on the arc for the last 6 months.

 

[Martimus]

Hardware and software buttons both have their advantages and disadvantages. I've had the hard buttons on my Droid X mysteriously stop functioning and I've had the soft buttons on my Xoom & Nook Color mysteriously stop being recognized.

In each case it's annoying and usually happens at the worst possible moment. Fortunately a reboot frequently resolves the problem. With luck ICS brings us one step closer to OS stability...

 

[A.Nonymous]

Hardware and software buttons both have their advantages and disadvantages. I've had the hard buttons on my Droid X mysteriously stop functioning and I've had the soft buttons on my Xoom & Nook Color mysteriously stop being recognized.

In each case it's annoying and usually happens at the worst possible moment. Fortunately a reboot frequently resolves the problem. With luck ICS brings us one step closer to OS stability...

I've spent 30 years waiting for OS stability. So far, no luck.

 

[Martimus]

I've spent 30 years waiting for OS stability. So far, no luck.

Well keep waiting... One of these days it might actually happen!

 

[Shocky]

I'd prefer capacitive buttons to on screen buttons, I don't like task bar always being visable on honeycombe.

 

[IOWA]

I'd prefer capacitive buttons to on screen buttons, I don't like task bar always being visable on honeycombe.

To be fair, the "taskbar" (notification panel) is always on for all versions of android. With honeycomb its just in a different spot

 

[Stuntman]

I've spent 30 years waiting for OS stability. So far, no luck.

I thought that MS-DOS 3.3 was pretty stable. Then Windows 3.1 came and screwed things up.

 

[jerofld]

I won't miss capacitive buttons. They drive me nuts some times. I haven't accidentally pushed the back or home button on Honeycomb, yet. Done it plenty of times on my Evo. Especially when trying to show someone else something and they accidentally hit home and are wondering what I was trying to show them because all they see is that infamous Sense widget.

 

[Shocky]

To be fair, the "taskbar" (notification panel) is always on for all versions of android. With honeycomb its just in a different spot

That's not true at all, on your phone if you watch a video and play a game in fullscreen it is not visable, on honeycombe it' is always there, it is always visable.

 

[IOWA]

That's not true at all, on your phone if you watch a video and play a game in fullscreen it is not visable, on honeycombe it' is always there, it is always visable.

Hmm, i suppose youre right, but then again its only taking up space that capacitive buttons would have in the first place so its kind of a wash.