Menu and Search button

[ANewDay]

Anyone else find it dumb to remove these buttons from the navigation bar on the bottom? As a result, apps will have to waste real estate space by providing a search and menu button of their own I very much prefer the menu items (bigger instead of flat) on the bottom when I press the buttons on the navigation bar (thanks to a mod) as you don't have to reach all the way up to press them.

 

[Mr. Poppalopolis]

I totally agree with you. Consider rooting if you want to get these buttons back. There are countless ROMs and mods that add these buttons back and I love having them (plus mine are blue now).

 

[SolidOrange]

i couldn't stand not having those keys either but, as mentioned above, rooting can solve that issue. i am loving this set up right now:

got the search key back, and the menu keys only appear when they are needed. otherwise it is a standard 4 icon home row, just like android 2.X.

 

[jroc]

So i'm not alone...lol

as much as I said I wasn't gonna do roms...I may have to for this.

Can this be done without a ROM?

 

[SolidOrange]

So i'm not alone...lol

as much as I said I wasn't gonna do roms...I may have to for this.

Can this be done without a ROM?

I can be done with a deodexed version of the stock rom, but that is as close as you are going to get.

http://androidforums.com/verizon-ga...yboxed-softkeys-apm-ab-mods-12-17-2011-a.html

As far as i know, it cannot be done on the factory installed rom. If you decide to do it, there are plenty of people around to help in the all things root forum in case you run into any snags along the way.

 

[Jay3]

No, I prefer it this way. It makes no sense to have a menu button unless there is a menu available.

In ICS, when a menu is available, the menu button shows up.

Search button is replaced by hitting "Home" instead of the spyglass, and typing the search in the search bar.

The market has spoken -- people love the iPhone and it has one button. I think they needed to reduce a little to meet some of these folks halfway.

 

[Mr. Poppalopolis]

i couldn't stand not having those keys either but, as mentioned above, rooting can solve that issue. i am loving this set up right now:

got the search key back, and the menu keys only appear when they are needed. otherwise it is a standard 4 icon home row, just like android 2.X.

What mod is that? Most of the ones I found don't add both a menu and search key. Only mod I had that did that was back on 4.0.2

No, I prefer it this way. It makes no sense to have a menu button unless there is a menu available.

In ICS, when a menu is available, the menu button shows up.

Search button is replaced by hitting "Home" instead of the spyglass, and typing the search in the search bar.

The market has spoken -- people love the iPhone and it has one button. I think they needed to reduce a little to meet some of these folks halfway.

I totally disagree with you. It's inconvenient to have to go back to the home screen, plus the search key has other functionality such as searching within a specific app or opening the address bar in the browser. I assume you just never used the search key a lot, but it's essential for people that do. The Android market isn't looking for a one-button overly simplified interface, which is why they don't have iPhones. Also, I am using a different launcher that gives me more usable screen space rather than a large search bar that takes up a lot of space on every homescreen. If I want one, I can add a widget, but I would still much rather have a small search button on the softkey bar than an obstructive widget taking up space on every homescreen.

 

[SolidOrange]

What mod is that? Most of the ones I found don't add both a menu and search key. Only mod I had that did that was back on 4.0.2

[MOD][4.0.3] SOFTKEY MODS WITH 1% - RootzWiki

having that set up is really the ONLY reason i am still on Bugless. i haven't found a softkey mod with the same layout for any other 4.0.3 rom.

 

[ANewDay]

No, I prefer it this way. It makes no sense to have a menu button unless there is a menu available.

In ICS, when a menu is available, the menu button shows up.

Search button is replaced by hitting "Home" instead of the spyglass, and typing the search in the search bar.

The market has spoken -- people love the iPhone and it has one button. I think they needed to reduce a little to meet some of these folks halfway.

When the browser is opened, there is no menu button on the dock. I don't see how it hurts adding buttons to it when it's already visible most of the time. It's much more convenient that way.

 

[Mr. Poppalopolis]

[MOD][4.0.3] SOFTKEY MODS WITH 1% - RootzWiki

having that set up is really the ONLY reason i am still on Bugless. i haven't found a softkey mod with the same layout for any other 4.0.3 rom.

Just flashed AXI0M from CM9 and both use a very similar layout. You can customize the button order, but the menu button is always on the right and only shows when apps require a menu button. Also runandhide has a lot of softkey mods for the droidth3ory roms but the latest AXI0M isn't supported because of the CM9 button settings.