Would having Physical buttons be a deciding factor on getting a new phone?

Tyseyh · Sep 27, 2011

The title may sound a little bit weird, but since a lot of people who have had their Desire for over a year now are having issues with the physical buttons not responding as well as they used to.

When you upgrade your phone, would the idea of having physical butons put you off somewhat?

SUroot · Sep 27, 2011

Even though anything physical will fail, I am a big fan of physical buttons. NOT having physical buttons would put me off, even though my physical buttons are starting to slowly fail.

DesireMe · Sep 27, 2011

As above.

micktee28 · Sep 27, 2011

I clicked no. I have had my desire about 15 month and haven't noticed any difference in the way the buttons behave. I do like the physical buttons but I don't think it would influence my decision on the next phone I get.

Tyseyh · Sep 27, 2011

My misses has a Wildfire and i don't quite like the lack of physical buttons on there, but today i noticed mine are getting pretty unresponsive nowadays so i think for me, i may at least make me think a bit more about it.

rtb35 · Sep 27, 2011

No not at all,i have had my desire nearly 18 months now and the buttons work exactly the same as when i first took it out of its box.

DNick · Sep 27, 2011

I, like Dan, enjoy having physical buttons. I like them, and want my next phone to have them. Though with UsCellular, I usually don't have much of a choice. I'll just have to see what is available when it's time for me to move on. Though that won't be for a while, for I love my phone. Once rooted, I have no complaints.

Tyseyh · Sep 27, 2011

rtb35 said:
No not at all,i have had my desire nearly 18 months now and the buttons work exactly the same as when i first took it out of its box.

Ah man, i wish mine did, i guess im just unlucky.

Rafalema · Sep 28, 2011

I think it would, actually.

I think the capasitive buttons are nice, and they do work, but when I'm paying large amounts for a smartphone, I would like it to have physical buttons, even though they will eventually fail.

SUroot · Sep 28, 2011

Yep. I'm always concerned that capacitive buttons will fail if there is a software issue. Physical buttons are not so software dependant. If my touchscreen fails I like physical as a fall back. Particularly the OJ

Jon_LTD · Sep 28, 2011

I wouldn't let it influence me over picking a phone, but if I could choose, I would pick physical any time. My buttons are showing no sign of weakness and I'm used to them and happy with them. My girlfriend also has a wildfire and I occasionally mis key and not hit the correct button. Not a huge drawback but avoidable with the physicals!

lifeonmtv · Sep 28, 2011

Yes actually, I would definitely prefer at least some hardware buttons.

Helping mates with their Desire HD I realized how great it is to be able to make the screen switch on with any of the hardware buttons (eg, u can't get effective 'menu wake' if the menu button is part of the screen).

Also, while helping other mate setup her SGS I quickly realized how much I missed both the optical thingy, as well as hardware buttons.

Tyseyh · Sep 29, 2011

I like my physical buttons much better then the ones on the wildfire but...
The failing buttons worry me a little, i wonder if it is just dirt that's making my buttons less responsive.

gerenmoor · Sep 29, 2011

My 'back' key on the Desire had been getting gradually less responsive, so I felt it was a limiting factor for using the phone. I've now got my new phone, a Galaxy S2, and it only has volume up/down, home, and power buttons. Switching between the two phones is easy, but the Samsung's menu and back keys aren't always lit, so I sometimes have to prod around to find them! Despite this, overall, the less buttons the better.

One really weird thing though. I've switched the Desire from standard HTC code to Cyanogenmod, and the 'back' key now seems to be much more responsive! It must be my imagination...

SUroot · Sep 30, 2011

Are we who want physical buttons voting the same? The way I read it was vote no if you want or like physical buttons

Tyseyh · Oct 1, 2011

That's correct Dan.
Though I could of worded it better.

DCFC79 · Oct 2, 2011

SUroot said:
Even though anything physical will fail, I am a big fan of physical buttons. NOT having physical buttons would put me off, even though my physical buttons are starting to slowly fail.

same as this for me,

Would having Physical buttons be a deciding factor on getting a new phone?

Would having physical buttons put you off a new phone based on the issues with the desire?

Yes

No

Maybe, not that much of a big deal.

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