Soft vs Physical buttons

[DDave]

So, I'm thinking of jumping from my original Droid to the Droid X2. (I spoke to a tech at the local Verizon store in southern Indiana and she indicated that the Droid Bionic is not coming out anytime in the near future, but I digress).

I tried the physical buttons but boy did it seem to require a lot of pressure to "click" the buttons. I know I'm just used to the soft capacitive touch buttons, so I'm wondering, has anyone else made the change from soft capacitive touch to physical and found it easier? Better? Worse?

 

[Heelpir8]

I'll let you know how my experience goes when I move from an Eris to a DX2 tomorrow.

 

[Lunacy]

Kind of off topic, but why did they decide to get rid of the camera button? I hate having to use the onscreen shutter button.

 

[StDevious]

Clickity physical buttons that require a lot more pressure than capacitive soft buttons are the reason I gave up X1

 

[bradyapba]

i went from a D2, to the X2. I love the physical buttons vs the capacitive ones of the D2. I always found them hard to click, i love the phyisical buttons.

 

[John58543]

I also enjoy the physical buttons of the DX2 coming from an Eris...

 

[DDave]

Darn,

Was looking for some magical answer...

So far its looking 50/50

 

[John58543]

Darn,

Was looking for some magical answer...

So far its looking 50/50

Its all up to your personal preference

 

[mrfixitx]

I moved from a D1 to the DX2, I dont mind the physical buttons for the day and half I have used it thus far but I'm not sure which I prefer more. With the D1 you were not always sure if the button press had registered sometimes especially if the phone was running really slow. With the DX2 there is no doubt.

I wouldn't let a thing like physical buttons slow you down in upgrading to a great phone unless the build quality was horrible (and its not).

 

[ZeroOveride]

Personally I am a fan of physical buttons. As you can see from my signature below I have used a lot of different phones and personally I love the feel of an actual click. I have use both but am clad the X2 has physical buttons. I will add that i do wish it still had the camera button.

 

[Alyianna]

I went from the D1 to the DX2... at first I HATED the physical buttons, but after a couple days, it wasn't a bother at all. I think it's just habit for me... what I knew was most comfortable. I liken it to going from a physical keyboard to Swype... awkward as hell at first... seems to slow you down, but after some exposure, it's like you have always been doing it that way.

Funny thing is... the hardest thing for me to adapt to is the location of the back button!! I am soooo used to it being on the far left! I keep hitting the menu key. lol This one is going to take more like a week to acclimate to!

 

[i_am_booked]

I went from an OG Droid to samsung fascinate then to DX2. at first i hated the physical buttons but slowly im getting used to it. the only real complaint i have against the DX2 is the physical buttons.

 

[jroc]

I like the physical buttons better when playing games. And its easier to use without looking.

 

[opuntia2]

I don't have the x2 yet, I have the Moto D, and I can't tell you how many times that I've handed somebody my phone to show them something and they quickly hand it back saying "I don't know what I did" when they end of pushing one of the capacitive buttons (not to mention how many times it happens when my 6yo daughter is playing a game on the phone) I'm ordering the x2 and the buttons is one of the main selling points for me.

 

[jinwons]

I like physical buttons too. But I wish the button on DX, DX2 to be a little bigger or raised like Charge for easy pressing.

 

[CPR]

I don't have the x2 yet, I have the Moto D, and I can't tell you how many times that I've handed somebody my phone to show them something and they quickly hand it back saying "I don't know what I did" when they end of pushing one of the capacitive buttons (not to mention how many times it happens when my 6yo daughter is playing a game on the phone) I'm ordering the x2 and the buttons is one of the main selling points for me.

This is one reason I bought the X2 and traded in my incredible 2.

 

[Heelpir8]

If you're interested in trying capacitive buttons on the DX2, there's a free program in the Android Market called "Button Savior." I've been testing it out for a few minutes now and it seems to work well. Worried the physical buttons may not last the entire two years, which would obviously be a problem in the absence of an on-screen alternative.

 

[rushmore]

If you like playing the game emulators, the DX2 is the best device out IMO:

1. No capacitive buttons to touch by accident when using Vpads.
2. The slightly wider & shorter form factor fits better for playing in landscape mode
3. Tegra 2 handles N64 and PSX very well (MUCH better than Hummingbird and the single core Snaps)

Nice bonus is two ways to wake the device (power and home).

 

[kbCorruption]

I went from an original Droid to the X2 recently. The physical buttons are noticebly harder to press, and it can be annoying/cumbersome when you're using it in landscape mode. However, I think it is less annoying than accidently hitting the capacitive buttons on my Droid all the time. In the end it all comes down to personal preference. If you don't really have a problem accidently hitting the capacitive buttons, then you with probably prefer them over the hard press buttons, but it definitely shouldn't be a deal breaker. The X2 is an awesome phone.

 

[Aggie12]

I prefer the physical button feel. With soft buttons I sometimes questioned if I actually 'clicked' the button when the phone wouldn't respond right away. With hard keys I always know if it's not responding due to not pressing it or phone lag. Some may question the longevity of hard keys but from what I've seen on my OGX they are quite durable. I got the phone on launch day (july 15th)

 

[dyerk18]

I, too, preferred physical buttons until I moved to the Incredible 1 - the capacitive buttons are just so effortless and convenient and I personally have had few problems with accidental presses. The DX2's buttons, however, are just plain bad. A good implementation of physical face buttons is the Droid Charge - they are soft, yet responsive. The DX2 buttons are very thin, too close together, loud and require way too much pressure. It really does get in the way of the experience. With my incredible, pressing those capacitive buttons was like second nature. Now, I try to find ways to avoid pressing those buttons. Definitely room for improvement here. One of the reasons I'm returning the DX2 for the Inc2.

 

[Thefoodman52]

Personally, if I had any say in the matter, all android phones would have hardware buttons. I rather hardware over software in terms of the buttons.

 

[DDave]

Its interesting to read these replies. I just saw a article on Droid Life talking about the Nexus 3 phone jpossibly using NO physical buttons, running Ice Cream Sandwich.

Very interesting times...

 

[mtruman]

I went from an Eris to DX2 last week. One of the things I was looking forward to was the physical buttons. I love the DX2 in general but now that I've been using it a few days I wish it had capacitive buttons. The main problem with the ones on the Eris were that they were sluggish when the phone was busy. The DX2 is so fast that that would not be a problem. With the naked phone the physical buttons are OK (although they take a noticeable amount of effort to push) but I got the VZ silicone case which covers the buttons and not only hides the icons but makes finding the button positions more difficult. Will possibly get used to this after a bit more use.

 

[whitesoxwin]

Wondering if anyone has problems with accidental physical button presses when the Droid X2 is in your pocket? Could this be one advantage of capacitive buttons?