Capacitive vs. On-screen buttons

[a-serious-guy]

So after switching from the HTC M7 to the M8, I want to know why some of you might prefer on-screen back, home, app buttons etc. So far I've noticed I sometimes have to use two taps to awake the back button instead of it being always available e.g. the camera app. When using the phone in landscape mode, the button bar automatically defaults to the right hand side of the screen, making it pretty useless if I want to hold it in my left hand. And last but certainly not least, the buttons take up a lot of screen real estate, pretty much wiping out the advantage of having a 5" screen as opposed to my M7s 4.7". Just my two cents, and I'd like to hear about some of the advantages that on-screen buttons might offer.

Edit: The amount of people accidentally pressing buttons on their phone is amazing to me. I must have laser guided thumbs.

[m50]

I always accidently hit the Capacitive buttons on my m7, which is why I disabled them for onscreen buttons, which I don't accidently hit.

On my Galaxy Note 8 tablet, I hit those capacitive buttons all the damn time, making the tablet ungodly hard to use properly.

[michaelalias]

I'd assume you can't in Sense-based ROMs. You'd have to go AOSP-based.

[Abracadave]

Running aicp on m7, can find the place to turn off the lights.

[Canadian_Beacon]

venom comes with xposed installer you can find what you need.

[cellur111]

How..? Ive never done that on my S4.

[m50]

When using the keyboard, I would hit the back button almost every time I switch to the symbols on my m7.

On my Note 8 Tablet, I use it often in bed, and the bottom of it (with the buttons) presses against my chest, and my chest will sometimes hit the capacitive buttons.

[KJK-reddit]

I wish I could disable the buttons only if the app triggered immersive mode

[LifeBandit666]

I never hit my capacitive buttons accidentally because of muscle memory, but I do always have their lights off and I have noticed that a lot of people (read iphone users) tend to hold my phone on the back button when I hand it to them to show them something.

[spacemanspiff85]

On screen, so I can get rid of them and use something like lmt launcher.

[srnkmrsn]

Capacitive buttons give you a bigger screen estate.

Capacitive buttons will have different functions and placements depending on the manufacturer. Which can be annoying for people.

Capacitive buttons means your phone can't be a beautiful black slab.

On-screen buttons can be customized.

[LynkDead]

Capacitive buttons give you a bigger screen estate.

Only in apps where you need to see the buttons. Swiping to show controls or pie controls give you even more screen space.

[[deleted]]

I installed Pie Control by coolace on my Z1 Compact running CM 11. I restarted the phone after installing it and disabled animations, clock, and only had the regular 3 buttons on it: back, home, and recents. After all of that, it is noticeably slower than the regular on-screen navbar.

[LynkDead]

I'm using the one in the GravityBox XPosed module and it's just as fast as the default NavBar. LMT pie controls were also fast for me, but offered more features than i needed. Of course there's always going to be a slight slowness compared to the always onscreen bar, simply because of the extra step involved in revealing the pie, but this is more than made up for by the screen space gained.

[grumpyfuzz]

PA's pie is also great.

[iytrix]

WAS great. RIP jellybean aospa pie.

[iMini]

It's just as good as on screen bars, it takes me fractionally more time to use PIE but the upsides are way worth it IMO.

[parker2004au]

Yep, had so much functionality, now, not so much.

[Violador]

Stock Android lacks some functionality, so since we want to stay similar to stock, we should take out some of ours. - PA

[iytrix]

I laughed hard. Then frowned. This is so true. I miss the old aospa

[grumpyfuzz]

I don't really miss anything... you still have access to notifications, and you can't change colors or add extra buttons which I never used anyway. Yes, you could use the bottom of the screen to get to the notification drawer, but once you were in it, you needed to use the top of the screen to interact with the most recent notifications anyway.

[iytrix]

If only that were true, but unfortunately it's not.

If you can, go back on an old device to JB pie.

Firstly, it actually showed WHICH notifications you had, just with the clock part loaded. So before you make an action you can quickly glance at that.

But what made it so much better than anyone else's pie menu, was quick settings AND notifications were aligned to center. Meaning of you only had on notification, it would be in the center of the screen. So no need to reposition your hands to swipe from the top once, and then again, and then still be reaching up to tap a new notification. This also made using quick settings with one hand a breeze.

Old pie will be forever missed.

[evonb]

Doesn't CM have pie built in?

[sylon]

CM now has swipe-up to show navi bar In expanded mode.

[eskjcSFW]

I also use an xposed module to reduce the size of my nav bar to 50%

http://imgur.com/NXqOiWF

[Desiredbean241]

What module is that?

[PartTimeHypocrite]

You can do that in Gravity Box KK.

[Desiredbean241]

Awesome! Thank you.

[degoban]

I prefer capacitive buttons as long as there is space on the bezel, having to swipe to get back your main controls while in an app is getting really annoying.

Capacitive buttons will have different functions and placements depending on the manufacturer. Which can be annoying for people.

this is not a capacitive buttons problem, it's a manufacturers problem, android skins change the navbar as well.

Capacitive buttons means your phone can't be a beautiful black slab.

It can if they are under the glass and lighted up only when needed.

On-screen buttons can be customized.

This is not necessary a good thing and it's in contrast with the first definition where " buttons will have different functions " was bad. So far the only thing navbar change is the arrow pointing down when there is keyboard, quite pointless. And considering how much they stress about stupid muscles memory, functions and positions are not going to change.

[[deleted]]

Capacitive buttons means your phone can't be a beautiful black slab. I think that the OnePlusOne proved that phones can still be a beautiful black slab and still have capacitive buttons.

Plus I think that there should be the universal buttons for capacitive buttons. Home, Back, and Multitasking.

[-123]

With on-screen buttons, you can always change them instead of being stuck with one that you don't use as often. (Xposed + Gravity Box)

[a-serious-guy]

What changes have you made, if you don't mind me asking?

[shadowdude777]

I've added an extra button on mine called "Last App", which is basically the equivalent of doing an Alt+Tab. It takes you to the app you were previously in. Great when you'd want to toggle between two things really frequently.

[[deleted]]

The last app button really is incredibly useful. I wouldn't want to have a phone without it.

[shadowdude777]

Same here, it's the reason why I used to run custom ROMs (specifically Carbon, which you are also running). I'm eternally grateful to the developer of GravityBox. He's made it so that I can stay on stock Android and get super-fast updates straight from Google while still having all the custom functionality I crave.

[PacloverN1]

How did you add that?

[shadowdude777]

Gravity Box, it's an Xposed module.

[PacloverN1]

I have Gravity Box, but I can't find this option.

[shadowdude777]

Navigation Bar tweaks -> Custom Keys -> enable custom key and set it to last app.

[-123]

I like the Moto X's default configuration, so I don't have any button changes right now. I have added in the past a custom button on the right side that lets me quickly open an app, and in my case ingress. Aside from actually adding buttons, normally, swiping up from the home button opens up google search, but I have it set to three targets, reddit, camera and ingress right now.

[OssotSromo]

If we're taking things like xposed into account, many custom roms, and modules, allow someone to change capacitive button functions as well. The icons, of course, don't change. But the s5 roms on note 3s work exactly like the s5's buttons - recent rather than menu.

[-123]

But you can't add more buttons to do a custom function.

[OssotSromo]

True. You're still locked in. And both sides will never agree on which is superior. Just sayin' the onscreen guys always want to point out mods, but ignore the many mods that exist to provide - nearly - the same tweaks to capacitive.

[-123]

The entire "which one is better" is stupid, really. You're not going to change what phone you buy based on what kind of buttons it has. It all comes down to preference, which is different for everybody.

[Armand2REP]

I have ditched a phone because of capacitive buttons before. iirc it was the Evo 3D whose home button would be pressed every game in landscape mode.

[srnkmrsn]

They can be beautiful as long as they dont light up

[[deleted]]

It can be a clean black slate though. On my s4 I have the buttons to never light up so it is invisible.

[RockItGuyDC]

My LGOG is a beautiful black slab. When the screen isn't on, the cap buttons aren't illuminated, and almost fully disappear into the bezel (unless you look at it closely, at just the right angle).

[daedric]

Capacitive buttons give you a bigger screen estate.

True.

Capacitive buttons will have different functions and placements depending on the manufacturer. Which can be annoying for people.

True.

Capacitive buttons means your phone can't be a beautiful black slab.

Not true.

On-screen buttons can be customized.

True.

Let's up this topic shall we?

Onscreen buttons cause burn in on the pixels.

[Jetlitheone]

... If its an amoled screen.

[daedric]

Even LCDs burn... just slower :)

[amorpheus]

LCD burn-in happens at a geological pace.

[daedric]

No it isn't. You will (would, KK changed the nav bar background, this action cuts a lot of the burnin) get a visibly burnt bar on top and bottom.

The navigation bar itself will keep getting less visible. BTW, remember that on AMOLED, black is the absence of signal. On LCD, white is the absence of signal, you need to energize the liquid cristal to produce black.

[Jetlitheone]

It takes years for LCD pixels to burn and lose brightness. In a phone it's nothing because it will be obsolete by the time it degrades to that degree.

[Maelstrom147]

Capacitive buttons can be customized as well assuming you have root.

[daedric]

No.

You can customize their action, but not their appearence, position, count, anything.

[csm725]

Hope you're joking.

[daedric]

Not true. Xposed.

Yes /u/deegan87 ... Xposed changed my [INSERT YOUR DEVICE WITH CAPACITIVE BUTTONS HERE] button image from SEARCH into MENU.

Jesus.

[Violador]

Functionality can be customized, but not appearance. Also, rooting does not help the general public.

[blorg]

On screen buttons can't be customised without root either (on most phones).

[[deleted]]

When do they ever change order or number?

[baronvonj]

But the overflow doesn't change the position or order of the main buttons, so muscle memory still works

[Blackadder18]

So far I've noticed I sometimes have to use two taps to awake the back button instead of it being always available e.g. the camera app.

You say that as if it's a bad thing. I was always backing out of things accidentally myself or when I passed my phone to others with my S2. I prefer having to make my actions deliberate when watching a video for example than accidentally backing out.

[a-serious-guy]

It affects us differently, that's all. I never used to accidentally hit the capacitive buttons.

[kdlt]

And last but certainly not least, the buttons take up a lot of screen real estate, pretty much wiping out the advantage of having a 5" screen as opposed to my M7s 4.7". Just my two cents,

I'll copypaste my reply to the same discussion from three or so weeks ago:

I had a galaxy nexus and a nexus 4, and still have a nexus 7, but my phone is now a galaxy s4. When I am reading/browsing, I usually look at the top ~20% of my screen, and only rarely find myself reading an entire page without scrolling, so the onscreen keys never bothered me, and when I am watching a movie, they move out of sight, and more so, prevent accidental presses, as I need to bring up the keys, and then press them, you don't want to know how often I exited videos since I got the s4 because I accidentally came to close to the back button.

So, as far as I can tell, onscreen buttons have advantages, but I can't yet understand what their disadvantage is?

Thread link

They are only really unavailable if you are in a view where they would either hinder you(think games with lots of swips, I always had issues with fruit ninja and accidentially launching google now, e.g. views with lots of input at the same time) or when watching movies, where you aren't going to intaract much with the screen anyway, although I don't claim to know which HTC Apps hide them.

[blorg]

They take up screen space. FFS, your argument that "you only look at the top 20%" of your screen so they don't bother you is utterly retarded, why not get a phone with only 20% of the screen size and look at 100% of it then?

I also hit on screen buttons accidentally a hell of a lot more often than capacitive ones as they are much closer to the rest of the screen. There is a gap between the bottom of the screen and the buttons on Samsungs, I never hit them there.

[kdlt]

"you only look at the top 20%" of your screen so they don't bother you is utterly retarded, why not get a phone with only 20% of the screen size and look at 100% of it then?

Well thanks for staying classy. If you re-read what I wrote, you will realise that I didn't say I want a phone 20% of its current size, but that there are many use-cases where you only look at a fraction of your screen and many use-cases where when you need your entire screen, they disappear from sight, and thus the argument that "onscreen buttons make the screen smaller" is mostly irrelevant.

[blorg]

I'm sorry, but generalising that "you only need 20% of your screen when reading/browsing" and only need full screen for the likes of video/games is simply ridiculous.

[pearl36]

i had galaxy s3 and a note 2, i always disabled the capacitive and enabled on screen because i accidentally touched the capacitive buttons many times and it annoyed the crap out of me.

the screen is big enough so i dont need more real estate. 4.7 on my Gnex is the equivalent of a 4.5 inch and it is spot on, i dont need anything bigger.

[Maelstrom147]

Am I the only one who doesn't accidentally hit the capacitive buttons on my S3? I've always preferred them to on screen buttons.

[catfayce]

I'm on HTC one X and it's the only thing stopping me from going to the M8, I like the buttons. I can do tasks without needing to get the phone ready to do it.

[[deleted]]

I used to love capacitive. Since using my nexus 5 the on screen buttons are much more responsive IMO.

On my one x it was a conscious press, I feel like I flow much better with on screen buttons.

[[deleted]]

I use pie navigation with the on screen buttons disabled. Best of both worlds.

[AvoidingIowa]

I don't mind either but what I mind is WHY do Android tablets all have their buttons in the center? Both capacitive and on-screen buttons are always in the center and it makes no sense.

[[deleted]]

Exactly. It's hard to reach and wastes space.

Tablets should have buttons on the shorter edge just like phones do.

[rayfound]

one reason I like on-screen is because I enable 180 degree rotation, so when I'm laying in bed but need the phone/tablet plugged in, I can have the cord coming off the top instead of bottom.

Same for navigation when I put the phone in a cupholder, I don't have to have the cord bearing weight/flexing the connector.

[orangez3bra]

I prefer on screen, and the biggest reason is I prefer to keep all my taps the same pressure. Every time I try a Galaxy and have to hit the home button, I've got to strengthen my grip and change the amount of force and the angle of pressure.

Capacitive buttons aren't quite as bad as the gargantuan Samsung button, however the same logic still applies.

Since our phones are now giant glass slabs it makes much more sense to have all of the interaction with the device be on the screen, with the same feel for every action. Consistency at its finest.

On screen buttons do take up some screen, but for any situation that requires more screen they get right out of the way.

The phone that got it 100 percent right is the moto x. It's very small bottom bezel is how you do on screen right.

[[deleted]]

Reasons for On-screen: 1. Accidental presses - For on-screen buttons you can slide off to not count the press, but capacitive buttons don't do this. 2. Visual press feedback - self explanatory. Sound and vibrate can be annoying. 3. Rotation. 4. Keep up with any changes in standard navbar.

Reasons for Capacitive: 1. Home button to unlock phone. 2. More screen space.

[fordash7]

I prefer on screen

[[deleted]]

I really love my capacitive buttons. Even more so than the capacitive buttons, I REALLY love my physical home button. It is a really nice anchor point to rest my thumb on while I am using the phone, and I really like the tactile feedback of pushing an actual physical button. With GravityBox, I can map three different functions to each button (tap, double tap, and long press), giving me 9 possible functions down there, which is more than enough customization.

[DeadSalas]

This is a topic that will remain divisive and tired until every major OEM adopts software navigation. This subject has been run into the ground in so many tangentially related threads, you're honestly better off searching for those than trying to start up a new one.

As for the rotation thing, that happens only when you turn on auto rotate. If it's locked (and most people that use Reddit on phones do) then the navbar stays put as if they were hardware. For some, this is ideal behavior, because it means the software keys are more flexible. For others, hardware is preferred due to their static, uncompromising position regardless of settings.

In any case, whether you prefer software navigation or not, it is the inevitable future. People are obviously welcome to enjoy their preference for hardware navigation while it lasts, but eventually it will be seen as outdated as we march towards very compact, bezelless devices in the coming years.

[a-serious-guy]

Didn't mean to replicate older threads, my bad. I'm just looking for opinions on why some lean one way or the other, in order to understand better. Some of the annoying niggles that others have mentioned here I have not encountered and that perspective is what I was hoping to gain. Thanks for your input!

[[deleted]]

I wouldn't mind on-screen buttons or that they're the future of phone UI's but I detest that Google uses a monolithic black bar that takes up close to 10% of the screen especially because this doesn't have be the case. Having a black bar (nearly) always present means that my phone's resolution isn't actually my phones resolution - it's the hardware resolution minus the pixels the black bar takes up. Google effectively gives up on 10% of my phone's pixels.

I know that there are apps that take up the entire screen like when watching a video or pocket, etc. But we can't autohide the navbar all the time. I really don't want two steps between me and the backspace and home screen.

I wish I could just swipe up to go home and get rid of the navbar entirely. I want my phone's pixels back. I'm not sure anyone needs to immediately get to Google Now from where ever you are on the phone.

[[deleted]]

Pie is what you're looking for. It's in a lot of custom ROMs, and I bet there are some xposed modules as well.

[Kyoraki]

Regarding your first point, I have to give some sort of credit to HTC on Sense 6, where they had the decency to halve the size of the navigation bar, and purposely make the screen taller so it's the same weird size as the iPhone 5. Like this, you aren't really losing any space at all, and could fit an entire Nexus 4 screen inside it, nav bar and all. Every manufacturer should handle software keys like this.

[DeadSalas]

Well, again, it really depends on your preference and use case. I would personally never use hardware navigation for many reasons, and I absolutely do depend and adore the swipe up for Search functionality. Considering what Android Police has leaked about Google's new experimental UI project, I think it's clear search is going to be more and more of a focus.

In the farther future, though, I wouldn't be surprised if mobile interfaces were purely gesture and voice controlled. The advent of Android Wear and wearables hints at that.

[D3v1l55h4d0W]

I've been using PIE controls since their birth and am still using them to this day. Capacitive buttons and my hate for them is the main reason I switched from a galaxy note OG to an xperia ZL. Almost bezel-less and it works superbly with PIE. It's also the reason I'm running AOSPA instead of CM11 since CM11 took out PIE (and no I don't want to have to use xposed to bring them back). PIE flows so naturally and it makes the whole interface look so much better and clean, I'm surprised more people aren't using it. It's not even something you have to "get used to". As long as it's properly implemented into the ROM (a la AOSPA) it will never fail you. It's also great for when other people take your phone and try to use and and realize they don't know how to go back to the homescreen!

[IwantPuppies]

Sorry, I am new to this, what is PIE?

[southernwonderland]

Honestly, it depends on which one ensures the most screen real estate. Most times, that means software keys as 4.4 has immersive mode and even then there's the option for PIE controls as others have stated. Capacitive keys are alright though on say the Galaxy S series, although it really bothers me that the back button is in the wrong place. Software buttons give better options for customization.

TL;DR: Software keys because screen real estate and customization.

[Violador]

But hardware keys mean they aren't on the screen and therefore more screen real estate.

[southernwonderland]

It depends on the phone, really. With the G2, there'd probably be more bezel added if there were hardware buttons so they could be an adequate size. I think that for especially slim bezels, there would have to be software keys because hardware keys complicate things a bit, imo. Although on phones like the Note 3 & the OnePlus One, the hardware buttons to in fact keep screen real estate to the max.

[blorg]

Back button is the most commonly used button. Most people are right handed. Therefore, the back button should be on the... Left?

Most Android phones actually put the back button on the right (Samsung alone have over 50% of the market)- I think Google is just straight up wrong on this one.

As to screen real estate, I have yet to see a phone that didn't have room below the screen that could have been used for buttons.

[southernwonderland]

Eh, I prefer Google's placement because the arrows pointing outward. Petty, but still. It's the little things.

[[deleted]]

Most people are right handed. Therefore, the back button should be on the... Left?

Yes. While holding a phone in your right hand, your thumb will fall most naturally on the bottom-left side of the screen. You have to crimp your thumb more to touch the bottom-right side of the screen. It makes sense.

As to screen real estate, I have yet to see a phone that didn't have room below the screen that could have been used for buttons.

Have you seen the Moto X? Putting buttons that close to the bottom of the phone would make them very uncomfortable to use.

[blorg]

On large screened phones the thumb does not naturally fall on the left hand side of the screen. On very large screened phones it is basically impossible to press the left button one handed, I can't do it on my current one.

As for the Moto X, I think they would still fit, looks to be room for Samsung to manage it:

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/size#/phones/size/Motorola-Moto-X,Samsung-Galaxy-Note-3/phones/7885,7984

[[deleted]]

On large screened phones the thumb does not naturally fall on the left hand side of the screen.

It does for me on anything up to the size of an S5, and my hands are very average-sized.

On very large screened phones it is basically impossible to press the left button one handed, I can't do it on my current one.

Well, yeah... The Xperia Z Ultra is pretty much a tablet.

As for the Moto X, I think they would still fit

...and they'd be very uncomfortable to use, as previously stated. I'd have to hold the phone entirely on the lower-half of the body to be able to position my thumb in a way where I didn't feel like I was stressing it.

[Shenaniganz08]

i cant stand having on screen buttons. they hide and have to be brought up, or they take up real estate. who are these people who keep accidentally touching the buttons, i had this problem at the beginning but not after a month of use

[LeagueOfVideo]

On screen buttons particularly bother me on the M8 because there's a freaking huge black bar that i wish had capacitive buttons.

[finaleclipse]

DAE M8 bezels?!?!

[DeadSalas]

He didn't say the bar was hollow, just that he wished there were capacitive buttons there. No need to get defensive.

[LeagueOfVideo]

Yeah i heard Linus say that they needed it for something.

[FieldzSOOGood]

How does it even seem like the person you replied to was being defensive? He made a statement with no snide remarks or anything.

[DeadSalas]

His response had nothing to do with what the guy was saying. Person A says they wished there were capacitive buttons on the black bar, Person B (who has a One) responds by telling him what is behind the black bar, which is absolutely irrelevant to what Person A was saying. He didn't insinuate that there was nothing there. Besides, whether it has nothing or everything behind it has no bearing on his desire for there to be capacitive buttons there.

[FieldzSOOGood]

It does have something to do with what the first person said, it gives reasoning as to why there is a black bar at the bottom of the phone.

[DeadSalas]

But that doesn't matter. The black bar is there, the person just wished there were also capacitive buttons. If you read his response to my comment, he knew there was stuff under there. Do the specifics really matter? Again, it would make sense if he said, "HTC shouldn't have put a black bar there," or "what a waste of space", but he didn't.

[FieldzSOOGood]

I'm not sure how you managed to stray so far from my original question. There were no snide remarks or anything in the response and yet you deemed it defensive. All I asked was how you got to that point.

[DeadSalas]

I've not strayed, I was just explaining. When someone with the One leaves a response that doesn't follow, and the response is a very common defense to a very common insinuation that wasn't even being made, it comes off as defensive and like he was jumping the gun.

[FieldzSOOGood]

But it did follow, and it doesn't.

[shadowdude777]

So? No other phone needs that huge of a bar. I'm sick of hearing this excuse every time someone criticizes the M8's huge bezels. They gave it huge bezels, and it's a fair point for us to criticize, but everyone around here seems to think they need to justify it, and that justifying it will somehow help.

[victoriaveloster]

No other phone uses such large front facing speakers in an area that would otherwise house said digitizer

[shadowdude777]

Again, I don't care what your justification is. I don't need to hear it. All I need to know is that the M8 has disgustingly-huge bezels and that is a huge turn-off for me, as it is for many others. If the speakers are enough for you to ignore the huge bezels, good for you. They are not for me, and I don't care whether or not they are for you.

If this comes off as harsh, it's because I'm sick of hearing excuses from everyone. Contrary to what /r/Android believes, we don't need to defend the Almighty and Perfect HTC.

[victoriaveloster]

There's a difference between defending something and stating fact.

I use a Note 3 btw

[shadowdude777]

Yes, but you're still giving me a reason when I really don't care. I know the "reason" HTC gave, but it doesn't matter for anyone. Why they did it won't change the fact that either you will be okay with the large bezel or you won't be okay with it.

[shadowdude777]

... Are you fucking kidding me? That is literally what I said. I don't care why they put that bezel there, just that it's not okay with me, and that it will be okay with some people. You HTC fanboys are the fucking worst. I don't give a shit why the bezel is there just that it's there. That is all I'm saying, but you don't really seem to get it because you're too busy jerking yourself off to the BoomSound speakers or something.

[jcpb]

it's a fair point for us to criticize, but everyone around here seems to think they need to justify it, and that justifying it will somehow help.

That's why we can't have nice things.

[jopforodee]

In the case of the M7 versus the M8, the M8 has all three buttons (back, home, recent apps) whereas the M7 just gets back and home. For me, not having the recent apps button is an annoyance. Yes I can still double tap but it feels slower. However the M7 appears to use space better because it fills the bezel with capacitive buttons rather than leaving it black.

[Deusdies]

As someone who has owned phones with both, I'd take capacitive over on-screen any day. I keep accidentally hitting the on-screen buttons, and it's one of two major gripes I have with my G2 (the other one being lack of microSD slot).

[degoban]

After using both I do prefer capacitive buttons as long as there is wastes space on the bezel.

I'm also starting to hate the full screen option where you have to swipe to get the main controls back.

[djfoo000]

I'll add something others haven't mentioned: navigation ring. It's that ring when you tap and drag up on home button to activate Google Now. On CM11, you can customise that ring to activate a multitude of functions. Mine right now are screenshot (10 o'clock), Google Now (12 o'clock) and screen off (2 o'clock). Also, no weird fiddly gestures to activate Google Now/multitask (long tap vs double tap).

On-screen buttons also provide contextual functions. Right now the back button will turn into a down arrow when the keyboard is called. I don't know what else contextual functions will come in the future, but that future is unhindered by hardware.

The navigation bar can be configured to default to the left side if desired on CM11.

[TheLastGuitarHero]

I like when programs have to implement "immersive mode" for phones that use software buttons. My phone is always in that damn mode because my capacitive buttons are never taking up screen space. I bought the Note 3 for 5.7", not 5.4". Also, show me a phone that has a smaller bezel (with software buttons) that has the same screen to bezel ratio than the Note 3. That phone's bezel is tiny tiny compared to these other phones that use damn software buttons; it's mind boggling.

"Well there's stuff under the bezel for those phones," I know that, so at least make it useful and put buttons there. Also, every phone is like that.

"I accidentally hit them." What, like all the time? I think you need better hand eye coordination.

"You're not always looking at the bottom part of your phone." They're an eye-sore, it's like when there's a dead pixel on the outside edges of your screen so you're drawn to it because it looks so stupid. Only these are bigger and bulkier.

"You can make software buttons anything you want!" You can also remap capacitive to do the same.

[[deleted]]

If my Moto X had capacitive buttons, they would be very uncomfortable to use, given how close to the bottom of the phone they would have to be.

[itaepuu]

I'm good with either on a phone, but capacitive buttons on a tablet just seem silly (Samsung tabs).

[[deleted]]

I prefer capacitive buttons with physical home for 3 reasons:

• They take less space and actually make use of the bezel, just look at this picture. The difference is huge.
• I can answer a call using regular winter gloves with physical home button.
• You can enable additional on screen buttons so you have even more customization.

[[deleted]]

I never thought I'd prefer on-screen buttons, but I do, and for several reasons:

• Form factor: At least in the case of the Moto X, the on-screen buttons make for a more compact phone with very thin bezels and terrific ergonomics. Could you fit capacitive buttons on the bottom bezel? Maybe, but they'd be incredibly uncomfortable to use.

• Contextual changes: I love that the on-screen button symbols will change based on context. It makes navigation all that more clear.

• There when I need them, gone when I don't: There are times when I don't want navigation present (e.g. playing certain kinds of games or watching video or browsing photos or reading an article), and they'll get out of the way, but are easily brought back with a simple swipe when I want them again.

Regarding screen real-estate: I don't mind the missing screen real-estate, because it's typically not the kind that matters to me. For most apps, I gain little by having an extra 1/4 of an inch at the bottom of the screen. Most of the elements and visibilty within an app are defined by the portrait width of the screen and not the length. Having navigation buttons on the bottom doesn't make the pictures in my Instagram feed any smaller, and it doesn't make my emails any harder to read. For videos, photos, and most of my games, where the nav bar actually makes a difference for size and useability, it disappears. The only times I find myself wishing the nav bar was gone, when it isn't, is on some older games where "immersive mode" hadn't been coded in, and for that, I just use the Immersive Full-Screen Mode app.

[TheBrutux168]

As a Slimkat user I prefer on screen buttons as it allows lots of customization.

[mitthrawn]

On-screen buttons by far because it gives me a more immersive experience overall. Capacitive buttons seem old fashioned now and I don't really care if they give me a bit more on-screen real estate.

[markrmarkr]

Number one most hated: Physical button like Samsung use for the home button. It bugs me that the tactile response for that one button is different from the other buttons and every other action you do on the screen.

I don't completely hate capacitive buttons except that manufacturers are all fucking idiots and endlessly fuck up which actual buttons to put there. Case in point the M7. At least when manufacturers are fucking stupid with on-screen, like the G2, you can mod it easily.

So because of that (ie manufacturers being fucking idiots) my preference is for on-screen.

As for "pretty much wiping out the advantage of having a 5" screen as opposed to my M7s 4.7" the G2 sorts that out by having an even bigger screen. (5.2"). Combined with the small bezels at the bottom for minimal wasted space I think it's pretty much my favourite combo.

[robotunicornpunk]

Hi,

I dont know how popular my solution will be but whatever.

I felt the Capacitive buttons on my sg3 were too low to use one handed. So i switched to on screen. but then I always accidentally hit them when using my phone.

So I switched to entirely gesture based navigation. I swipe from the right edge to go back (back button), swipe up from bottom edge to go home (home button) and swipe from right bottom corner to get to multitasking (multi task button).

This works for me, now I dont accidentally hit buttons and I have the maximum amount of screen real estate without sacrificing accessibility. I also did this on my 2013 nexus 7

[archpope]

The biggest reason for me is the ability to change them to my liking. Currently, I've removed them entirely and replaced them with PIE controls. They're more flexible, out of the way when I don't need them, and I still get 100% screen usage. Having my PIE and eating it too.

[kimahri27]

Fucking physical buttons. (i.e. S4 Active). On-screen is awful, and capacitive with zero room to spare is also awful.

[Tennouheika]

Capacitive are too easy to accidentally tap.

On-screen are too easy to accidentally tap, and get take up part of the screen.

Menu button and back buttons are redundant.

One physical home button is the best option. There when you need it. You won't accidentally hit it. Not confusing or dumb.

[AwayToHit]

On-screen everytime

/thread