Will you care if ICS does come with hardware buttons

Basis

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We have a bunch of rumors indicating that Ice Cream Sandwich will do away with hardware buttons a la Honeycomb. Now, we all know phones with hardware buttons aren't going to be left out nor will they include those on-screen buttons.

While reading around, I just find it silly that people would get disappointed if the new Nexus device did have hardware buttons rather just be one big screen on the front. Are we really that spoiled that we'll let something like a phone having a few buttons on the front hinder our choice of buying a smartphone? Does it even matter?

Show of hands for those who want a just screen with on-screen controls on the bottom and why do you prefer it. For me, I'm good with the little touch-sensitive hardware buttons. I just believe it's a little asinine to cover the phone's face with as much screen as possible when it's too much. Bezel is there for a reason, and while wasted screen space is bothersome, taking away a phone's hardware buttons and replacing them with the screen just for the buttons is awkward and would be slightly wasteful for the battery. Even if not all phones will incorporate all screen and no button.

I'm interested in hearing your guys' opinions.
 

anon(94115)

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My Charge has hardware button and they took some time to get used to, but now I love them. I don't care if they are there or not, just as long as there is some ICS on the horizon for Verizon
 

Hearthatvoiceagain

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Personally, I am expecting the Nexus Prime to have no buttons, but it won't be the end of phones with buttons. On a smaller screen the touch screen controls would take up a larger percentage of screen space (or become too small to use) so there will be smaller form factors that will retain buttons. It is very hard to tell how well on scrren only will work since we don't have the hardware/software yet so don't know ihow it will work. I remember when the Nexus One came out, some people had a hard time with the capacative buttons but got used to them. A lots going to depend on how they are implemented in the UI.
 

srkmagnus

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It would nice to have streamlined devices with no hardware buttons. Will it be a big issue if hardware buttons are present in future OS releases? No.
 

ChillFactorz

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One of the biggest draws to Android, as of late, seems to be it is a media device. One of the drawbacks, have been the size of the devices, in ratio to hands and ease of use. Most people associate "device" size with "screen" size. If OEMs can keep the device size the same while increasing screen size I will except the compromise.

I had a thought, that the on screen buttons would rotate along with the rotation of the device. I then had another thought, would they just rotate and stay in the same location on screen, or would the buttons always rotate to the bottom of the screen?
 

BSG75

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I want a bigger screen, less bezel and no buttons. I will be disappointed after using Honeycomb on my Galaxy Tab 10.
 

jerrod6

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I would prefer no hardware buttons. If ICS is as smart as It should be, it can know if the device has hardware buttons and be able to use those if present. No buttons - then It would display the software buttons. Of course this might be a manufacturer configurable option.
 
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jasaero

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As near to ZERO bezel all around screen as possible while still protecting display during drop with phone speaker and mic on backside of phone. Nix the speakerphone speaker and just drive the phone speaker different for upto head and speakerphone use. Then make the screen 5" and still have a device in the same size range as a lot of the current 4.3" phones.

With zero bezel the OG Droid and iPhone 4 would have been 5" screens in a more panoramic aspect ratio. iPhone 4 would be close to HD 16:9 ratio at 5" add a small .25" or less bezel and would still fit in most hands fine in portrait and landscape while also fitting pockets just fine. Only draw back is you would need to flip phone before putting it to face when making a call. When receiving you could have answer button so you just train yourself to answer from the back when grabbing phone.

I make this point because I think 5" is about the correct size to effectively displace a tablet for most uses as Samsung is suggesting with their Note. It's also about the max size you can go and still have most all hand sizes able to operate seamlessly one handed in portrait. Bezel also needs to stay minimal to get to 5" and still allow small handed one hand portrait use. But like I said OG Droid and iPhone 4 would be 5" bezelless, because this is what you need to quantify to understand my point. Just slightly bigger than that for bezel and you are still under the size of most current superphones, yet have a 5" screen.
 
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jasaero

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Estimated dimensions of device from my last post if'n you assume 5" 16:9 screen with .25" bezel where speaker and buttons(half inch extra width) were and .125" each side(.25" extra width to help with portrait reach and stay in the realm of current minimum side bezel sizes).

125mmx70mm with thickness that I am guessing would only be slightly thicker than one would expect currently. Guessing 10-13mm is plenty feasible and still have room for a good sized battery and all the junk behind the screen. The compromise on size would be thickness though as the areas above and below display do help squeeze everything into minute thicknesses. Width is also up there, but that is a product of a 5" screen that isn't too panoramic to be useful. Pretty sure it's still in most everyones one hand thumb reach with decent ease though. And the biggest win is it's exactly the same size for landscape palm use as Galaxy SII and better than the Moto phones that I find kinda long in landscape even for my larger hands.
 

Basis

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You know, I think it would be cool with the virtual buttons weren't part of the screen, but worked the way the buttons on the MotoROKR E8 did where they weren't there when the phone was off and would change into different controls during a specific task. For example, when you were calling someone, you would see numbers, when you had music on you would see music controls, etc. That I could definitely live with.
 

ezumi

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Very much prefer to have some hardware buttons; especially power button, volume button and camera button. A dedicated camera button can immediately turn phone on, go into camera app and take photos. Operating the phone by tactile touch only feels very natural and is most useful.
 

YoshiDroid

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Either way, it's up to the manufacturers to make it work and I think they will. There are many pros with on-screen buttons, they can be dynamic and change both icon and function depending on the application and allow larger screen size but not increase the overall size of the phone. Cons... I dunno!

I'm used to capacitive hardware buttons and I think they make the overall experience very smooth, I mean for example you use a purely touch based on-screen keyboard and that's not a problem, right?
 

Tripsyk

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My Droid Incredible has hardware buttons and a trackball, and I love it, but I'd imagine if I had a 4.3"+ screen, I would be fine with having no trackpad or physical buttons.
 

Progenitor42

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I had a thought, that the on screen buttons would rotate along with the rotation of the device. I then had another thought, would they just rotate and stay in the same location on screen, or would the buttons always rotate to the bottom of the screen?
I know you are referring to on screen buttons but The DInc2 capacitive buttons rotate relative to the phone when in portrait or landscape mode. Personally I would like to keep the buttons on the phones and gradually phase them out rather than eliminate them entirely.
 

anon(21022)

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ICS won't "come with hardware buttons" - it's just a software release after all, not an actual physical phone ;)

ahem. Anyways. From what I know/understand the OS will detect whether there are hardware buttons or not and present the appropriate UI to the user. Just like properly-coded universal apps present the phone or tablet interface depending on which device it's run on.

Just makes sense, and would go in line with what ICS is supposed to be, a merging of phone and tablet OSes into one unified OS to rule them all (as long as the OEM/Carrier updates your device :p )