Black bar.....

[Russ Smith]

So I might be missing a trick, but every one seems to complain about the black bar in curtain apps on a HTC, Surly if the menu button is needed in an app on other android devices them the black bar would still be there, along with the back, home and multitasking buttons? If anything having permanent buttons under screen means we have more screen real estate when the black bar/menu buttion isn't required ie on home screens etc??

Sent from my HTC One using Android Central Forums

 

[elysm1]

If I'm understanding your question correctly, you're asking if the black bar is there on Android phones that have all three buttons down bottom, correct? I have a GS3 right now and I've never seen the black bar at the bottom of the screen, but I have a dedicated menu button. The GS3 is the first and only Android phone I've owned though so I can't speak of any other phones out there. My guess is that the bar would be there if there is no hard menu button down below.

 

[dwd3885]

So I might be missing a trick, but every one seems to complain about the black bar in curtain apps on a HTC, Surly if the menu button is needed in an app on other android devices them the black bar would still be there, along with the back, home and multitasking buttons? If anything having permanent buttons under screen means we have more screen real estate when the black bar/menu buttion isn't required ie on home screens etc??

Sent from my HTC One using Android Central Forums

The black bar is there in apps that don't have a menu button in the action bar. Read: older apps not ICS compliant. It will only be there in these apps.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[Russ Smith]

If I'm understanding your question correctly, you're asking if the black bar is there on Android phones that have all three buttons down bottom, correct? I have a GS3 right now and I've never seen the black bar at the bottom of the screen, but I have a dedicated menu button. The GS3 is the first and only Android phone I've owned though so I can't speak of any other phones out there. My guess is that the bar would be there if there is no hard menu button down below.

Na I'm asking why people and reviews complain about it being there, as your phone doesnt have physical home/back/multitasking buttons then your phone will use some of the 4.8 inch screen to accomadate these right? At least the black menu bar on HTCs is only on screen for some apps when menu button needs to be added. The rest of the time I see the full 4.7 inches.

Sent from my HTC One using Android Central Forums

 

[ksavaiano]

Na I'm asking why people and reviews complain about it being there, as your phone doesnt have physical home/back/multitasking buttons then your phone will use some of the 4.8 inch screen to accomadate these right? At least the black menu bar on HTCs is only on screen for some apps when menu button needs to be added. The rest of the time I see the full 4.7 inches.

Sent from my HTC One using Android Central Forums

I believe that they are complaining because its different to them and its something they havent seen before. I understand what you are talking about because ive seen it and i dont see what the big deal is

 

[oehrensperger]

The complaint also takes into account last year's models that had capacitive home, back, and recent apps buttons. With no menu button, older apps displayed a black menu bar at the bottom. HTC was hoping app developers would adopt Google's standards more widely and that the black bar would not annoy enough customers. As history would have it, many popular apps took a very long time update to Google standards. This trend probably slowed down even more thanks to the popularity of the Samsung Galaxy S 3, which has a capacitive menu button, possibly discouraging developers to some extent to update their apps.

HTC tried to cater to Google's wishes (not all of them, since the buttons were not onscreen), but caved in to its customers' demands. An update that has hit all of HTC's 2012 top tier phones (except for the Verizon Droid DNA) allowed users to customize the behavior of the recent apps key by either pressing or long pressing it. With the menu button restored, the dreaded black bar would never bother anyone who didn't like it...

... Until the One was revealed. With only two capacitive keys, home and back, HTC has strayed a bit from Google's model. With the recent apps being accessed with a double tap of the home key, and Google Now being reached with a long press of that same key (identical to HTC's Jelly Bean updates to its 2012 lineup), the menu went back to being a black bar in legacy apps. Perhaps HTC believes the amount of legacy apps has decreased enough to warrant the decision to prioritize its own design over the theoretically doomed menu button. But as reviewers repeat their black bar comments from last year, will HTC stick with their guns, or will they allow a long press of the back key to show users a menu?

Find out next time, on Dragon Ball Z

 

[ksavaiano]

The complaint also takes into account last year's models that had capacitive home, back, and recent apps buttons. With no menu button, older apps displayed a black menu bar at the bottom. HTC was hoping app developers would adopt Google's standards more widely and that the black bar would not annoy enough customers. As history would have it, many popular apps took a very long time update to Google standards. This trend probably slowed down even more thanks to the popularity of the Samsung Galaxy S 3, which has a capacitive menu button, possibly discouraging developers to some extent to update their apps.

HTC tried to cater to Google's wishes (not all of them, since the buttons were not onscreen), but caved in to its customers' demands. An update that has hit all of HTC's 2012 top tier phones (except for the Verizon Droid DNA) allowed users to customize the behavior of the recent apps key by either pressing or long pressing it. With the menu button restored, the dreaded black bar would never bother anyone who didn't like it...

... Until the One was revealed. With only two capacitive keys, home and back, HTC has strayed a bit from Google's model. With the recent apps being accessed with a double tap of the home key, and Google Now being reached with a long press of that same key (identical to HTC's Jelly Bean updates to its 2012 lineup), the menu went back to being a black bar in legacy apps. Perhaps HTC believes the amount of legacy apps has decreased enough to warrant the decision to prioritize its own design over the theoretically doomed menu button. But as reviewers repeat their black bar comments from last year, will HTC stick with their guns, or will they allow a long press of the back key to show users a menu?

Find out next time, on Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball Z?!?! WHERE?!

 

[Russ Smith]

The complaint also takes into account last year's models that had capacitive home, back, and recent apps buttons. With no menu button, older apps displayed a black menu bar at the bottom. HTC was hoping app developers would adopt Google's standards more widely and that the black bar would not annoy enough customers. As history would have it, many popular apps took a very long time update to Google standards. This trend probably slowed down even more thanks to the popularity of the Samsung Galaxy S 3, which has a capacitive menu button, possibly discouraging developers to some extent to update their apps.

HTC tried to cater to Google's wishes (not all of them, since the buttons were not onscreen), but caved in to its customers' demands. An update that has hit all of HTC's 2012 top tier phones (except for the Verizon Droid DNA) allowed users to customize the behavior of the recent apps key by either pressing or long pressing it. With the menu button restored, the dreaded black bar would never bother anyone who didn't like it...

... Until the One was revealed. With only two capacitive keys, home and back, HTC has strayed a bit from Google's model. With the recent apps being accessed with a double tap of the home key, and Google Now being reached with a long press of that same key (identical to HTC's Jelly Bean updates to its 2012 lineup), the menu went back to being a black bar in legacy apps. Perhaps HTC believes the amount of legacy apps has decreased enough to warrant the decision to prioritize its own design over the theoretically doomed menu button. But as reviewers repeat their black bar comments from last year, will HTC stick with their guns, or will they allow a long press of the back key to show users a menu?

Find out next time, on Dragon Ball Z

Thanks for epic reply! makes sense. Good idea for long press on back key for menu.

Still... HTC having the capacative keys means a boost in screen size compared to those that don't =-O You can dismiss the extra 0.3 inch screen on the gs4 as their keys are onscreen just means we have to have a Manu bar in some of our apps, no biggy

Sent from my HTC One using Android Central Forums

 

[blessedred]

Look in settings go to display and buttons and gestures go to back button press for it to be the menu button too...

 

[Russ Smith]

Look in settings go to display and buttons and gestures go to back button press for it to be the menu button too...

Nope, no such setting :-(
Sent from my HTC One using Android Central Forums

 

[MrSteez]

The complaint also takes into account last year's models that had capacitive home, back, and recent apps buttons. With no menu button, older apps displayed a black menu bar at the bottom. HTC was hoping app developers would adopt Google's standards more widely and that the black bar would not annoy enough customers. As history would have it, many popular apps took a very long time update to Google standards. This trend probably slowed down even more thanks to the popularity of the Samsung Galaxy S 3, which has a capacitive menu button, possibly discouraging developers to some extent to update their apps.

HTC tried to cater to Google's wishes (not all of them, since the buttons were not onscreen), but caved in to its customers' demands. An update that has hit all of HTC's 2012 top tier phones (except for the Verizon Droid DNA) allowed users to customize the behavior of the recent apps key by either pressing or long pressing it. With the menu button restored, the dreaded black bar would never bother anyone who didn't like it...

... Until the One was revealed. With only two capacitive keys, home and back, HTC has strayed a bit from Google's model. With the recent apps being accessed with a double tap of the home key, and Google Now being reached with a long press of that same key (identical to HTC's Jelly Bean updates to its 2012 lineup), the menu went back to being a black bar in legacy apps. Perhaps HTC believes the amount of legacy apps has decreased enough to warrant the decision to prioritize its own design over the theoretically doomed menu button. But as reviewers repeat their black bar comments from last year, will HTC stick with their guns, or will they allow a long press of the back key to show users a menu?

Find out next time, on Dragon Ball Z

I lol'd at the end of this.

 

[ste1164]

Hopefully they update it. The prerelease firmware had the option in.

Sent from my HTC One using Android Central Forums

 

[zkSharks]

As a developer, it pains me to see so many issues still being caused by the menu-to-action-bar transition. It's a good transition from a UI/UX perspective, no doubt, but the open element of Android makes it hard to implement such large UX changes effectively.

A blessing and a curse, I guess.

 

[Russ Smith]

"In everyday use, though, it?s the One?s dedicated home and back buttons beneath the screen that have a far greater effect on usability. Where rivals such as the Sony Xperia Z and Nexus 4 sacrifice precious screen real estate to make space for onscreen home and back buttons, every one of the HTC One?s pixels is put to good use."

Read more: HTC One review | PC Pro http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/smartphones/380644/htc-one/2#ixzz2Ojf7jpg0

This is what I meant!

Sent from my HTC One using Android Central Forums

 

[Phil Nickinson]

Bigger question, IMHO, is why there's no longer the option to map one of the buttons to serve as a menu key. Double-press back would work nicely.

OTOH, you'd need some sort of indicator in those non-compliant (read: not updated) apps that don't properly use overflow menus.

 

[thebizz]

I'm also trying to get my head around why HTC would disable the option to use the back button ad menu. when they had a similar feature on previous devices. I hope it was just a bug that will be rectified in a later build that would add back that functionality

 

[oehrensperger]

OTOH, you'd need some sort of indicator in those non-compliant (read: not updated) apps that don't properly use overflow menus.

This is the first thing I thought of when reading that:

On a serious note, my LTEVO doesn't have an indicator for when I can use the menu button. I just hit it a couple of times to see if it does anything on a new app I'm unfamiliar with. Is it a sophisticated solution? Not really. But it doesn't bother me in the least.

 

[Phil Nickinson]

I'm also trying to get my head around why HTC would disable the option to use the back button ad menu. when they had a similar feature on previous devices. I hope it was just a bug that will be rectified in a later build that would add back that functionality

What if they didn't have a choice?

 

[thebizz]

Then that would sucks I don't like the black bar about as much of a waste of space as the onscreen navigation keys. But that's my opinion,

 

[blessedred]

Nope, no such setting :-(
Sent from my HTC One using Android Central Forums

It will be in it in the 4.2.2 update don't worry.