I hope they change the buttons on L?

[tonyr6]

That is the only thing I don't like about it. Right now it is easy to determine what each button does a back home and task button but with L it is confusing with a circle and square button.

 

[zhelf]

i agree i am note really fond of the look of the overly simplistic buttons

 

[vividrich]

Yeah I don't get how the circle = home is intuitive. I totally get changing the keys, but it seems sensible to me to make them at least tangentially similar. Many Softkeyz implementations are better. Building in the option to change them a la LG would be great.

 

[en28so]

Yeah, I glad I'm not the only who thinks that those new on-screen buttons look weird.

 

[thatguy97]

Ya that's my number one concern that and the animations but I am assuming if there's any problems with animations I can turn them off in developer options

Posted from my Nexus 7 2013 or Samsung galaxy S5

 

[Ccota08]

I don't mind the back button, or even the recents button, but the home button being a circle just doesn't make any sense.

 

[draconianchaos]

The thing that has me worried with the buttons in l is touch area. From screenshots from the keynote they take up less space horizontally in the nav bar than they did in 4.4-...

 

[ab304945]

Yeah, I glad I'm not the only who thinks that those new on-screen buttons look weird.

Nope. They all look horrible.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

They remind me of a Playstation controller.

 

[GMC MaXx]

I like them. They stay.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[thatguy97]

I kind of don't get what the buzz is about they serve the same functionality function they've served since Ics

Posted from my Nexus 7 2013 running Android L or Samsung galaxy S5

 

[ottscay]

I think the new buttons are awful. I imagine the idea is that they will work better for a game controller that should have the same buttons (so in a sense they are maybe supposed to look like Playstation icons) but they're completely non-intuitive for new or unsophisticated users and should be dropped faster than a hot potato.

 

[ahaxton]

Yeah I don't get how the circle = home is intuitive. I totally get changing the keys, but it seems sensible to me to make them at least tangentially similar. Many Softkeyz implementations are better. Building in the option to change them a la LG would be great.

You understand there is another smartphone platform out there which has had a circle home button since its very first phone sold in 2007, and they seem to be doing ok.

 

[tonyr6]

I know it is only a beta preview but I hope they tweak the buttons but I really like the current ones so much better.

 

[thatguy97]

Lol but do ppl buy IPhones because they have a circular button? No

Posted via Android Central App

 

[JRDroid]

I like them. I never really liked how the old buttons, particularly home, looked.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[tonyr6]

I hated the way the iPhone had a stupid physical button on the bottom. It was annoying having to press it also no one in my house was able to double press the button for there life. I even had trouble. I love the way the Nexus 5 & 7 have no physical button but actually have them on the screen. It is so easy to switch between apps and close them. I just think the new buttons are more confusing as they don't even look like the back, home and task buttons so they will confuse new users easily.

 

[Mooem]

I like them. Simple, minimalist, and clean. They actually look nice on screen and work just the same as the old nav buttons. Honestly it would take all but a few minutes for a new user to figure out what they do.

I'm also confused by the idea that a phone requires an actual home icon to denote "home". One of the biggest selling Android devices, the Galaxy S series, has a physical button with no iconography and I don't think people have problems figuring out what it does. In the smartphone age, people are seemingly hardwired now to know the the center button = home thanks to Apple and Samsung. Now I wouldn't mind in the slightest if they reverted back on the change as I like the previous nav buttons all the same.

Just my opinion.

 

[LeoRex]

I have a feeling that these buttons might end up making a little bit more sense once the final versions come around.... Keep in mind that this is an EARLY preview developer release.... the UI is far from being finalized and it is meant so app devs can start getting their stuff running. Google has already said that they have some big plans to overhaul a lot of the UI, including the launcher and home screen stuff.

That being said, after loading the preview on my phone, the nav buttons look fine.

 

[Martin Disch]

I was thinking the same thing at first, but by now that I've become used to them I even like how they look.