Hi
There's allot of improvements, shells, skins..... that are finger-friendly...
I Really like it finger-friendly, it is more comfortable and usually looks good.
I've noticed that the TOUCH PAD of the IPhone is very sensitive for finger touch, while the Hermes needs a very hard touch (Relatively).
Is there a (hard) sensitive touchpad (Digitizer) for heremes ? (something more finger-touch friendly...)
I was looking in ebay, and noticed that there are 2 kinds of Digitizers, does someone knows the difference ?
Digitizer G1
Digitizer G2
Tnx.
I'm afraid neither of those will do what you might think they'd do. The term digitizer refers to a module that consists of a matrix to sense particular change of state in one (or more) given point(s) and translate that as coordinates data in digital form.
There are maybe 2 revisions of them in the ebay links you attached but I don't think they work differently, perhaps one has better sensitivity or responsiveness.
Digitizers activated by pressure works differently than ones activated by mere touch (capacitance). The first is noticable by the requirement of stylus or something to "press" a point to "short circuit" a tiny area in 2 thin layers that are stacked together, they know where the "short circuit" is and report that as the touch point. The latter is activated by the fact that the touch actually alters the "electrical charge" of that particular area.
Common portable devices nowadays still use the press-type, usually it is completely separated from and installed on top of the LCD (if you look closely to your screen when it's turned off you'll notice tiny dots which is the matrix), that's why sometimes they slide around and you have to recalibrate your touch screen. I hope this makes sense.
KaiserVideoDriver has it correct. That's why the iPhone has such a sensative touch screen. Also, I believe that the resistance based touch screens that our phones use are not capable of registering mulitple touch pionts, which is why Apple had to go the opposite route...in order to facilitate the multi touch interface.
From time to time I try and use my Hermes without the stylus, but I constantly find myself either tiring of the constant finger prints and smudges, or I get aggrevated over the touch screen seeming to have a fit from time to time and register touches wrong. It seems to be calibrated for the stylus (i.e. a small, firm touch point); the larger, spread out touch point of a meaty fingertip seems to drive the screen crazy and cause it to register the touch to either of the upper corners. Infuriating when it closes a program or tries to cancel an SMS on you.
Wow. Just noticed something really odd with the keyboard/screen, but then it could be my phone!
If put your phone on a flat surface (ie table) - try type some letters on the right/left/bottom edge - i find it not as responsive as if you typed in the middle part of the screen. But if you hold the phone in your hands, its perfectly fine!
Anyone else getting that weird problem?
Yep
Noticed the problem to.
I'm guessing there is some screen sensitivity changes when it knows its flat on a surface.
I guess its another on the list of things to fix when the release a new build (or some devs release soem cooked ROMs).
I wonder if this is related to the capacitive nature of the touchscreen? I can replicate the effect if the phone is flat on the surface and I'm only touching it with my typing finger. However, if I rest another finger on the device, or hold it lightly by the edges (still sitting flat on the surface) it works fine.
If this is the case, I doubt any rom will be able to fix it since it is likely to be the capacitive touch screen technology and not a software "fault" per se.
Regards,
Dave
I have seen this too. I wondered if it was a perspective thing - are you pressing the right part of the screen?
are you pressing the right part of the screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yeah, looks like I am pressing the right part. It just have to be more firmer pressing those edge buttons. It doesn't matter which way the keyboard layout is.
Anyway, thanks to everyone confirming that you got the same problem. I would have thought it was hardware related, but it could be software related I suppose. Perhaps whatever software is trying to rotate the keyboard is having a hard time to work out what direction to show the keyboard is causing that weird problem
Try holding the phone between thumb and forefinger whilst it is on a flat surface and then typing. If I do this, I have no issues, but the second I remove my fingers, I then get the lack of response for the keys on the bottom row of the device.
Regards,
Dave
mines the same may be to avoid key presses in your pocket?
I have the same problem too. It isn't a problem with all capacitive screens as the iphone never used to do this (l know, I know)
So far I've found no solution, let's hope it gets a quick fix
wow, and I thought it was only me, when I put the phone on the desk, and try use my fingers it becomes really unresponsive but when I'v got it in my hand and I'm using my thumb its all fine, hmmm really weird
it's not really a fault, but more of the nature of the capacitive screen and/or software. In comparison with the iPhone, the iPhone's capacitive screen lets you type/navigate with the phone lying on a flat surface. I find that the Hero's screen requires you to apply a tiny bit more pressure and more surface-area of your finger/thumb, for it to respond. I hope HTC somehow tweak the software for this to be more responsive with less pressure/surface-area contact required so it is usable on a flat surface - don't always want to be picking my phone up to use it at work.
i confrim, using hero without touch the metal edge result in less responsivity and difficult on multitouch operation
hope new firmware can solve this, too many errors using it like a normal keyboard on a table!
Noticed the same problem when using the Hero in my In Car Holder. Makes data input into CoPilot very difficult indeed.
A couple of observations...
I actually have mine in one of those Silicon Covers - the new style 'Gel' ones (work really well and looks good too, unlike old Silicon ones). So it's not actually about having contact with metal as such.
Problem does not occure when plugged into USB.
Now this bit could just be perception rather than reality, but I tried typing while flat (USB disconnected) when touching the coated surface around the trackball and it did not seem to improve things. Trying to do the same while touching the metal area around the speaker grill did seem to improve things. You guys observing similar ?
Anyway, I'm hoping that when I have my car charger, it will fix my CoPilot problem since this should be the same as having the USB plugged in.
Zuber
Ok, probably not. There's gotta be a perfectly valid explanation, but I just noticed this:
When I open Albums on my Hero and look at a single photograph, I can zoom in and out by pinching. Same goes for web pages. We all know this.
But the thing is: if I put my phone down on the table and try to pinch with just one hand (thumb+index finger), it doesn't work!
I only need to touch the phone with one finger on my left hand and it starts working. I have to touch the back or the frame. The chin doesn't react.
I tried it on an iPhone and it works with only one hand. It must be some conductivity issue and the Hero simply has a touch screen that works differently from iPhones.
It isn't really a problem for me: I can hold the phone in both hands while pinching. I just found it slightly interesting...
Yeah I have noticed that as well. Although if you try to calibrate using the g-sensor calibration tool it sometime fixes the issue...
Clue is in the technology? Capacitative touch screen....hit the physics books guys
A good capacitive screen doesn't require the user to complete a circuit with the phone using another hand to hold it, or by touching the bezel with a finger. The problem is either in the circuitry driving the touchscreen or possibly with the algorithms used to establish finger gestures and position.
It's even feasible that the metal bezel interferes with the electrostatic field introduced when your finger is in proximity with the screen. This would explain why the sensitivity is reduced around the edges of the screen.
Spose you need to form a complete circuit for it to work. Interesting point though, I didn't know that capacitive screens needed a second 'plate' to work (i.e. more than just the screen alone).
Makes sense though if you think about it.
Q.I indeed
jayjay said:
Ok, probably not. There's gotta be a perfectly valid explanation, but I just noticed this:
When I open Albums on my Hero and look at a single photograph, I can zoom in and out by pinching. Same goes for web pages. We all know this.
But the thing is: if I put my phone down on the table and try to pinch with just one hand (thumb+index finger), it doesn't work!
I only need to touch the phone with one finger on my left hand and it starts working. I have to touch the back or the frame. The chin doesn't react.
I tried it on an iPhone and it works with only one hand. It must be some conductivity issue and the Hero simply has a touch screen that works differently from iPhones.
It isn't really a problem for me: I can hold the phone in both hands while pinching. I just found it slightly interesting...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The metal bezel actually acts like a ground point between the capacitive circuitry and your finger. When you are touching at the very edges of the capacitive area there simply isn't enough room to get a good grounding point so the driver/controller gets a hard time of locating what points are actually grounded. The bezel helps in this regard.
Switchbitch said:
A good capacitive screen doesn't require the user to complete a circuit with the phone using another hand to hold it, or by touching the bezel with a finger. The problem is either in the circuitry driving the touchscreen or possibly with the algorithms used to establish finger gestures and position.
It's even feasible that the metal bezel interferes with the electrostatic field introduced when your finger is in proximity with the screen. This would explain why the sensitivity is reduced around the edges of the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...perhaps not then lol
Yeah, well I hate to be the one to ask, but why does it work on the iPhone then? I realize it's a grounding / closed circuit issue, but if another similar phone can do it, then there's obviously a way around it.
And another question: Why doesn't pinching work, but normal one-fingered touching does?
Only place where I could see this becoming a problem is when you dock your device to some plastic holder in a car and want to pinch to zoom in some navigator software. Letting go of the steering wheel to use two hands on your phone isn't necessarily the safest thing in the world. One would assume though, that the interface in any navigator software wouldn't require complex gestures while operating it...
i confrim, using hero without touch the metal edge result in less responsivity and difficult on multitouch operation
hope new firmware can solve this, too many errors using it like a normal keyboard on a table!
New Hero owner here... using it 3 weeks. LOVE the phone, love the 7 pages, love the widgets, love the screen, love SenseUI, HATE the capacitive screen.
Coming form windows mobile for past 5 years, i am expending at least 5x more time and energy to navigate or browse due to this "feature".
I am certain this has been hashed out here before, but I will settle for a short answer, even one that has a laundry list if you like.
All I ask is that you please tell me it has something to add other than MULTI-TOUCH. I could care less about pinch-zoom. Initially when seen on first i-phones it had a wow factor. But very soon on WM, with OperaMini, Netfront, Skyfire, Iris and other browsers, pinch-to-zoom was rendered irrelevant, as all of these browsers provided way more efficient way to zoom in, out, and frame the area of the screen you want to look at. One tap, or two taps, or grab a square positioner (netfront) and tap.
Regardless of marketing, not only were these solutions fantastic, I alos didn't feel any sense of loss.
Now that I HAVE multi-touch on Hero, it's way beyond "yawn". It's more like, "what in the world is the advantage here. all I see is that a capacitive screen is far inferior to a resistive screen for easily 25 reasons. I listed them elsewhere on an XDA "general" forum. Typing: worse. accurate hitting a target: worse, but not just worse, horrible. Tap-hold context menus, require twice as long to press in order to instruct the OS you're indeed pressing for the purpose of holding, vs pressing just to try to make contact. Takes twice the tap impact to activate GO and other action buttons.
So I am dying to hear what is the advantage I have been given on this fantastic $500 USD phone I bought?
2nd question: I am currently using the device straight out the box, with just maybe 25-50 aps or widgets form android marketplace -- which has been fantastically smooth user experience, with perfect degrees of feedback on what access each app will give to the phone etc... very reassuring.
Has the truly amazing world of XDA-devs made some of my major usability complaints above go away, or lessen (after rooting the phone and using a custom ROM)?
Sign me: Baffled and Dismayed in San Francisco
Are there no replies here because this has been previously beaten to death? If so, wold someone please point me to the best thread discussion on this subject matter?
Thank you.
personally, i love a capacitive screen for typing.. as long as you can hit the buttons. For me i have no problem in the horizontal view, but they shouldnt have used a "qwerty" keyboard in the horizontal view, i despise it aha.
for the browsers multi touch, personally i just think its kinda cool, but as you say not very productive.
so really to me, i just love the feeling of capacitive touch screens...when they work of course!
and i know that companies "try" to put capacitive screens on as much as possible (because the iphone and ipod touch are so popular) but you can only really have it on bigger screens. The hero has pretty much the "bare minimum" screen size, and thats why we have some problems!
sorry i didnt really answer your question, just my thoughts but i guess the advantage is (was ment to be) that iphone touch screen experience, but capacitive screens work much better when the buttons have space between them (on bigger screens!)
THis was very helpful thank you. I know what you mean that the glassy smoothness is elegant and competes, I guess, with the look & feel of the Apple handheld devices. But also you seem to be answering my question, which is really the essentiual thing wanted to know:
Apparently there is ZERO added-value that capacitive brings over resistive screen than pinch-zoom... and that glossy glass feeling.
Is this correct, though? Can it really be that the primary reason for running Android on a capacitive screen is its sexiness factor in comparing to glossy look of the iphone?
I know there MUST be threads galore at XDA regarding the value of stylus for rapid composing, and more rapidly scrolling thru a long list on contacts, going into something like 2x or 5x speed flashing through the letters of the alphabet, then slowing down to land on desired contact...
The HTC Leo thread addressed this quite a bit, with both groans and raves for that WM device...
xsirhc6x said:
personally, i love a capacitive screen for typing.. as long as you can hit the buttons. For me i have no problem in the horizontal view, but they shouldnt have used a "qwerty" keyboard in the horizontal view, i despise it aha.
for the browsers multi touch, personally i just think its kinda cool, but as you say not very productive.
so really to me, i just love the feeling of capacitive touch screens...when they work of course!
and i know that companies "try" to put capacitive screens on as much as possible (because the iphone and ipod touch are so popular) but you can only really have it on bigger screens. The hero has pretty much the "bare minimum" screen size, and thats why we have some problems!
sorry i didnt really answer your question, just my thoughts but i guess the advantage is (was ment to be) that iphone touch screen experience, but capacitive screens work much better when the buttons have space between them (on bigger screens!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well i used apple as more of an example but i dont think i was very clear before sorry!
Although the screen is glossy and well glass, but i ment that alot of people like having that "touch" not "tap" feel. like how with capacitive you can barely touch the screen and it responds whereas resistive you have to push on the screen. so this makes companies want to use capacitive so there putting it on alot of the bigger touch screen phones
quicksite said:
Coming form windows mobile for past 5 years, i am expending at least 5x more time and energy to navigate or browse due to this "feature"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well here is your problem. and I know exactly how you feel, having some PDA and SE P1 also with resistive touch. you'll have to get used to it, there is no other way. it looks similar, like, it's a touchscreen! but difference in technology makes it hard to shift your way of using it
same thing as forgetting clickable keyboards where you can feel edge of each key and you KNOW exactly what you have pressed... and believe me, when you get that feeling with almost microscopic P1 keyboard, first few weeks of brand new high tech on-screen typing makes you smash that phone into wall next to you... but it gets better with time
This is the correct answer. Most people prefer the touch feel of capacitive compared to the press needed for resistive screens.
xsirhc6x said:
well i used apple as more of an example but i dont think i was very clear before sorry!
Although the screen is glossy and well glass, but i ment that alot of people like having that "touch" not "tap" feel. like how with capacitive you can barely touch the screen and it responds whereas resistive you have to push on the screen. so this makes companies want to use capacitive so there putting it on alot of the bigger touch screen phones
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I moved from an Omnia i900 (WM, resistive screen) to the HTC Hero (Android, capacitive screen) and I am really enjoying the sensitivity of the Hero's screen. Everything is activated with a feather-light touch which really adds to the experience of using a touchscreen device.
On the Omnia, when I tried to halt a scrolling list with my finger, more often than not, I would end up choosing an item instead of stopping the scolling. This got irritating enough that I ended up using the scroll bars most of the time. On the Hero, the scrolling list amazingly stops when my finger makes contact without any unintended item selection. This probably has to do with the sensitivity of the capacitive screen but whatever it is, it works brilliantly.
The only time when I miss the resistive screen is if I need to accurately touch points on the screen due to poorly designed software but this can generally be avoided. Copy and paste could potentially have been a pain with a capacitive screen but the Hero has a trackball which gets the job done quite well.
I agree that multi-touch is nice to have but not critical. It is the sensitivity of the capacitive screen that really makes my day !
IMHO the capacitive screen is one of the best parts of my Hero (the other is not having to use clunky Windows Mobile anymore). It makes it so much more user friendly - and that attribute is what has made the iphone the best seller it is.
It is so much easier to scroll through my emails, texts, contacts, apps etc without accidently clicking on one and opening. And the same applies when scrolling between screens. In my last phone (HTC Touch Diamond) I was forever opening apps and windows I did not mean to when trying to scroll up down or sideways.
And scrolling long lists (I have over 200 contacts) is so easy. Just flick and let it run and then stop it with a finger. Try that on a non-capacitive screen and you are likely to open something you did not mean to open.
And, admittedly after a bit of practice, I have found the QERTY keyboard is no problem at all. It is almost as easy to use with my finger as my TD was with a stylus. And it is even easier when you are in landscape mode.
Still, each to his/her own. If, after giving it some time to get used to, you still don't like it I am sure there are plenty of alternatives out there - it always amazes me the number of different high-end phones HTC makes.
Resistive touch screen: You have to press harder to make it work better (Rinzai school)
Capacitive touch screen: You have to touch lighter to make it work better (Soto school)
Volker1 said:
Resistive touch screen: You have to press harder to make it work better (Rinzai school)
Capacitive touch screen: You have to touch lighter to make it work better (Soto school)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well somehow you faked me out with your zen-like branch differentiations. I clicked on Soto school first --- and I thought, therefore, that when I clicked on Rinzai, it would communicate more aggressive, harder. But it didn't!
Thus, i don't understand your analogy other than making it up in my head, with the meaning being:
Expend less energy and force, grasshopper, and all will be revealed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since the day of my posting this topic, I am starting to feel a shift by gentler tapping. In some cases, yes, I am seeing a difference in better responsiveness.
But I have to admit that this is not always the case. Leading to:
Dac0908:
well here is your problem. and I know exactly how you feel, having some PDA and SE P1 also with resistive touch. you'll have to get used to it, there is no other way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am starting to get it. Quick illustration: My sim card (my old one from t-mobile wing) happens to be going bad, I just discovered. So I had to swap it out from my HERO back to my WING just to see if I could make a phone call. I had not used the WING (resistive) for a while.
I immediately started making mistakes in the opposite direction. I wasn't pushing hard enough now, and was not activating my selection. So, young grasshopper may be getting the Zen of Capacitive Touch!
it looks similar, like, it's a touchscreen! but difference in technology makes it hard to shift your way of using it. same thing as forgetting clickable keyboards where you can feel edge of each key and you KNOW exactly what you have pressed... and believe me, when you get that feeling with almost microscopic P1 keyboard, first few weeks of brand new high tech on-screen typing makes you smash that phone into wall next to you... but it gets better with time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get your point exactly... So, sounds like the people in this forum who have had their HEROs for longer time... must think I am just whining! ha hah
Here are my conclusions thus far:
(a) lighter touch IS helping select more easily.
(b) I began to do as others have said on the soft keyboard-- aim your finger just a nudge above the keys. (because the point of tangency between finger and screen is quite a bit below the tip of the fingernail) (** me thinks they should provide a settings option called "Offset finger touch?" -- and I could select that to in fact shift all the target zones of the on-screen keys slightly below the way they display on-screen, thereby improving accuracy dramatically.)
(c) even with "getting used to" adjustments, the accuracy on the portrait-layout keyboard is still lower on those left edge and right edge keys... And thus I am finding that landscape keyboard is almost becoming required for me (and i have thin fingers!)
(d) On the WM resistive screen, I found that, when using handwriting via stylus, the system really did LEARN to compensate for the style of handwriting of an individual by going thru the alphabet to select the path of drawing each letter that best matches how I write... it absolutely improved handwriting recognition) (AND MAY AS WELL SAY: I miss that the most of all things: I loved being able to jot notes down with stylus and handwriting. I used that daily... SO I miss it)
Similarly, there is an OFFSET ANGLE adjustment on the WM input screen controls, which absolutely made a huge difference: I the natural positioning of a hand and fingers in resting mode on a flat object (a screen) has one's index finger aiming on an angle inward. Thus, the angle adjustment was a smart user interface setting, that I would guess WM came up with over time, as better recognition of this issue surfaced.
(e) I can't expect to use my capacitive screen phone in the lazy ways I used my WM phone with resistive: ie, laying down in bed and tapping out a message to send. When I try to do that with Hero, the angles of finger-contact with the screen are "off" from a standing or sitting alignment of where you hold the device and how you strike the keys. Trying to tap out a note using portrait mode, while laying in bed, and holding phone to its side (or any other awkward position) = probably 10% success rate of hitting the correct keys... Mostly due to that distance-factor between the tip of the finger -- the sight-targeting cross-hairs used for decades in pressing most things that need pressing -- and the underside of the finger, which makes the contact point lower than the tip by a somewhat predictable distance.
I still think there are some ways to go where various compensation settings could nail those issues and bring touch accuracy to much higher percentage, especially in those situations of at what angle you're holding the device in one hand, and tapping with the other hand, is "off", like laying in bed.
(f) Accelerometer: again, when laying in bed (lazy mode), the auto portrait-landscape shifting almost never occurs and i have to hold the phone parallel to the ground and flick it in order to get the layout adjustment, then continue at whatever angle it is I am holding the phone.
(g) WISHLIST #2: (after handwriting/ capacitive stylus is brought to market by HTC, etc) .. is: COntext-sensitive accelerometer.. such that it works in almost any hand-held 3d location, and a 90 degree shift = a shift layout command.
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Okay, these are my responses from a Human Factors Interface Design professional background.
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Maybe I will have to talk to "Charles", the guy in my nieghborhood in San Francisco, who just happens to be the designer of the original G1 for Google, both in form factor and user interface of android...
San Francisco can be pretty interesting in that way.. you never know who you'll bump into, just like in L.A. with movie stars!
kenkaw said:
I am really enjoying the sensitivity of the Hero's screen. Everything is activated with a feather-light touch which really adds to the experience of using a touchscreen device....On the Hero, the scrolling list amazingly stops when my finger makes contact without any unintended item selection. This probably has to do with the sensitivity of the capacitive screen but whatever it is, it works brilliantly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am starting to feel this now, too. So I am shifting mental gears in my head.
Copy and paste could potentially have been a pain with a capacitive screen but the Hero has a trackball which gets the job done quite well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is actually where I have the most problems.... way more than touching the screen, which I am becoming accustomed to, and now seeing what p[eople are saying about feathertouch responsiveness.
I have not been able to find any settings for trackball responsiveness, the kind you'd find on any laptop for the touchpad or mouse rate of movement -- from super fast to super slow. IS there such an adjustment?
I want to love the trackball, and I am getting better at it. But to me, this is almost just the opposite of featherweight touch on screen. My finger "wants" a more "sticky" or locked-on connection to the trackball, so i can control it better with micro-movements. For me, right now, it is so slippery as to super-slide way out of range, and shifting fields on form data entry, and , when I am using it on a slider bar such as for volume control or color mixing (chnaging color of a background), it's sensitivity is way too wild for even a light touch attempt to control it
QUESTION: I am not yet using any rooted rom from XDA... I am still experiencing the Hero out of the box. So, are there any added control settings that people at XDA have figured out and added to the custom ROMS?
thank you
I agree that multi-touch is nice to have but not critical. It is the sensitivity of the capacitive screen that really makes my day ![/QUOTE]
peterc10 said:
And scrolling long lists (I have over 200 contacts) is so easy. Just flick and let it run and then stop it with a finger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I a starting to feel this now. I was flicking too hard initially -- as part of my learning curve. I am now getting the hang of it and am getting the kind of control you speak of. nice!
it always amazes me the number of different high-end phones HTC makes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No ****. what an amazing company... and why I like how XDA-developers built up around HTC... This is a serious question: Is HTC a good stock buy? They seem like moreso than ever, with their new branding and direct-to-consumer marketing campaigns (at least in the USA, big time), ready to leap out as a huge brand in the way Samsung shot up from obscurity many years ago, into a top-5 leading brand of electrionics.
I am having issues with my touch screen not taking my input when in landscape. It works when I change to portrait and usually works when switching back to landscape but then stops again. I've noticed this playing angry birds and browsing in IE. Anything I can do to correct this?
edit: I think I found my issue. If i'm touching the bottom area where the capacitive buttons are the screen won't respond. Is this normal?
I find the sensitivity of the screen is less than the Focus. The Focus suffered from bad touch sensitivity if you didn't hold it (like laying it on the bed). If they can get full registry access to the phone, I'll bet the sensitivity is adjustable.
Sent from my PI39100 using Board Express
others have mentioned that touching the soft keys even slightly makes the rest of the screen unresponsive.
I don't know why capacitive buttons are so popular... they might be 'cool' but... hardbuttons aren't accidentally activated, they don't mess up the screen and they provide REAL tactile feedback.
Plus you can search for and use hardbuttons when they are out of sight. With my TV and BD player I have to put my face to the buttons with a magnifying class to see the icons because feeling them activates them and they have no backlights :/
link68759 said:
I don't know why capacitive buttons are so popular... they might be 'cool' but... hardbuttons aren't accidentally activated, they don't mess up the screen and they provide REAL tactile feedback.
Plus you can search for and use hardbuttons when they are out of sight. With my TV and BD player I have to put my face to the buttons with a magnifying class to see the icons because feeling them activates them and they have no backlights :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They're popular because presumably they cost less than actual buttons, easier to manufacture, and are less likely to break or need maintainence.
The screen's glass is already set up to be capacitive, so extending that down to the "button" area requires virtually no additional cost - they only need 3 tiny LED's underneath, rather than housing full mechanical buttons, with a separate plastic overlays ontop on the buttons.