Why did honeycomb disable to hardware home buttons? I love the hardware home button on my htc flyer tablet but it was disabled when I upgraded to honeycomb and from what I've read this was a google decision not htc. Why remove this functionality. Does ics re-enable this feature?
Among other things, they wanted to do away with fixed position navigation buttons in android devices to allow for better placement of buttons when the screen is rotated or to allow them to disappear completely during a full screen app.
I personally feel there should be at least some sort of hardware buttons, so you're not forced to look at the screen to do everything (not to mention the whole wearing gloves thing), but button less is the new direction.
- chris
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Been seeing a few people talk about the soft buttons getting in the way while using the pen. It's a matter of timing and the pen has to touch the screen before your hand does to keep the buttons from being activated.
However, I did see a review that mentioned something that would be great.
I'm sure that someone could write an app that would control which set of soft buttons would be activated based on rotation. Is this API open within the Flyer so that someone can control them?
In portrait mode I'd actually prefer that the buttons on the left side be active, and in landscape I'd prefer the buttons on the "bottom" of the Flyer be activated - this would be the reverse of the current implementation (actually I'd really prefer to be able to control both independently).
This would solve a few issues. It would prevent users from touching the buttons with their hand while writing, but it would also put the buttons next to your hand while you're holding the device instead of having to move your hand to access the buttons you'd be able to do it with your thumb.
That sounds like a clever idea. I would use that feature if it existed.
It is a fantastic idea, I would pay for it!
It says here :
What'll happen on phones that do have physical buttons, then? Will Ice Cream Sandwich work on those types of devices?
Yep -- only instead of getting the on-screen navigation buttons, you'll use your phone's physical buttons in the same way you do now. The menu key will load any contextual on-screen menus, and long-pressing the home key will load the multitasking tool, just like it has in past Android releases.
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That kinda sucks, though. ICS switched to on-screen navigation buttons for good reasons. I don't like the chore of holding the home button just to load the multitasking tool.
It would still be easy to force having those buttons on the screen, right? How do you think would that work?
I'm planning to buy a new phone in the holidays; should this be a major consideration?
So now with Ice Cream Sandwich the menu button is useless ?
You could force the buttons onscreen, but why the hell have both physical and software buttons.
Also it would really take away a lot of your total resolution constantly having the extra menu bar in there. Apps that have a special menu-bar would still show this when you press menu on your hardware keys I think.
The only thing I'm psyched about is the screenrotation animation
I dont get it, why get so mad about it?
So yes, new phone will have on-screen buttons,
but whats so wrong about the physical buttons we have now?
they work well, and that home button is really nice when something freezes and nothing else works...
I wonder how ICS deals with that issue.
There is a ICS-launcher on the market now, you can test it for yourself. I'm running it, attaching a screenie for your viewing pleasure. Personally I hope the softbuttons doesnt make it to the S2, seems very redundant on this phone.
Unless Google are enforcing hardware restrictions like WP (which I believe they are not), it's most likely that ICS will detect hardware buttons and not show on-screen ones.
Been asking myself this question, i mean besides the fact that it looks kinda cool isnt it ABSOLUTELY USELESS?
I tried using it a few times but come one, lets face it its useless. We have buttons for it. And its quite anoying to use anyway.
So why do you use it?
Some phones and most tablets do not have hardware keys or they are hard to reach (except maybe a physical "home" button)
It's complete waste of display estate to enable and actually use a navbar on the S3 since, as you already point out, it has the major buttons as hardware keys, some with double meaning depending on press duration.
it's easier to use the on-screen buttons than to push the physical home button.
Also, ParanoidAndroid allows to adjust the navbar color on a per-app basis, which is pretty awesome
I also find it pretty useless but I think the point is to save physical buttons:silly:. Not using physical buttons keeps the phone in better condition for re-sell. Now they started to add Recent Apps and Lock phone icons(which I genuinely hate) in the status bar for the same reason.
What type navigation buttons do you prefer on your smartphone?
Personally, I like virtual buttons. These type of buttons don't need a force to be applied on for them to respond, unlike hardware buttons like those on "GS4 Active". Also, since they are part of the display it will work or break simultanously with the screen. If something happens with the display, both the screen and buttons won't work, whereas in the case of capacitive buttons you might have to deal with a broken....let's say "Home" button while the screen is still working.
When I used to have a Windows Mobile phone (the old kind, before "Windows Phone"), I had an app on the phone, likely obtained from this site, in which one could add more functions to hardware buttons with long presses, double and triple tap (perhaps quadruple too, don't remember), etc.
Android phones don't have as many hardware buttons as the old WM PDAs and phones, but do have some. Mine has a hardware home button, power button, and volume rocker up and down. Also the two fixed soft buttons on either side of the Home hardware button.
Mine already has some additional button functions built in. For instance, long press the home button to get Google Now.
I actually do not want to change any of the current functions, but to add more functions. to hardware buttons, and even those two soft buttons.
Is there an Android app that will do that?
Thanks in advance.