Death of capacitive buttons?

[chenhogi]

The latest models released by Microsoft have all been with on screen keys instead of capacitive buttons, including the high end models. Renders of upcoming releases also point to on screen keys only. Do you think that we've witnessed the death of capacitive buttons on Windows Phones? Shame if true in my opinion.

 

[Slovenix]

The latest models released by Microsoft have all been with on screen keys instead of capacitive buttons, including the high end models. Renders of upcoming releases also point to on screen keys only. Do you think that we've witnessed the death of capacitive buttons on Windows Phones? Shame if true in my opinion.

It's like that for majority of phones anyway. While hardware buttons may be better, they also remove the possibility of being upgraded in a software update.
Thought Microsoft doesn't use them for anything else than for simple operations for now.

So yea.

 

[Arunabha Goswami]

Capacitive buttons use up precious real estate that can be used to extend the screen. Also hardware buttons (even capacitive ones) increase the production cost. So while some people prefer them (myself included), chances are they are gone for good.

 

[SteveNoza]

Halleluiah! Heck, I'd like to see a gesture based user interface like BB10 or Web OS, and get rid of those buttons altogether.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

Capacitive buttons use up precious real estate that can be used to extend the screen. Also hardware buttons (even capacitive ones) increase the production cost. So while some people prefer them (myself included), chances are they are gone for good.

Pretty sure the buttons on my 640 xl ate up screen estate vs my icon capacitive buttons.

 

[Tsang Fai]

When I look at my 950XL, with on screen buttons, it looks cool with thin bezel at the bottom.

When viewing photos (and some other apps), the full screen mode (without buttons) looks so cool.

It just looks even more beautiful than iPhone 6 and most other Android smartphones.

I think on screen buttons is the future.

 

[Arunabha Goswami]

Pretty sure the buttons on my 640 xl ate up screen estate vs my icon capacitive buttons.

Not sure if you are trolling...

Edit - If you are serious, I can post a serious reply.

 

[theefman]

Not sure if you are trolling...

Edit - If you are serious, I can post a serious reply.

No trolling about the statement, the stated screen size of any device with onscreen buttons applies to the whole screen without the buttons in use, call up the buttons and you lose part of the available screen real estate. Then you have the added issue of some apps not displaying properly with onscreen buttons. Capacitive buttons don't impact the stated screen size or app usage, what you see is what you get all the time.

The problem here is, as always, Microsoft and their incompetent programming skills which prevents them from coding appropriate behavior when capacitive buttons are used on a device, ie, dimming them when watching videos, disabling them when gaming. Samsung actually did the latter on one of their phones and proved it could be done but Microsoft has chosen to take the lazy way out now and just ditch capacitive buttons altogether.

 

[Arunabha Goswami]

the stated screen size of any device with onscreen buttons applies to the whole screen without the buttons in use, call up the buttons and you lose part of the available screen real estate.

But in phones with capacitive buttons, the screen has to be made smaller to accommodate the buttons, so they do impact the screen size - only in a more permanent way. With onscreen buttons, the screen gets bigger when the buttons are not called. With capacitive ones, the screen is permanently small.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

But in phones with capacitive buttons, the screen has to be made smaller to accommodate the buttons, so they do impact the screen size - only in a more permanent way. With onscreen buttons, the screen gets bigger when the buttons are not called. With capacitive ones, the screen is permanently small.

Screen doesn't need to be made smaller because of the buttons??

 

[theefman]

But in phones with capacitive buttons, the screen has to be made smaller to accommodate the buttons, so they do impact the screen size - only in a more permanent way. With onscreen buttons, the screen gets bigger when the buttons are not called. With capacitive ones, the screen is permanently small.

How so? If a device has a 5" screen the capacitive buttons have no effect on its size, it is always 5". If the screen is made smaller then it obviously wont be advertised as having a 5" screen. With onscreen buttons, that 5" becomes 4.x" when the onscreen buttons are enabled but its still sold as having a 5" screen. That's the trick Microsoft hopes people don't realize, and it seems it works.

 

[Arunabha Goswami]

To add capacitive buttons, you have to extend the bottom bezel, making the device taller and worsening the screen-to-body ratio.

 

[cracgor]

No trolling about the statement, the stated screen size of any device with onscreen buttons applies to the whole screen without the buttons in use, call up the buttons and you lose part of the available screen real estate. Then you have the added issue of some apps not displaying properly with onscreen buttons. Capacitive buttons don't impact the stated screen size or app usage, what you see is what you get all the time.

The problem here is, as always, Microsoft and their incompetent programming skills which prevents them from coding appropriate behavior when capacitive buttons are used on a device, ie, dimming them when watching videos, disabling them when gaming. Samsung actually did the latter on one of their phones and proved it could be done but Microsoft has chosen to take the lazy way out now and just ditch capacitive buttons altogether.

In earlier builds of WP8 you could even turn off the light on the capacitive buttons (L1520). I think in WP8.1 or a later build of the extras they dropped this ability. It was a bit annoying watching videos at night.

I don't know who is to blame for app scaling being messed up. I noticed that the menu buttons cover up parts of the apps (Amazon for one), and you have to swipe up to make the menu buttons disappear to find the bottom portions of the app.

One plus for the on-screen buttons is that they rotate. I think it looks nicer seeing the back button turn the appropriate direction when you rotate the phone.

 

[Tsang Fai]

How so? If a device has a 5" screen the capacitive buttons have no effect on its size, it is always 5". If the screen is made smaller then it obviously wont be advertised as having a 5" screen. With onscreen buttons, that 5" becomes 4.x" when the onscreen buttons are enabled but its still sold as having a 5" screen. That's the trick Microsoft hopes people don't realize, and it seems it works.

The buttons are indeed part of the screen. Just like the task bar of Windows desktop version. If we really care so much the "effective screen size", then the top part of the screen (showing network connection, battery, etc) should also be excluded.

Even with on-screen buttons, I think 950/950XL looks way better than an iPhone 6 as far as bezels are concerned. (the bottom bezel of iPhone 6 is almost double that of 950/950XL)

Win10 Mobile allows hiding the navigation buttons in their native apps (e.g. Edge, Photos, Facebook). I think such flexibility should be extended to all other apps as well.

With a touchscreen, there is really no obvious advantage of having physical buttons. With on screen buttons, we at least can hide it when needed, just like watching movies in full screen on a PC.

 

[elindalyne]

Hardware buttons break a lot easier than on screen buttons (that would require the entire screen to stop functioning) and as stated before, increase cost.

Most people are worried about tactile feedback, which you do get with on screen buttons as well as the ability to hide.