I understand why Microsoft chose software buttons.

[mikefarinha]

A lot of people seemed to be upset that Microsoft is opting for software buttons over the traditional capacitive buttons.

Well here is some food for thought. I recently paired my Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to my Lumia 928 running the latest public build of windows 10 and was frustrated that I couldn't use the mouse to click the back button.

Obviously this isn't an ideal setup but for the sake of UX consistency across their ecosystem I understand why they opted for software buttons that can be accessed from within the UI, mouse, as well as from without, touch.

 

[ArtificiallyYours]

Yes. Also I made a point about the Lumia series finally taking advantage of the LCD panel rather than opting for a format-restricted navigation key set.

I don't see why this kills a purchase for others.

 

[Ma Rio]

That is true, but if you connect a keyboard, you can use ESC or Backspace to navigate back, so there's that.
I'm still a fan of capacitive buttons, mostly because they don't take away your precious screen space. That's a big deal breaker for me, and I'm not planing to buy any device with on screen buttons anytime soon. Unless it has some gestures or smth, that can replace buttons so they can always be hidden.

 

[Manmikey]

I find I quckly get used to what ever is on the device I'm using, from the iPhone "one button" through various android capacitive and onscreen implementations to my present lumia 640 , after just a few hours getting to know how the device works it really doesn't seem to matter as it becomes second nature, I found the swipe up to hide the navigation on he 640 initially awkward but really like it now. This really is a first world problem!

 

[mikefarinha]

I'm still a fan of capacitive buttons, mostly because they don't take away your precious screen space. That's a big deal breaker for me, and I'm not planing to buy any device with on screen buttons anytime soon.

But doesn't any type of button take up screen space? I would think software buttons are the only option of actually making the possibility of reclaiming that lost screen space possible.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

Yes. Also I made a point about the Lumia series finally taking advantage of the LCD panel rather than opting for a format-restricted navigation key set.

I don't see why this kills a purchase for others.

Because they are ugly and tacky. And I prefer them to be always there.

 

[colinkiama]

A lot of people seemed to be upset that Microsoft is opting for software buttons over the traditional capacitive buttons.

Well here is some food for thought. I recently paired my Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to my Lumia 928 running the latest public build of windows 10 and was frustrated that I couldn't use the mouse to click the back button.

Obviously this isn't an ideal setup but for the sake of UX consistency across their ecosystem I understand why they opted for software buttons that can be accessed from within the UI, mouse, as well as from without, touch.

I'm still a fan of capacitive buttons, mostly because they don't take away your precious screen space. That's a big deal breaker for me, and I'm not planing to buy any device with on screen buttons anytime soon. Unless it has some gestures or smth, that can replace buttons so they can always be hidden.

It's actually better than capacitive buttons. If you swipe from the bottom, you can hide/show the buttons anytime you like. You don't have the keys blinding you at night and you don't have accidental button presses been watching videos or playing games.

The Android software buttons are annoying since they take up screen space but on most windows phones that use them, the whole screen is available for you to use.

 

[ven07]

I prefer capacitive over software but that's just a personal preference. To be quite honest, phone manufacturers can push us in an which way they want.. If all companies jump over to software buttons, then we have no choice, but I guess supply and demand will always have its place during these moments

 

[Ma Rio]

But doesn't any type of button take up screen space? I would think software buttons are the only option of actually making the possibility of reclaiming that lost screen space possible.

I get what you're aiming at, but I don't agree. Imagine a 6'' screen with capacitive buttons, and 6'' with on screen buttons. It's not like you can chose between 6'' with on screen, and 5.7'' with capacitive.

It's actually better than capacitive buttons. If you swipe from the bottom, you can hide/show the buttons anytime you like. You don't have the keys blinding you at night and you don't have accidental button presses been watching videos or playing games.

The Android software buttons are annoying since they take up screen space but on most windows phones that use them, the whole screen is available for you to use.

Why bother? You'd always need to show them to navigate, then hide to watch content, and so on. I've never had problems with capacitive buttons, and I did with on-screen ones (I tried my friend's 735). Also, capacitive ones feel better for some reason, I really don't know why.

However I must add one thing, to be fair. I'm having one problem with my L1520 right now, and that is that my back and windows buttons are mixed up. Most of the times I press the Windows key, it acts as if I pressed back, and sometimes (quite rare), when I press back, it acts as if I pressed Win. That's probably a problem with the receptor thingy underneath which probably got damaged somehow. Could be moisture, could be physical damage, who knows.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Can't say that really is the normal use case for people, so I don't think it a good-enough excuse. They built W10M to be context-specific in a bunch of ways. Doing so with a paired Bluetooth device could have just been another of those things.

 

[Krystianpants]

I don't mind it, but would prefer the bezel was cut down at the bottom if the software buttons are being used. On the Lumia 830 the buttons light up and in general it makes it feel like having the extra bezel there is useful. And the lit up buttons do make it look nice. But if they weren't there the bezel should be scrapped as much as possible.

 

[Tsang Fai]

I'm still a fan of capacitive buttons, mostly because they don't take away your precious screen space.

This is true but to accommodate real buttons, the bezel (bottom part) will most likely be thicker.

Software buttons take up roughly 1/20 of vertical pixels of the screen, which I think is not a big deal.

 

[keathkeath]

If (may God forbid) your physical lock/unlock buttons gets damaged, you can use the double tap screen to wake your phone and double tap on the spaces between the on screen buttons on the navigation bar to lock the phone.

I am wondering if you can do that to capacitive buttons as well, since I haven't owned a capacitive button Lumia.

 

[astondg]

I get what you're aiming at, but I don't agree. Imagine a 6'' screen with capacitive buttons, and 6'' with on screen buttons. It's not like you can chose between 6'' with on screen, and 5.7'' with capacitive.

But a 6" phone with capacitive is going to be bigger overall than a 6" phone with on-screen so you really have to compare a 6" with capacitive with a 6.2" phone with on-screen.

You can always keep increasing the total size of the phone but for any given size you have more available screen with on-screen buttons than with capacitive and, at worst, with the on-screen buttons showing you still have the same screen size on both phones.

 

[keathkeath]

But a 6" phone with capacitive is going to be bigger overall than a 6" phone with on-screen so you really have to compare a 6" with capacitive with a 6.2" phone with on-screen.

You can always keep increasing the total size of the phone but for any given size you have more available screen with on-screen buttons than with capacitive and, at worst, with the on-screen buttons showing you still have the same screen size on both phones.

Unless you hide them.

 

[Ma Rio]

But a 6" phone with capacitive is going to be bigger overall than a 6" phone with on-screen so you really have to compare a 6" with capacitive with a 6.2" phone with on-screen.

You can always keep increasing the total size of the phone but for any given size you have more available screen with on-screen buttons than with capacitive and, at worst, with the on-screen buttons showing you still have the same screen size on both phones.

I (and I think most others) care more about the screen size than the actual phone size, so a little bit more on the bottom of the phone is quite worth it. Using my 1520 for more than a year, and I haven't regreted it even once.

 

[travis_valkyrie]

Probably not the best reason why they opted for on screen. If you think about it at a deeper level, it's because software buttons are more flexible and can be changed and updated at will without having to worry about hardware changes. It's also more cost effective for manufacturers to have to use less parts for manufacturing if they want the phone to be versatile (HTC M8).

But it's not for everyone. I for one see on screen buttons as cramped, separate experience. It feels like one of those accessibility options where it looks redundant on screen. There's still potential for capacitive buttons to be doubled as buttons and as a notification light, or even a fingerprint reader given the right software, plus it gives the phone some level of identity, not just some generic rectangular slab. But personally I like to have a little more space between the keyboard and the navigation buttons.

 

[astondg]

I (and I think most others) care more about the screen size than the actual phone size, so a little bit more on the bottom of the phone is quite worth it. Using my 1520 for more than a year, and I haven't regreted it even once.

I'm the opposite, I care a lot about phone size. But regardless I think the point stands that no matter what size the phone is on-screen buttons will always offer the same or more screen (i.e. when they are 'hidden') than capacitive.

So you say a little more on the bottom is ok, but then why not make that 'little bit more' part of the screen instead of capacitive buttons? That way you have an even bigger screen when watching a video and the same size when navigating around. I think of it more like I'm getting extra screen rather than less.

If you prefer capacitive buttons then that's cool, I can understand. I just don't think the screen size is an issue.

 

[Andrey Bond]

i hate physical buttons. that is why i chose lumia 640

 

[Slovenix]

I prefer software