OnScreen vs Physical buttons?

[libra89]

Do you have a preference between on screen and physical buttons, or are you indifferent? I'm aware that this is an age old debate, but I'm curious to know. Has Windows 10 Mobile changed this preference at all, or no? If you have a different response, please explain/share.

In my case, I think it has. Slightly leaning towards physical buttons since the only way you can have a black navigation bar is with a dark theme on Windows 10 Mobile. I miss having a light theme and a navigation bar that always remained black.

 

[xandros9]

Was indifferent, I now lean towards virtual keys since they're flexible, can be hidden, won't blind me at night, and looks cleaner on the face of the device.

 

[HeyCori]

Would sacrifice my soul for a new Windows Phone with a horizontal slide-out keyboard.

 

[Guytronic]

Used to desire hardware keys.

Now I prefer soft keys.
I don't know why...

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[P1ng0fDeath]

I love the capacitive buttons on my 930, too bad they are a dying breed. Don't like how virtual ones look on flagship phones and how much space they take on the screen, and wouldn't trust them on phones with Oled screens. The customization factor is a big plus though...

 

[theefman]

Physical, cos I will always have the full 6" of my 1520 available and not have some stolen by software keys.

 

[mtf1380]

I like the Screen keys for a number of reasons:
Pros:
> can hide them to display more screen.
> can change the color (need to add black for libra89
> if MSFT assigned a contextual action, MSFT can also change the Icon.
> It can conceivably be mounted on the side of the screen for ease of use (wishful thinking).
Cons:
> have already experienced a slight navbar burn-in on the 950XL.

 

[EspHack]

thats like choosing red over blue, physical keys give the phone a certain watchmaker-like degree of attention to detail in phones like 930 and 920, they also work as a symbol, to make a phone recognizable, that windows key could be to us what the apple on the back is to the iphone, they are the most consistent ever(not including landscape mode) and dont ever become a problem i think

with soft keys you're always wondering whether to hide them or change their color or positioning or just use it for whatever, their con is also their pro

I used to think that my perfect phone was something like the N9, and I felt they ruined it with the lumia 800 losing screen realstate and all, now im not even sure, I think its up to the overall phone design whether it looks good or not, with or without keys

damn I wish the L960 comes with the N9 design at 5"

or maybe this one...

 

[thron]

Physical buttons 10000%
On-screen buttons have a peculiar gap at the bottom of the hardware; if they went to the tip of the device, I may not be so annoyed with them - just seems like a poor use of real estate.

On screen buttons should also be allowed to have a transparency filter. 100% solid make the screen feel smaller!

 

[ttsoldier]

Don't care...

 

[Maurizio Troso]

Virtual key forever, after moved to 650

 

[RumoredNow]

Prior to Denim, physical buttons were implemented properly and had the ability to match screen brightness for adaptivity. That sadly seems lost forever on my 1520... And if they could implement DTtS with the physical buttons (My vote is for double tap Windows key!!!) that would be awesome sauce.

Fix the physical button Firmware and that is where my vote would lie.

But for now, I'm torn between the two.

I like DTtS and I also like coordinating the color of the software nav keys to match my Start colors/theme.

I had to abstain.

 

[Rugish Dapeca]

I started my Windows Phone journey on a Lumia 520. It has physical buttons that do not light up, so it's impossible to see them in the dark. Now that I've upgraded to a 640 with on-screen buttons, I don't think I could ever go back to physical navigation buttons that don't illuminate. I don't see myself upgrading my phone again anytime soon, so I'll just be happy with what I have.

 

[Jack Neill]

I prefer the on screen buttons. I like hiding it and also like having the camera button on the lock screen of my 640 since it lacks camera button.

 

[kristalsoldier]

Was indifferent, I now lean towards virtual keys since they're flexible, can be hidden, won't blind me at night, and looks cleaner on the face of the device.

Yeps! This is my pov too! Now it appears that the only physical keys buttons I prefer are the volume, power and camera buttons.

 

[triageatdawn]

Got my hands on the 950 yesterday. I've never had a handset with the onscreen buttons before and I did quite miss the capacitive buttons of my 830 initially but I quickly got used to the former ones. And then it hit me. I had to alter some OneDrive settings and suddenly realized there were no buttons on the bottom anymore. They just disappeared. Locking and unlocking the phone didn't help so I had to open the action center and luckily there was an active notification there so I just tapped it and solved the problem.

I know it was a random and a very minor bug but I just can't trust the onscreen buttons 100%. That was my personal experience after the upgrade.

There's one more thing that doesn't bother me that much but I'd still like to mention it. Getting some burn ins on the bottom of the screen of our 950/XL's is inevitable, considering how the OLED technology works. Its degradation process is only natural and will certainly be more or less visible eventually. I've already seen some members on here stating that this is a defect but they're wrong.

With all that said, it didn't affect my overall experience with the handset. Everything works like a charm and I couldn't be happier. :wink:

 

[earthman007]

I prefer some physical buttons and would like more of them, even if their functionality changes, depending on what you're doing with your phone at the time. It's particularly good to have something that's tangible if you have vision issues, as you can get to remember where they are, feel them and have the physical sensations finding and selecting. I know a lot of people prefer to have something to touch, in this way - and probably people moving from a feature type phone, with buttons etc, would transition better if they have more of them in a smartphone. It probably increases production costs somewhat but they really help me to use my phone in a much more comfortable manner, with less eye strain etc or just to be able to do something that may be impossible if relying solely on the screen visual iteself.

 

[mtf1380]

.

There's one more thing that doesn't bother me that much but I'd still like to mention it. Getting some burn ins on the bottom of the screen of our 950/XL's is inevitable, considering how the OLED technology works. Its degradation process is only natural and will certainly be more or less visible eventually. I've already seen some members on here stating that this is a defect but they're wrong.

This is a valid perspective and should probably be brought up in the appropriate tread for an on-point discussion: http://forums.windowscentral.com/microsoft-lumia-950-xl/431442-ghosting-starting-appear-950xl.html. The reference link that you used is 2014 technology, AND if the flaw was recognized back then, then it has NO place on a Flagship phone now (not without finding a solution). Knowledge of a flaw, does not make it OK to incorporate it into a product without fixing the flaw first (and that does not mean to make software to mask the facts, or put a spin to it... IMO).

 

[Aurelink]

Tbh I was afraid when I pre-ordered the 950XL becaue I was used to the physical buttons way too much (especially when I tried the ATIV S and then had the 1020 and 830. The buttons were hardly as good as the button on the ATIV), but after 8 months of insanely usage of my 950XL... I'm glad they're onscreen. As others said : They're flexible. Being able to hide them is really cool, keeps the bezzels away ! And being able to adjust the nav bar color to the accent color is a plus. Really fancy

 

[greedo_greedy]

Initially I wanted hardware keys but now to me it doesn't really matter anymore.
They're not much different IMO