Galaxy Nexus - Software buttons a waste of screen?

[Guest Zarch1972]

This post over on XDA:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=19113134&postcount=203

Got me thinking about software buttons - are they really "all that" on a phone?

On a tablet, the advantage of softbuttons are obvious, but on a phone? Wouldn't hardware buttons just suffice?

Watching movies aside, you'll always need back, menu and home buttons permanantly on show, so you'll never to use the whole of the screen unless you are a movie junkie. So are you paying for (and wasting) screen for nothing? The diagram on XDA suggests the screen is just 4.3" when the buttons are used.

Would you be better with a cheaper SG2 or HTC Sensation XE with their 4.3" screen and hardware buttons, then wait for ICS to come along early 2012 on either of those? (software buttons don't pop up on screen ICS if it detects hardware ones)

Some other device sizes:

Phone                   Height (mm)    Width (mm)      Screen       Resolution

                                                      (inches)     

San Francisco              116             57           3.5”       (800 x 480)

iPhone 4S                  115             59           3.5”       (960 x 640)

Nokia Lumia 800 (Windows)  116             61           3.7"       (800 x 480)

HTC Desire                 119             60           3.7”       (800 x 480)

Samsung Galaxy 1           122             64           4.0”       (800 x 480)       

HTC Desire HD              123             68           4.3”       (800 x 480)

Samsung Nexus S            124             63           4.0"       (800 x 480)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sony Ericsson Arc S        125             63           4.2"       (854 x 480)

Samsung Galaxy 2           125             66           4.3”       (800 x 480)

HTC Sensation XE           126             65           4.3"       (960 x 540)

HTC Rezound (US ONLY)      129             66           4.3"       (1280 x 720)

Motorola Droid RAZR        131             69           4.3"       (960 x 540)

HTC Sensation XL           132             71           4.7"       (800 x 480)

Galaxy Nexus               136             68           4.65”      (1280 x 720)

[/code]


So is the extra 1 cm over the SG2 and XE wasted?


You can probably tell..... i'm trying to talk myself out of buying one.  :lol:

Edited November 11, 2011 by Zarch1972

[Guest Frankish]

I suppose it's easier to make a phone without hardware buttons or capacitive buttons. Less hardware to fail.

That's the best excuse I can come up with. If this camera was 8mp my GS2 would be sold but I just can't downgrade camera now!

[Guest andrewpmoore]

I suppose it's easier to make a phone without hardware buttons or capacitive buttons. Less hardware to fail.

That's the best excuse I can come up with. If this camera was 8mp my GS2 would be sold but I just can't downgrade camera now!

Sorry to not talk you out of it, but to me I like the idea. I've always thought the "menu" button in android was daft as you never know if it is going to do anything. With screen buttons it'll only show when it can do something.

Of course the same could be done with hardware if they just made the led behind it light up when it could be pressed and no on other occasions.

[Guest Zarch1972]

Sorry to not talk you out of it, but to me I like the idea. I've always thought the "menu" button in android was daft as you never know if it is going to do anything. With screen buttons it'll only show when it can do something.

Of course the same could be done with hardware if they just made the led behind it light up when it could be pressed and no on other occasions.

Just updated the original post with more phones and dimensions...... (been building this whilst looking for a Desire replacement). :lol:

Paul, Do you have any snippets to throw our way now you've had the Galaxy Nexus for a few days?

Size, too Big?

Screen Quality?

Camera any good?

Battery Life

Software Buttons

Notification LED

ICS in general

Or do we have to wait for your full review? :D

[Guest Ian1]

The debate about buttons on the screen vs capacitive buttonsis hard to say without using it.

What I'm wondering about is will the permanent displayof the soft keys on an OLED screen result in OLED 'Screen burn'? I have this onmy Blade with the notification bar being visible as a shadow when I run fullscreen apps and was wondering if you would end up seeing an outline of thebuttons when a video is played.

Having said that I still think I'm going to get one if I canfind the 32GB version for sensible money.