Just got the N4 yesterday and love it but for one really irksome thing -- that the back button, which I use a lot, is on the left while the "running apps" button, which I don't, is on the right. It's a big phone so having stuff as near as possible to the bottom right-hand corner is key to one-handed operation (for righties, of course). So when I'm using Google Reader, the back button is at bottom left, and the "Up to category list" button is at top left. Really slows things down.
Am I the only one annoyed by this? Is there a fix short of a new ROM?
A rom may allow you to swap the buttons around. It doesnt bother me I hold my phone in my left hand a lot.
That was a big reason why I decided to root and go to an AOKP rom. Back button on the right side now and I'm so much happier.
It bothered me at first when moving from a Galaxy S (back on right side) to the Galaxy Nexus (back on left side). Got used to it after about a month though.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Never noticed! But I prefer to get rid of them for the screen real estate.
It's more of a design choice rather than a pragmatic decision. Back on the left makes more sense. Some apps move the screen to the right when they go back, so tapping back on the left side and having the screen goes left makes sense thematically. I came from a Galaxy S which also had a right-side back button, and I have accustomed myself to the left-side back button with little effort. It fits the flow of apps better.
However, I'm strongly against the removal of the Search button that started in 3.x. I used Search for many apps, and it was an amazing shortcut. Fullscreen browser? Press search and you got access to the URL bar. Looking for a contact? Search button. Want to do a search in a file explorer? There's a familiar button for that. Recents should have stayed as a long press of the Home button.
Hung0702 said:
It's more of a design choice rather than a pragmatic decision. Back on the left makes more sense. Some apps move the screen to the right when they go back, so tapping back on the left side and having the screen goes left makes sense thematically. I came from a Galaxy S which also had a right-side back button, and I have accustomed myself to the left-side back button with little effort. It fits the flow of apps better.
However, I'm strongly against the removal of the Search button that started in 3.x. I used Search for many apps, and it was an amazing shortcut. Fullscreen browser? Press search and you got access to the URL bar. Looking for a contact? Search button. Want to do a search in a file explorer? There's a familiar button for that. Recents should have stayed as a long press of the Home button.
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Click to collapse
I disagree with long press on home as recents. Many android noobs didn't even know there was a a "alt tab" in Android until they've heard it from someone or was told by someone.
It's more intuitive when theres a recents button. As far as search, it's supposed to be on the top right of an app same with the legacy menu. On contacts, its on the bottom left.
IMO they should go back to the 4 capacitive buttons. Menu, Home, Back, Search. There was NOTHING wrong with this setup. Search was arguably the weakest one but with Google now, I'd say it's just as important as the rest of them. I get the fact that not all apps will have Menu, but Home and Back are just about universal, and Menu is used quite a bit too. The capacitive buttons free up screen real-estate too. I don't like styling things just for style's sake.
se1000 said:
IMO they should go back to the 4 capacitive buttons. Menu, Home, Back, Search. There was NOTHING wrong with this setup. Search was arguably the weakest one but with Google now, I'd say it's just as important as the rest of them. I get the fact that not all apps will have Menu, but Home and Back are just about universal, and Menu is used quite a bit too. The capacitive buttons free up screen real-estate too. I don't like styling things just for style's sake.
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Click to collapse
That's the app's fault for not implementing the menu button on their app, regardless you have the legacy menu button the bottom right.
If you don't like it then install a custom ROM and change the navigation bar to your liking. It's simple as that, no reason to debate about this and how it should be on stock android.
zephiK said:
That's the app's fault for not implementing the menu button on their app, regardless you have the legacy menu button the bottom right.
If you don't like it then install a custom ROM and change the navigation bar to your liking. It's simple as that, no reason to debate about this and how it should be on stock android.
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I have, and I like my current setup (Menu, Home, Back). I'm just saying that I'd rather have the 4 capacitive buttons back.
zephiK said:
I disagree with long press on home as recents. Many android noobs didn't even know there was a a "alt tab" in Android until they've heard it from someone or was told by someone.
It's more intuitive when theres a recents button. As far as search, it's supposed to be on the top right of an app same with the legacy menu. On contacts, its on the bottom left.
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Click to collapse
If only recents was actually comparable to Windows' Alt+tab. As it is, recents is no more useful to me than it was in Gingerbread
The best button choice for me would have been, in the order, BACK, HOME, MENU. You need to go to settings? Just press the "menu" button. Need to open recent apps? Just press and hold the "home" button. Simple as that.
It was all so much more consistent when the menu button was integrated in the system. Now you have to go and look for it in a place that differs from app to app... jeez, I feel like I'm holding an iPhone.
No menu and a dedicated, invasive multitasking app is a double step backwards for me.
SkippyFlipjack said:
Just got the N4 yesterday and love it but for one really irksome thing -- that the back button, which I use a lot, is on the left while the "running apps" button, which I don't, is on the right. It's a big phone so having stuff as near as possible to the bottom right-hand corner is key to one-handed operation (for righties, of course). So when I'm using Google Reader, the back button is at bottom left, and the "Up to category list" button is at top left. Really slows things down.
Am I the only one annoyed by this? Is there a fix short of a new ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's how us lefty's feel living in a right handed world
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Hung0702 said:
It's more of a design choice rather than a pragmatic decision. Back on the left makes more sense. Some apps move the screen to the right when they go back, so tapping back on the left side and having the screen goes left makes sense thematically. I came from a Galaxy S which also had a right-side back button, and I have accustomed myself to the left-side back button with little effort. It fits the flow of apps better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree that design-wise it makes sense; the aesthete in me would take issue with a left-facing arrow button sitting on the right side, which sort of looks like it's telling you to press the button in the middle. I just think that these larger phones should design where possible for one-handed operation (and have a lefty mode too!)
note: by 'one-handed operation' no, I don't mean I'm watching porn
Related
As far as physical goes...Android has too many buttons. IMO you only need:
Button 1
Press Once = Sleep
Press Twice = Wake
Long Press = Shutdown/Turn On
Button 2
Press Once = Desktop
Press Twice = AppDrawer
Long Press = Open/Close Dockbar (scrollable dock for heavily used apps such as phone, messaging, music, etc that doesnt take up screen space.)
Button 3
Volume up/down
and possibly a dedicated CAPACITIVE scrolling/zooming button for fast scanning thru the app drawer and/or desktops and/or scrolling/zooming in web browsers.
(this way u can have larger widgets on ur desktops because u have a dedicated app drawer button and not one that takes up space on ur desktop. plus ur not limited to just 7 desktops like u get with HTC preview screens or launcherpro, etc because it would be easy to scroll thru 20 desktops with the dedicated capacitive scroll)
Ok. So if u put the sleep/wake on top of the phone, volume button on the left side, your left with just one button like the iphone and maybe my proposed idea of the capacitive scrolling button (thats if u like that idea).
this would be different from the iphone even though the iphone has one button because its functions are different. the iphone button does BACK+LONG PRESS=HOME. this would do a DESKTOP/APPDRAWER+LONG PRESS= DOCKBAR.
so it has 3 functions instead of 2. add in the capacitive scrolling and u have a simple easy to use device without redundant buttons thats still different from
apples iphone.
-no need for back button. browsers and apps can provide soft buttons in its user interface.
-no need for search button. widgets and apps can be used for this on ur desktop
-no need for settings button. again, widgets and apps can be used on ur desktops. put ur desktops to use!
great if u understood what i said. sorry for the rant if u didnt. just an idea and my 2cents.
.
Get an iphone if you want less buttons.
I personally love the back, home and menu buttons, and find them very very useful.
Errr... my three most frequent used buttons are: back, home and menu and you want to remove 2 of them. Yeah, great idea ;-)
Brut.all said:
Errr... my three most frequent used buttons are: back, home and menu and you want to remove 2 of them. Yeah, great idea ;-)
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Click to collapse
I agree, the last iphone I used pissed me off hard not having a physical back button....
I agree. back and home are essential! relying too much on soft buttons is silly. Also if you really dont like the OS because of the number of hard buttons then I think you are a little confused.
The hard buttons are usually decided by the manufacturer arent they? maybe your rant should be directed at htc and not android? I could be wrong.
mini_robot said:
As far as physical goes...Android has too many buttons. IMO you only need:
Button 1
Press Once = Sleep
Press Twice = Wake
Long Press = Shutdown/Turn On
Button 2
Press Once = Desktop
Press Twice = AppDrawer
Long Press = Open/Close Dockbar (scrollable dock for heavily used apps such as phone, messaging, music, etc that doesnt take up screen space.)
Button 3
Volume up/down
and possibly a dedicated CAPACITIVE scrolling/zooming button for fast scanning thru the app drawer and/or desktops and/or scrolling/zooming in web browsers.
(this way u can have larger widgets on ur desktops because u have a dedicated app drawer button and not one that takes up space on ur desktop. plus ur not limited to just 7 desktops like u get with HTC preview screens or launcherpro, etc because it would be easy to scroll thru 20 desktops with the dedicated capacitive scroll)
Ok. So if u put the sleep/wake on top of the phone, volume button on the left side, your left with just one button like the iphone and maybe my proposed idea of the capacitive scrolling button (thats if u like that idea).
this would be different from the iphone even though the iphone has one button because its functions are different. the iphone button does BACK+LONG PRESS=HOME. this would do a DESKTOP/APPDRAWER+LONG PRESS= DOCKBAR.
so it has 3 functions instead of 2. add in the capacitive scrolling and u have a simple easy to use device without redundant buttons thats still different from
apples iphone.
-no need for back button. browsers and apps can provide soft buttons in its user interface.
-no need for search button. widgets and apps can be used for this on ur desktop
-no need for settings button. again, widgets and apps can be used on ur desktops. put ur desktops to use!
great if u understood what i said. sorry for the rant if u didnt. just an idea and my 2cents.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is steve jobs talk. -_-
LOL...I'm short of buttons. Idea = Long press Menu-> contacts and Long press Back->screen off or Camera, Trackball press -> receive/pickup call at lockscreen.
search button: yep, that button is needless, I never use it.
All other buttons are essential.
The home button and back button are very important. The back button isn't just for going one page in a browser back. Couldn't live with it. The menu button is very important, too, because it's a dedicated button which is the same in EVERY app, so you always know how to find the settings.
And then, volume and power button, you can't remove them.
PS: Two times button hitting to execute a command is silly.
UpSpin said:
search button: yep, that button is needless, I never use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is where the Galaxy S shines: the menu button acts as both the menu and search buttons.
I think the search button is indispensable. When I want to find any contact or document in my phone, any thing in google it gets me there in one step.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Lol, this dude is tripping. Giving up my 4 beautiful and all useful buttons. In instead lose screen estate cause every app is gonna make the SAME thing at the bottom as the buttons?
Lol. GTFO
You may have heard of this semi-obscure device that is basically what you are looking for. It is called the "iPhone", if you look it up on the interwebs you may be able to find something about it.
less buttons? seriously? im sorry to hear you cannot afford an iphone if you want it that bad.
I'd agree as well that some physical buttons are very useful to avoid wasting screen real estate with buttons. That said, the HTC Hero has 6 buttons (call, hang up, menu, home, back and search) which is probably a bit OTT as call and hang up are replicated on-screen all the time. But buttons like home, back and menu are essential, as others have said.
The key is that if *all* Android hardware has the same core set of buttons, then developers can rely on those buttons being there and use them intelligently. All too often you see programs which have clearly been ported over from another system without any effort having been made to adapt them to the Android system. Not only do these waste space, but they also feel counter-intuitive to an Android user because they use a different UI model. My particular pet-peeve is apps which forget to take control of the volume rocker for their audio - that makes me accidentally adjust my ringtone volume (which is normally silent!) instead of the app's volume
Umm, sorry for the rant...
Steven__ said:
...All too often you see programs which have clearly been ported over from another system without any effort having been made to adapt them to the Android system...
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Click to collapse
Like the pause button on angry birds. Have they realised androids have a button called menu?
I love the 4/5 physical buttons on android, even if you don't use the search button a lot at first, you can always assign that button to something you want.
I wish I had 1 more button...a dedicated forward button...I get a little jumpy with my back button.
Less is not always more. Less is sometimes just less(i.e. iPhone)
mercianary said:
Like the pause button on angry birds. Have they realised androids have a button called menu?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you could try pressing the Menu button to see that they have!
veetip said:
Well, you could try pressing the Menu button to see that they have!
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Click to collapse
Yeah I know. My point is the button onscreen is a waste of space because it it replicated by a hardware button.
The "search" button is more of a Google thing. Its a android phone (google) so they want a search option of there database to be easily accessed.
is there anyway to do this? why isnt there a menu key!
There is......It's the button on the right. They did away with search button not the menu button, is this your first Android?
Logan_M said:
There is......It's the button on the right. They did away with search button not the menu button, is this your first Android?
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Click to collapse
no its not my first android lol , the one on the right? that brings up a long list of junk, not the regular menus (recent apps) i guess? al my other android devices, Droid, Droid2, and Bionic, all had menu buttons available any time for settings, i was wondering if there was a way to do this, as they have on the nexus phones, (yes i tried flashing it, dont do it was a bad idea.)
anyone else? the soft key on the right is the square with another behind it... brings up recent apps
It's a good idea to read up on the new version of android before posting topics to which the answer is a single google search away.
Android 3.0 did away with the menu button. now it only shows up when needed for an older app. new apps have a dedicated menu button in their UI.
you can access the settings through the notification drop down.
You must be coming off an old version of Android. The button you are looking for will be 3 little dots to the right of the square on square button. It will only appear if the app needs it. http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2012/01/say-goodbye-to-menu-button.html
neok44 said:
It's a good idea to read up on the new version of android before posting topics to which the answer is a single google search away.
Android 3.0 did away with the menu button. now it only shows up when needed for an older app. new apps have a dedicated menu button in their UI.
you can access the settings through the notification drop down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could not have said it any better.
Instead there is a contextual menu key (either top or bottom right for some reason) of 3 dots. Does that not work for you?
Sent from my Nexus S using xda app-developers app
In general I like my Tab2 10.1 but it seems like Google expected people to hold the tablet in their left hand and yet have their left thumb available to hit the BACK button; I can't do that. Instead I hold the tablet in my left hand and constantly reach across with my right-hand to press BACK. Is there an alternative UI with all the controls on the right-side? Would that be a launcher?
bsmith1051 said:
In general I like my Tab2 10.1 but it seems like Google expected people to hold the tablet in their left hand and yet have their left thumb available to hit the BACK button; I can't do that. Instead I hold the tablet in my left hand and constantly reach across with my right-hand to press BACK. Is there an alternative UI with all the controls on the right-side? Would that be a launcher?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Aokp allows you to make your own navigation bar buttons. Check the development forums here.
In general I like my Tab2 10.1 but it seems like Google expected people to hold the tablet in their left hand and yet have their left thumb available to hit the BACK button; I can't do that. Instead I hold the tablet in my left hand and constantly reach across with my right-hand to press BACK. Is there an alternative UI with all the controls on the right-side? Would that be a launcher?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm Glad I'm Not The Only One Thinking That, I Bet The Designer Was Left Handed
Is there any way to remap the function of "RecentApps" soft key to "Menu" function?
I almost do not use "RecentApps" and I find the necessity of manual search of "settings" button in each app quite distracting.
I have Xperia Ray smartphone and it has Back button, Home button (long press on this button launches RecentApps and not the useless Google circle pane, like in Nexus, which is not even customizable) and Menu button, which I use VERY often.
In my opinion - this scheme is the most convenient and I'd like to get it in Nexus 7.
Does anybody have an idea how it could be implemented?
metaxaos said:
Is there any way to remap the function of "RecentApps" soft key to "Menu" function?
I almost do not use "RecentApps" and I find the necessity of manual search of "settings" button in each app quite distracting.
I have Xperia Ray smartphone and it has Back button, Home button (long press on this button launches RecentApps and not the useless Google circle pane, like in Nexus, which is not even customizable) and Menu button, which I use VERY often.
In my opinion - this scheme is the most convenient and I'd like to get it in Nexus 7.
Does anybody have an idea how it could be implemented?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where 'menu' key is applicable, three dots show on the right low corner. If these dots don't appear, I don't think 'menu' key would bring you anywhere anyway (or those three dot's appear anywhere else, like in one of top corners, and pressing menu key would open the menu from those dots anyway, so you'd have to move your fingers a lot)
I have xperia as well (Arc S), and as much as I had to get used to it from beginning, I understand why the choice of these buttons (not every app uses the menu key, so it would be useless in such cases).
I don't know how else are you going to switch apps then, click back every time?
issak42 said:
Where 'menu' key is applicable, three dots show on the right low corner. If these dots don't appear, I don't think 'menu' key would bring you anywhere anyway (or those three dot's appear anywhere else, like in one of top corners, and pressing menu key would open the menu from those dots anyway, so you'd have to move your fingers a lot)
I have xperia as well (Arc S), and as much as I had to get used to it from beginning, I understand why the choice of these buttons (not every app uses the menu key, so it would be useless in such cases).
I don't know how else are you going to switch apps then, click back every time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It would be really good if it was always true. Unfortunately, it's not. For example, there is a FBReader app, where you could hide all the status and toolbars and where you just cannot get into menu without separate button. Besides it's always better to have one familiar key than to look for GUI shortcut in each app.
To switch between apps - long press on Home key. It's not so frequently used feature to have a special button for that. IMHO.
Anyway, does anyone know anything about some solution?
I have my V20 navigation controls hidden for almost all apps because I like the full 5.7" screen always displayed, but it's a pain sometime to swipe up to get access to them. Is there any way to get a 3rd party app that you can put into the Second Screen as an app shortcut, and when you click the app shortcut icon it will navigate DIRECTLY with the one press on the second screen (i.e. go to home screen and back button, mainly)? I don't think it could be a widget because you can't load widgets as a app shortcut on the 2nd screen. Note that I am NOT rooted.
Probably not but I just thought I'd ask.
This actually works in the nav bar as a return to home button, although will not appear on recent apps when used. Now looking for a back button
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devjackey.homebutton
If you have any sort of experience with Tasker I'm sure you can create a simple task that goes back, and just assign it to a button that you throw on the 2nd screen though I just checked and some widgets don't actually work in the 2nd screen. Greenify works fine but my mobile payment app doesnt't.
Seems like it can't be a widget or floating button. Can't find a back button that works by clicking the app shortcut icon like the home button does above (i.e. no app options - click and executes the one function directly). Oh well at least I have half what i need.
A pain to swipe up but easier to reach all the to the top of the screen? Smh. Doesn't make sense.
@rbiter said:
A pain to swipe up but easier to reach all the to the top of the screen? Smh. Doesn't make sense.
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Click to collapse
I'm often at the top of my screen switching apps and want to get to the home screen. Plus ONE press on a button instead of a swipe up and press and have it hide again. My thumb is on average in the middle of the screen so up and down or the same. Plus if holding the phone in my left hand it's easier to get at the top with my right hand index finger. Just tried the home button above and definitely faster and less annoying then the hidden nav bar. Doesn't seem like there is a similar back button anywhere that i can find.
Tony
All I have to say is software nav FTW!