Develop Bugs

No buttons on GN: no ports of other ROMs?

Would this be the case? I enjoy having good selection of ROMs with different looks
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Can't see why that would be the case, unless you're thinking about Gingerbread roms, which would make no sense.

FISKER_Q said:
Can't see why that would be the case, unless you're thinking about Gingerbread roms, which would make no sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know its a dumb question but would htc and samsung etc make phones with no buttons? I believe you can use ics with physical buttons as shown on nexus s.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

jay_993 said:
Would this be the case? I enjoy having good selection of ROMs with different looks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well why would you want a Gingerbread ROM ported to the Galaxy Nexus? That's the only way you'd have an issue.
Once custom ROMs are based on 4.0, it'll already have the hooks to run with on-screen buttons and not hardware buttons. That's part of ICS, not just this particular release.
Problem solved...

jay_993 said:
I know its a dumb question but would htc and samsung etc make phones with no buttons? I believe you can use ics with physical buttons as shown on nexus s.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but all ICS releases will be made for phones with no buttons, unless you're anticipating someone building ROMs on Android 2.3 for some reason.
Any custom ROM that comes out will be ICS based, so there's really no reason to worry. The ONLY one that might be in some trouble at first is MIUI, but I'm sure some intrepid dev out there will fix it.

SomeGuyDude said:
Yeah, but all ICS releases will be made for phones with no buttons, unless you're anticipating someone building ROMs on Android 2.3 for some reason.
Any custom ROM that comes out will be ICS based, so there's really no reason to worry. The ONLY one that might be in some trouble at first is MIUI, but I'm sure some intrepid dev out there will fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I doubt ICS releases will assume phones have no buttons. The emulator in the SDK for ICS is still button-based. I think the ICS base software will be agnostic to the button arrangement, and then vendor-specific hardware drivers will then determine whether virtual buttons or physical buttons are used to interface with the OS.

Chirality said:
I doubt ICS releases will assume phones have no buttons. The emulator in the SDK for ICS is still button-based. I think the ICS base software will be agnostic to the button arrangement, and then vendor-specific hardware drivers will then determine whether virtual buttons or physical buttons are used to interface with the OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well of course the emulator will be button based, as you can't touch the screen of your laptop
But yes, I get your point. The idea is the manufacturer chooses whether to use buttons or not. I think they'd be stupid to include buttons though, when the soft buttons will obviously make the experience much better.

jay_993 said:
Would this be the case? I enjoy having good selection of ROMs with different looks
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ICS will work if you have or don't have physical buttons.
http://gizmodo.com/5853298/will-your-android-phones-buttons-still-work-with-ice-cream-sandwich

I think the focus is ports such as MIUI... but either they'll include the hooks for the buttons or 3rd party controls... or custom launchers like the ICS launchers we have now.
Not to worry
G2x - 2.3.7 CM7
Transformer - 3.2 Revolver OC/UV

martonikaj said:
Well of course the emulator will be button based, as you can't touch the screen of your laptop
But yes, I get your point. The idea is the manufacturer chooses whether to use buttons or not. I think they'd be stupid to include buttons though, when the soft buttons will obviously make the experience much better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You didn't really think through your point...
If you can't simulate touchscreen input on the emulator, how are you going to perform all those touch-based actions in Android on the emulator? Did you think that on the emulator, you press buttons to do everything?
The answer is that with the emulator, you use mouse presses to simulate touchscreen input. Which means that, if the softkeys are a standard, always-present part of ICS, then in the emulator for ICS those softkeys would be on the screen. However they are not, which means ICS works just fine with hardware buttons, and hides the softkeys when they are present.

Chirality said:
You didn't really think through your point...
If you can't simulate touchscreen input on the emulator, how are you going to perform all those touch-based actions in Android on the emulator? Did you think that on the emulator, you press buttons to do everything?
The answer is that with the emulator, you use mouse presses to simulate touchscreen input. Which means that, if the softkeys are a standard, always-present part of ICS, then in the emulator for ICS those softkeys would be on the screen. However they are not, which means ICS works just fine with hardware buttons, and hides the softkeys when they are present.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was making a joke about it. Easy tiger.
They're just simply running 4.0 in the old emulator so the emulator interface is the same whether you're running a 2.3 or 4.0 AVD.

martonikaj said:
I was making a joke about it. Easy tiger.
They're just simply running 4.0 in the old emulator so the emulator interface is the same whether you're running a 2.3 or 4.0 AVD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought you might have been making a joke, so I wasn't overly critical, but tone doesn't come across well over the web...
Sure, they reused the old emulator interface. But that already tells you everything you need to know. If ICS doesn't work with physical buttons, then they would either need to revamp the emulator, disable the physical buttons and put on-screen buttons on the emulator display, or just leave the physical buttons there, but they would do nothing and on-screen buttons would be displayed. The fact that the emulator works without change, already tells you that ICS supports physical buttons and can hide the on-screen buttons when they are not needed.

Chirality said:
I thought you might have been making a joke, so I wasn't overly critical, but tone doesn't come across well over the web...
Sure, they reused the old emulator interface. But that already tells you everything you need to know. If ICS doesn't work with physical buttons, then they would either need to revamp the emulator, disable the physical buttons and put on-screen buttons on the emulator display, or just leave the physical buttons there, but they would do nothing and on-screen buttons would be displayed. The fact that the emulator works without change, already tells you that ICS supports physical buttons and can hide the on-screen buttons when they are not needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I'm 100% sure ICS is set up to work with either on-screen or hardware buttons. Its pretty well exemplified by the SDK ports of ICS running just fine on a Nexus S with hardware buttons, and the fact that manufacturers are saying old phones (pre GN) are getting ICS upgrades. I think Goog would be stupid to make it only work on all-screen phones.
All I was saying is that I think manufacturers would be dumb to make new phones with hardware buttons and ICS, as the software buttons work so much better. Just as we saw with honeycomb, a few tablets used a hardware home key or something like that, but most just used on-screen buttons.

Most likely we will see more phones with hardware based buttons in the future. The button-less design will be standard for high-end phones but on the smaller phones with smaller screens where the size of software buttons will take up to much space. I think that the option to use hardware buttons will stay as an options for years to come.

martonikaj said:
Oh I'm 100% sure ICS is set up to work with either on-screen or hardware buttons. Its pretty well exemplified by the SDK ports of ICS running just fine on a Nexus S with hardware buttons, and the fact that manufacturers are saying old phones (pre GN) are getting ICS upgrades. I think Goog would be stupid to make it only work on all-screen phones.
All I was saying is that I think manufacturers would be dumb to make new phones with hardware buttons and ICS, as the software buttons work so much better. Just as we saw with honeycomb, a few tablets used a hardware home key or something like that, but most just used on-screen buttons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How exactly do software buttons work better? I would much prefer hardware buttons with real tactile feedback because it's much harder to accidentally press them.

Chirality said:
How exactly do software buttons work better? I would much prefer hardware buttons with real tactile feedback because it's much harder to accidentally press them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well for one they're dynamic, meaning they can adapt to whatever changes in lighting, orientation, etc.
They can also be changed after the fact, for example if Google decides that there should be a search button instead of, or in addition to, the button(s), then they will adapt it on the software side.
Failure of the buttons is also dependant on the touch sensor failing, and not just wear and tear from the user, i know the trackball on my Nexus One was becoming increasingly frustrating because of that.
Lastly as for the con that it's easier to accidentally press, i disagree. I can't speak for Google's implementation, but there are a variety of software options to prevent stuff like that from happening.
For example the already existing capacative buttons cannot be activated unless you actually click on them, or atleast that's how it is on my phone, yes the touch required is otherwise light, but could likewise be adjusted in the software.

FISKER_Q said:
Well for one they're dynamic, meaning they can adapt to whatever changes in lighting, orientation, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are no advantages to this. If you have hardware buttons with real tactile feedback, you can press them in your pocket without looking at it. You don't need fancy virtual buttons that change icons and dim, all you need are real, physical buttons.
FISKER_Q said:
They can also be changed after the fact, for example if Google decides that there should be a search button instead of, or in addition to, the button(s), then they will adapt it on the software side.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While this is a potential pro, the chances of this happening are slim to none. For this to work, Android would have to truly do away with physical buttons and make software buttons an integral part of the platform. Physical buttons and virtual buttons remain viable options for the platform, which means that the platform can't make changes to the button specification at will.
FISKER_Q said:
Failure of the buttons is also dependant on the touch sensor failing, and not just wear and tear from the user, i know the trackball on my Nexus One was becoming increasingly frustrating because of that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd like to see some statistics to back up the claim that physical buttons fail before touchscreens do.
FISKER_Q said:
Lastly as for the con that it's easier to accidentally press, i disagree. I can't speak for Google's implementation, but there are a variety of software options to prevent stuff like that from happening.
For example the already existing capacative buttons cannot be activated unless you actually click on them, or atleast that's how it is on my phone, yes the touch required is otherwise light, but could likewise be adjusted in the software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Touchpanel makers have been trying for years to master the technology to prevent accidental presses, but none of them work as well as a real button that you have to depress to activate. I think if you were honest with yourself you'd agree with this, any reasonable person would.

Lil Jones said:
Most likely we will see more phones with hardware based buttons in the future. The button-less design will be standard for high-end phones but on the smaller phones with smaller screens where the size of software buttons will take up to much space. I think that the option to use hardware buttons will stay as an options for years to come.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if you're thinking this through. When you remove the hardware buttons, the screen gets larger. The net real-estate you have for screen+buttons stays the same, but now the buttons can change/move.
Chirality said:
How exactly do software buttons work better? I would much prefer hardware buttons with real tactile feedback because it's much harder to accidentally press them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you don't need the buttons (games, videos, camera, etc.) they go away. Leaving you with MORE screen then you had before.
Software buttons can dynamically change. They get brighter or dimmer with the screen, they rotate with the phone, and the buttons can change (add or remove menu button for legacy apps) depending on where in the OS you are.
Not to mention that with ICS software buttons, the positioning is standardized. No more rearranging of the buttons from android device to android device and manufacturer to manufacturer.
---------- Post added at 12:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:01 PM ----------
Chirality said:
There are no advantages to this. If you have hardware buttons with real tactile feedback, you can press them in your pocket without looking at it. You don't need fancy virtual buttons that change icons and dim, all you need are real, physical buttons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why do you need to press the home/menu/back/search buttons on your phone in your pocket?
While this is a potential pro, the chances of this happening are slim to none. For this to work, Android would have to truly do away with physical buttons and make software buttons an integral part of the platform. Physical buttons and virtual buttons remain viable options for the platform, which means that the platform can't make changes to the button specification at will.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its pretty clear that ICS is moving Android towards a buttonless design. When the Nexus comes out with no physical buttons, I think they're sending a pretty serious message about what they want manufacturers to do and what Google sees as the future of Android.

martonikaj said:
When you don't need the buttons (games, videos, camera, etc.) they go away. Leaving you with MORE screen then you had before.
Software buttons can dynamically change. They get brighter or dimmer with the screen, they rotate with the phone, and the buttons can change (add or remove menu button for legacy apps) depending on where in the OS you are.
Not to mention that with ICS software buttons, the positioning is standardized. No more rearranging of the buttons from android device to android device and manufacturer to manufacturer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sense there is some conceptual confusion here. Both you and FISKER_Q said something about on-screen buttons being dynamic and can change with what the software is doing. Let's clarify things a bit.
We are actually talking about two different kinds of buttons here. The first kind are the button widgets displayed on the screen, they can have different appearances and functions and appear and disappear depending on what the software is doing. Let's call them dynamic buttons. The second kind are buttons that are always present and always do the same thing. Let's call them static buttons.
Obviously a touchscreen mobile device needs dynamic buttons, they are an integral part of the current UI paradigm. But does it need static buttons? Well...it needs at least one, the power button. Without it, you won't be able to turn the phone on. But does it need a second one? The answer is yes, it needs a home button. Without it you won't be able to return from a full screen application that wasn't designed with an exit function. This is why the iPhone has a giant button underneath the screen. And in fact, in ICS, the three virtual buttons only go away during video playback. They are still there, possibly dimmed, during any games or other apps. And this is only because the video playback app is a standard part of the OS, so it's safe to let that app hide the home button until a user taps the screen. Imagine if any app could hide the home button. Then you can write a malicious app that hides the home button and doesn't let you exit the app, forcing you to restart your phone.
So we established that a mobile device needs at least a second static button. Now the question becomes, given that you need this button to be always present and always doing the same thing, why make it into a dynamic, virtual button? Why do you need it to dim, change orientation, change function, move around? You want this button to be static, predictable, easy to locate. Users should be able to press this button without any graphic indicating what and where it is. This is why I said physical buttons can be pressed in your pocket without looking at it: not because you would ever need to do that, but because with a physical button, particularly as few as 1 to 3, they are so easy to locate and press that you don't even need any lights or graphics indicating where they are.
Obviously Android realizes the necessity of at least two static buttons, that's why they designed the home button to behave the way it does on ICS, where it is treated differently from other buttons. Now it is the decision of the Android designers to include not just one, but three static buttons as a standard part of the system. But here we are not concerned with this design choice, what we are concerned with is the fact that there needs to be at least one of these static buttons besides the power button, and the properties that these buttons must have. Given these properties, why should these static buttons be dynamic, be able to dim, be able to change orientation, be able to change function based on context? Why shouldn't they simply be physical buttons that can always be easily located, easily pressed, and difficult to trigger accidentally?

Chirality said:
Obviously a touchscreen mobile device needs dynamic buttons, they are an integral part of the current UI paradigm. But does it need static buttons? Well...it needs at least one, the power button. Without it, you won't be able to turn the phone on. But does it need a second one? The answer is yes, it needs a home button. Without it you won't be able to return from a full screen application that wasn't designed with an exit function. This is why the iPhone has a giant button underneath the screen. And in fact, in ICS, the three virtual buttons only go away during video playback. They are still there, possibly dimmed, during any games or other apps. And this is only because the video playback app is a standard part of the OS, so it's safe to let that app hide the home button until a user taps the screen. Imagine if any app could hide the home button. Then you can write a malicious app that hides the home button and doesn't let you exit the app, forcing you to restart your phone.
So we established that a mobile device needs at least a second static button. Now the question becomes, given that you need this button to be always present and always doing the same thing, why make it into a dynamic, virtual button? Why do you need it to dim, change orientation, change function, move around? You want this button to be static, predictable, easy to locate. Users should be able to press this button without any graphic indicating what and where it is. This is why I said physical buttons can be pressed in your pocket without looking at it: not because you would ever need to do that, but because with a physical button, particularly as few as 1 to 3, they are so easy to locate and press that you don't even need any lights or graphics indicating where they are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, we didn't establish anything. You established that you think the phone needs a 2nd static button. And why? Because you're worried about malware taking over the buttons? You can write a malicious app now that disables your hardware home button (or any other button, for that matter) too. How is that ANY different? Just because its hardware doesn't mean that it doesn't link to software at some point. If you think about it, Android already has software buttons, they're just linked to hardware switches on the front of the phone....
Obviously Android realizes the necessity of at least two static buttons, that's why they designed the home button to behave the way it does on ICS, where it is treated differently from other buttons. Now it is the decision of the Android designers to include not just one, but three static buttons as a standard part of the system. But here we are not concerned with this design choice, what we are concerned with is the fact that there needs to be at least one of these static buttons besides the power button, and the properties that these buttons must have. Given these properties, why should these static buttons be dynamic, be able to dim, be able to change orientation, be able to change function based on context? Why shouldn't they simply be physical buttons that can always be easily located, easily pressed, and difficult to trigger accidentally?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, android actually hasn't realized the necessity for at least 2 buttons. Its actually quite the opposite. They've gone from wanting 5 static buttons, to ICS+Galaxy Nexus only having 1, the power button. The home button will always be in the same place when you need it, it is just able to disappear in full-screen apps to allow them to use the full real estate of the phone's front panel (and not just movies. Books, games, web pages, etc.).
You make it sound like because the software buttons are able to rotate with the phone or fade out during watching a movie or reading a book that they won't come back when you need them in the exact same spot when you're done with the full-screen task. It is just as easy for a user to remember where a software button is as it is to know where a hardware button is. Software just brings more consistency across the platform, where software buttons will always be in the same spot.

I have mixed feelings about the software buttons

android phones are prone to hangs due to incompatible and poorly managed apps, i have custom roms installed, all optimized and stuff but occasionally i still need to restart my phone using the three button combo because my phone wont respond at all, the home button is a physical button that is sure to send a signal to the underlying hardware which is very useful for overriding stuff, in the event of hangs, how does the gnex deal with it? the power and down button is already reserved for screenshot..sigh..guess be prepared to take out the battery then..
another thing is, the home button is a quick go to action for exiting no matter what you're doing and its location is fixed, with a software home button, it changes location and even hides, not very intuitive..
if they really have wanted a maximum real estate, why didnt they just put the home button at the top or the side but maintain it as a hardware button
i guess well just have to see from reviews when the gnex comes out, after all honeycomb tablets have no physical home buttons anyway

Maybe they use the same thing as on the sgs II. Long press of the power button and it reboots.
And I like the fact that it doesn't have hardware buttons (except volume and power) because of two things:
1. Clean front (looks great).
2. Hardware buttons could brake.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Keep in mind that apps run in a java virtual machine but the buttons will probably run in the OS itself. Meaning home will still be an override.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using XDA Ultimate App

LordButtersI said:
Keep in mind that apps run in a java virtual machine but the buttons will probably run in the OS itself. Meaning home will still be an override.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but that is the problem
how would "home" button work, if the screen is hung, and the buttons are not responding, when say you were in a game or playing a video, and it hung, then you have no access to the "home" button
that's why i prefer a real button or at the very least the capacitive buttons, than a software button

Remember that when it comes down to it, hardware buttons on the front interface with the phone's software too. If the screen is hanging, the hardware buttons won't work any better than a row of software buttons would.

martonikaj said:
Remember that when it comes down to it, hardware buttons on the front interface with the phone's software too. If the screen is hanging, the hardware buttons won't work any better than a row of software buttons would.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i had many many cases where the app/game whatever hung, but the hard button or capacitive buttons were still responding
so i was able to summon Taks Manager to kill the hung app, that would not let me switch to other apps
so in this scenario when you have no buttons to press, you wont be able to invoke the Task Manager to kill the hung app

AllGamer said:
i had many many cases where the app/game whatever hung, but the hard button or capacitive buttons were still responding
so i was able to summon Taks Manager to kill the hung app, that would not let me switch to other apps
so in this scenario when you have no buttons to press, you wont be able to invoke the Task Manager to kill the hung app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess what the other posts are trying to say is this:
Even if a specific app may freeze completely, the software buttons should still work. Crashing apps normally don't freeze the whole OS because they're running in a Java Virtual Machine, but since they're often fullscreen, you need to press the HOME to exit the app. This should still work with the software buttons (as long as they're visible in the app) because they're running outside the frozen Virtual Machine.
I have an ASUS Eee Pad Transformer since its release. It runs Honeycomb and comes without hardware buttons as well. But the Transformer never got totally unresponsive, some apps froze, but the software buttons still worked perfectly normal.
edit: the post below this one is actually a better explanation than this, read it and you'll get it

AllGamer said:
i had many many cases where the app/game whatever hung, but the hard button or capacitive buttons were still responding
so i was able to summon Taks Manager to kill the hung app, that would not let me switch to other apps
so in this scenario when you have no buttons to press, you wont be able to invoke the Task Manager to kill the hung app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Touchscreen presses are captured by the OS and then passed onto app event handlers. With past Android versions, when an app hang, the OS is still responding to and dispatching touchscreen events, but because the app in the foreground handling the events isn't doing anything, it looks like the system is not responding to touchscreen events.
With ICS, the OS has handlers for touchscreen events, not just apps, due to the software buttons. The OS makes sure that if the system bar is hidden, any sort of interaction with the system, including touchscreen events, bring up the system bar. Thus if the foreground app hangs, touching the screen should still bring up the system bar and let you press one of the three keys.

if that works as designed, then it should be safe to have software button

My phone only has power and volume hardware keys, then 4 captive touch. People keep freaking out about this but it's not all that different. The captive touch are sensors but they only react with the OS (and sometimes freeze up).
They are looking at it from the point of view that most phones are using captive touch buttons, which is very similar tech to the rest of the screen so they just made it a little adaptable. Now you can theme all your buttons (minus power and volume).
I don't know, I am probably being naive, but I see little difference between on screen and captive buttons. I have been just fine with the later so I see no issues and only new possibilities.

degeneration said:
My phone only has power and volume hardware keys, then 4 captive touch. People keep freaking out about this but it's not all that different. The captive touch are sensors but they only react with the OS (and sometimes freeze up).
They are looking at it from the point of view that most phones are using captive touch buttons, which is very similar tech to the rest of the screen so they just made it a little adaptable. Now you can theme all your buttons (minus power and volume).
I don't know, I am probably being naive, but I see little difference between on screen and captive buttons. I have been just fine with the later so I see no issues and only new possibilities.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, they are very similar. The problem is that both are sub-optimal solutions. One the one hand you don't get physical keys with tactile feedback. On the other hand you don't get to use the space taken up by the buttons to display other things when the buttons aren't needed. If Google's goal in designing ICS/GN is to maximize the screen real estate through the use of hideable system buttons, then they went halfway and stopped short and ended up with a solution that isn't particularly good for anything. To go all the way with this idea, you'd need a dedicated home button somewhere else, like on the side as the OP suggested. Then the system keys can truly become part of the application, rather than a constant part of the system, and can be hidden, customized, etc. depending on application context, and allows full screen apps to truly take advantage of the screen real estate. As it stands now, only video playback can take advantage of the whole screen, with anything else you are frequently interacting with the device and the buttons will pretty much be there the whole time.

They take up quite a bit of screen real-estate. If they could be auto-hidden without popping back up every time you touch the screen, it would be vastly superior. I still maintain there should be an option for a bezel swipe gesture to show the buttons, which would auto-hide after 5 seconds or so of disuse.
Or at least, make them smaller. I checked out a Galaxy Nexus screenshot on my Droid 2 - the on-screen keys occupied more vertical space than the capacitive keys on my phone, and that's on a screen a full inch smaller.
In any case it isn't going to turn me off the phone - I'm sure some clever developer will make a 'fix' for it (and will definitely receive a donation from me when they do ) and it's still an unbeatable screen besides.
Also, I don't terribly mind the lack of bezel-reduction, because the phone still looks so damn slick.

I'm sure someone will come up with a ROM that hides the buttons etc. fairly shortly.
I've had a year with the Nexus S, and the only real difference is on that the buttons are etched onto the bezel - it's still handled in software exactly the same way. Never had an issue with it.
On my tablet, software buttons are really handy since the charging cable is (for me) on the wrong side.. so I hold it the other way up and the buttons obligingly flip onto the other side for me.

Sjael said:
Or at least, make them smaller. I checked out a Galaxy Nexus screenshot on my Droid 2 - the on-screen keys occupied more vertical space than the capacitive keys on my phone, and that's on a screen a full inch smaller.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your thinking might be a tad flawed there. Due to the greater pixel density of the screen, the buttons will actually be smaller in absolute size than they were on your Droid 2's screen. They will take up a smaller percentage of the screen as a result.

mastapsi said:
Your thinking might be a tad flawed there. Due to the greater pixel density of the screen, the buttons will actually be smaller in absolute size than they were on your Droid 2's screen. They will take up a smaller percentage of the screen as a result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took a 100% screenshot from the Nexus and viewed it on my Droid 2 at my screen's native res (854x480, 16:9 just like the nexus.) Difficult to describe what I mean, so have a photo:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
The ICS buttons in the screenshot are pretty much the same size as the Droid 2 capacitive keys, however on the Nexus, that very same image will be displayed but 1" larger, so the buttons will be quite a bit larger on the Prime.
Also I erroneously said that they were bigger than the capacitive keys in my last post, which isn't correct on second inspection.

AllGamer said:
if that works as designed, then it should be safe to have software button
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty big "if". I'm a bit miffed that the search button is gone now as well. I use it more than I think do; let's just say.

My home button never hangs on my xoom so im sure all will be ok.

the_colombian said:
My home button never hangs on my xoom so im sure all will be ok.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same for my Galaxy Tab.
Have had some apps crash/hang using custom rom on it but the home button have still worked so I think we are safe with SGN

I really use my search button a lot. On home screen I use it to bring up a Google search bar, in other apps I use it to search within the app itself.
So its kinda stupid of Google to basically shoot themselves in the foot and cripple their own OS and hardware spec for no apparent reason. There's plenty of room down there for a search icon.
I'd really like to know their thought process on this one.
Sent from my SCH-I400 using Tapatalk

Tornlogic said:
I really use my search button a lot. On home screen I use it to bring up a Google search bar, in other apps I use it to search within the app itself.
So its kinda stupid of Google to basically shoot themselves in the foot and cripple their own OS and hardware spec for no apparent reason. There's plenty of room down there for a search icon.
I'd really like to know their thought process on this one.
Sent from my SCH-I400 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the homescreen the search bar is on every screen.
In the app, they expect devs to implement a search button/bar within the app (or its options menu). It's really not that hard to understand.

[THINK TANK] Gesture bar instead of soft key bar

I've been realizing lately how amazing android really is and customizable it is with this phone. Off topic but I kinda hated the fact. Of a recent app button and the fact that I lost the menu button (honestly the most used button on all my other phones). The devs here realized it and gave me the ability to have my menu button, get my search button back, and make recent apps come up by holding the home button. Got to love them. Shout out to our fantastic devs.
Now the point of this thread was just I wanted to know how you guys thought about a gesture bar instead of having buttons. So swipe on the bar to go back, maybe swipe up to go home etc? Just trying to think of creative ideas on how to use this huge screen and since everything is virtual, why can't this be possible. What you guys think?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

nice idea, kind of like the microsoft touch mouse. I would like to see someone make that possible and see how it works out.

Shaquiel Harris said:
Now the point of this thread was just I wanted to know how you guys thought about a gesture bar instead of having buttons. So swipe on the bar to go back, maybe swipe up to go home etc? Just trying to think of creative ideas on how to use this huge screen and since everything is virtual, why can't this be possible. What you guys think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a technical exercise it sounds like a very good idea, but I know for one I wouldn't use it. Dolphin HD has had gesture support for such a long time and I used it as my main web browser on my Desire but I didn't ever use the gesture support.
Even my HD2 running WM 6.5.x had an app that allowed you to launch any app/program by configuring a gesture, but again I didn't use it.
I guess it's just easier to place my thumb than to move about when holding the phone in one hand. Is this an idea you were thinking of implementing yourself, or are you looking for someone to pick the idea up and run with it?

Kalavere said:
As a technical exercise it sounds like a very good idea, but I know for one I wouldn't use it. Dolphin HD has had gesture support for such a long time and I used it as my main web browser on my Desire but I didn't ever use the gesture support.
Even my HD2 running WM 6.5.x had an app that allowed you to launch any app/program by configuring a gesture, but again I didn't use it.
I guess it's just easier to place my thumb than to move about when holding the phone in one hand. Is this an idea you were thinking of implementing yourself, or are you looking for someone to pick the idea up and run with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you talking about lmt? Fyi: it's now also available for android/gsn...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1330150
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

Shaquiel Harris said:
I lost the menu button (honestly the most used button on all my other phones).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You never lost the menu button, it's just not on screen 100% of the time anymore, where it would just waste space otherwise.

I think its great idea!
Another few things that would be cool to see would be, resizing the Navigation Bar to be maybe a little thinner, and being able to slide the nav bar left or right, to reveal a icons to launch other apps, and maybe swiping down to hide the navbar all together.
Like you said being able to customize android and change every aspect of it is what makes this OS so awesome.

You guys ever use gesture area on webOS phones? Much better than using back key, would be a great idea. It also used visual feedback so a white line would go in the swipe direction. Currently the only phone using something similar to this is the N9 probably, which has swiping through the sides of screen to control apps.

I was just thinking about WebOS when reading this as well. Would be nice.

Just having the soft keys area as a gesture area? cool!
Maybe you could customize your gestures?
A big thing to me would be the ability to have a fully loaded package and be able to switch between stock softkeys, added search/menu softkeys, and gestures. Everything customizeable by user rather than through flashing?

menu bar like in windows 8
I think gesture is pretty good, but i`d like to see menu bar(home, recent, etc) like in win8: it is hidden until you swype from bottom-outside up, than it become unhidden. see any wideo with windows 8 tablert, you`ll see what i mean.

MrBIMC said:
I think gesture is pretty good, but i`d like to see menu bar(home, recent, etc) like in win8: it is hidden until you swype from bottom-outside up, than it become unhidden. see any wideo with windows 8 tablert, you`ll see what i mean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would get annoying pretty quickly. I don't want to have to add extra steps to navigate my phone. Back, home and recent app are buttons you use all the time, why add a barrier to get to em? More screen real estate isn't worth the extra hassle.

Enhanced said:
That would get annoying pretty quickly. I don't want to have to add extra steps to navigate my phone. Back, home and recent app are buttons you use all the time, why add a barrier to get to em? More screen real estate isn't worth the extra hassle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about navigational controls similar to the quick controls in the stock browser? Touch the bottom edge of the screen and out pops a semi-radial menu that can contain: back, home, recent apps, menu, search and can be used to add quick shortcuts to your most used apps like messaging, contacts, browser, etc., or app specific commands, like say refresh for browser, check mail for, well, email, and so on. Touching the edge requires less effort and movement as compared to swiping up or down.

I came to Android from webOS after HP shot themselves in the foot several times and one of the things I miss most is the gesture bar you had at the bottom of the screen. With the advent of the soft button area in ICS I see a real option to enable the area to work in a similar fashion. Hell yes!
The webOS gestures were:
A single swipe up would show you your running apps.
Swiping 2 fingers up would show you the launcher (app drawer).
A leftward swipe would go back.
A full swipe across the entire area going either right or left would take you to the next or previous running app.
Besides the wireless charging, the gesture area was one of the webOS killer features you very quickly learned to take for-granted. So long as gesture detection was implemented well I don't see why you couldn't have the soft buttons as they are now and gestures all working at the same time.

Call me old fashioned, but I also don't like the gestures idea.
Dolphin is just about the only program on android that I have tried to use gestures with, and it's not the sort of feature i'd personally like integrated into my phone.
That said, customizing how different people can use their phones, within the same operating system, so two people can use the exact same phone in two totally different ways, is the way to go

j.go said:
How about navigational controls similar to the quick controls in the stock browser? Touch the bottom edge of the screen and out pops a semi-radial menu that can contain: back, home, recent apps, menu, search and can be used to add quick shortcuts to your most used apps like messaging, contacts, browser, etc., or app specific commands, like say refresh for browser, check mail for, well, email, and so on. Touching the edge requires less effort and movement as compared to swiping up or down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like your idea of having the pie control from the stock browser available all over android. I had the idea a while back but was just too lazy to implement it. Today I did a small working prototype and I think I will add the pie control feature to my gesture app "LMT"...

good idea but put ot optionaly! maybe it is not practical ! iwould rather hidden button ! like Video player amaing full screen with hidden buttons !!

Huntlaar said:
good idea but put ot optionaly! maybe it is not practical ! iwould rather hidden button ! like Video player amaing full screen with hidden buttons !!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If implemented properly, you might be able to do away with the bottom bar and take advantage of the full screen. You can't see it with the nexus browser, but if you have a tablet running ICS and enable browser quick controls, the app hides the tabs and address bar, instantly adding an inch of usable screen real estate at the top.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

The big nasty problem with having hidden buttons or, for that matter, any trigger point area(s) on the devices main screen is you'll always end up triggering something when you didn't want to or it interferes with a ui element in one or more apps e.g. game scroll bars / buttons. I've tried plenty and they all interfered with one app or another to the point I stopped using them.
The quick controls idea is fine but you're still having to watch what you're doing. The beauty of gestures in webOS was that you wouldn't have to take your eyes of what you were doing to find a button - your finger just flicked below the screen content while your eyes looked towards what you were going to do next.
I realise it's hard to imagine if you've never done it before but (weak analogy approaching...) think of it like walking up a thin and narrow set of steps as opposed to thick wide ones while trying to read a book. On the narrow steps you have to look down to hit the next step thus breaking the flow of your reading. While on the bigger wider ones you can carry on reading as the step is big enough your foot can find it without taking your eyes of your book.
Anyroad, IMHO, gestures need to be out of the way of app content so as not to interfere with app usage patterns and shouldn't require the user to take their eyes off what they're doing.

ICS Wasted Screen Space?

So here's a thing.
I've been using and loving my Galaxy Nexus since launch day but one thing has always nagged me. I've always felt that this expansive screen didn't seem that big. I was caught up in the novelty of Ice Cream Sandwich's 'On Screen Buttons' and this new screen relative navigation paradigm to a point that I was glad to give over a large percentage of screen real estate to something that was new and novel.
I now suggest that after prolonged and optimistic use this paradigm is a waste of screen space.
I was swayed by the promise that this section of my precious screen would dynamically adjust and adapt to app specific requirements but as far as I can tell all it does is turn from icons to dots while running some apps and graciously disappears while using 2 (two) other apps (YouTube and Video).
For the most part it stays EXACTLY as it normally appears completely negating the whole point of moving these buttons to the screen!
With the reveal of the HTC OneX, which has pretty much the same sized screen, I've seen what properly used screen real estate can look like. It 'looks' bigger. The screen looks much bigger.
I think Google is wrong in promoting this screen based button layout. Either they change how these buttons persist in the interface and this is supported by 3rd parties or they give the 'whole' screen back to apps. The Galaxy Nexus has a beautiful screen but a 'not insignificant' portion of it is practically useless.
As GNex user what do you think about this?

I'm rooted and running aokp b27 so can hide the navigation buttons at a click of a button and have the full screen for all apps. Can then use button savior or similar or the options in the power menu for home back etc.
Want the navigation buttons back again, click of a button again.
Give it a try
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

I think swiping up and down (like the notification pull down) would be awesome
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium

This would be awesome indeed!
So you guys know what I mean right? Seems like a waste right?
monoxide.tryst said:
I think swiping up and down (like the notification pull down) would be awesome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

ShiroEd said:
This would be awesome indeed!
So you guys know what I mean right? Seems like a waste right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope...I I like the sleekness of the front without ant buttons on it when it is off.

dave83uk said:
I'm rooted and running aokp b27 so can hide the navigation buttons at a click of a button and have the full screen for all apps. Can then use button savior or similar or the options in the power menu for home back etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The half pint mod (reducing the nav bar height) is mush more useful. I'm using it at 24dpi and I hardly notice its there and keeps the functionality.

ezcats said:
Nope...I I like the sleekness of the front without ant buttons on it when it is off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah me too but I wish they would disappear more often than they do ala Gallery,Video,Youtube.
The HTC OneX is sleek when it is off too. It's only when you turn it one do you see the buttons so its exactly like the GNex but with more usable screen space.

dave83uk said:
I'm rooted and running aokp b27 so can hide the navigation buttons at a click of a button and have the full screen for all apps. Can then use button savior or similar or the options in the power menu for home back etc.
Want the navigation buttons back again, click of a button again.
Give it a try
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This...I have no on-screen buttons on my GN. 4.65 inches of pure ICS beauty!

But you gain screen space in the same sized chassis because you don't have capacitive buttons down below the screen... You're not any better or worse off screen size-wise when you use on-screen buttons. Its really a wash if you think about it...
I prefer on-screen because they hide when you've got something full-screen up, and they rotate with the UI. And when you turn off the screen, the buttons 100% disappear.

is also use AOKPs setting to hide the nav bar but only when im gonna play games pretty much
theres a way also to use the volume rocker as back and home buttons
here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1521252

I too think the screen buttons are a wasted opportunity and would disappear more often.

RogerPodacter said:
I too think the screen buttons are a wasted opportunity and would disappear more often.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think they could do it a little bit more, but remember ICS is meant to be more "user friendly" and not as technical. You shouldn't have to read a user manual to know the gestures to hide and restore the buttons.
I think it would be a very very poor decision on Google's part to just have the phone hiding and restoring buttons "randomly" when you enter different apps or modes.
The best thing about this paradigm is that the buttons can be updated with the OS. We aren't stuck with the buttons that come on the hardware. For example right now 2.3-optimized apps rely on the placement of a "menu" soft key in the action bar at the bottom, but as apps are updated we'll no longer see that button.

While do agree to TS in a certain capacity but I also think it would make the device very unintuitive for new users which is the point of ICS.
That's why we have custom roms. At least now with gnex, we have the hardware that to make it happen if the user choose to
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

The lack of physical buttons was one of my major considerations in getting the Galaxy Nexus rather than waiting for the HTC One X. That and the lack of removable battery. And the not wanting to wait. But I digress
ICS is designed to work with the soft buttons, and I've been enjoying how well they work on my Touchpad. So far I'm loving them on the Galaxy Nexus. To me they seem to get out of the way fairly often.
Another thing - I'm coming from a Nexus One. The funny thing about the Nexus One's capacitive buttons are that they do not work very well while wearing gloves. Even thin gloves. The rest of the screen works just fine, but switching apps, or bringing up the menu, or starting a search are all near impossible with gloves on.
With the Galaxy Nexus' soft buttons, everything is screen, so everything always works!

One thing for sure, youtube videos on wifi HQ look friggin FANTASTIC on this phone. No buttons and pure minimal black front, its truly beautiful. Buttons would diminish that effect/look.

martonikaj said:
But you gain screen space in the same sized chassis because you don't have capacitive buttons down below the screen... You're not any better or worse off screen size-wise when you use on-screen buttons. Its really a wash if you think about it...
I prefer on-screen because they hide when you've got something full-screen up, and they rotate with the UI. And when you turn off the screen, the buttons 100% disappear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The HTC One X is actually slightly shorter than the Nexus, while having a slightly bigger screen.
On-screen buttons are a better solution to physically separated buttons in my opinion. The issue is that the Galaxy Nexus should be considered as a 'beta' for this type of implementation. Not only because the software isn't perfect, but also because of the physical attributes of the device. The space above and below the screen is far too much, and perhaps this is due to current technological limitations. Look at the space below your screen - you 'could' easily get a set of capacitive buttons in there.
If the spaces below and above the screen were reduced by 0.5cm each, the OP would have never made this complaint, as his device would be much more compact than a device with equivalent screen size and capacitive buttons.

Evangelion01 said:
The HTC One X is actually slightly shorter than the Nexus, while having a slightly bigger screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is true and when I saw a video on YouTube comparing the GNex with the OneX it just struck me that the on screen buttons of the GNex were just taking up screen for no real functional gain whatsoever.
They rotate. Big deal. That makes no difference to functionality. I'd rather more screen.
They disappear. Rarely. When they do we all love how the screen looks. The OneX will be like that ALL THE TIME.
Their behaviour is inconsistent across applications. They disappear completely when viewing video (awesome) but we get three dots when viewing images. Why?
Check out the side by side comparison between the GNex and OneX and you can clearly see that both are the same sized phone but the OneX has SIGNIFICANTLY more available screen real estate. A LOT MORE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF9bhcNV5wU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
One of the things I love the most about the GNex is how minimalist it looks when turned off. Just a black slab. No buttons. But this is the same for many phones with capacitive buttons that turn off with the screen.
I simply cannot see any benefit to having on screen buttons *as it is currently implemented* in Ice Cream Sandwich.
Another thing to consider with persistent on screen buttons is the issue of screen burn in on AMOLED screens. A lot of GNex owners have started to see this already myself included. While this is an issue with the hardware it is a well know issue with AMOLED screens yet Google went ahead regardless.
I love the GNex but I'm now waiting to see what the SIII has to offer. If I'm going to the trouser busting bother of carrying around a large screen I want to get use out of it!

Changing the scaling of objects on screen will allow for more space on the screen. Plus, I think it looks nicer. Why not utilize the screen? xD
This thread covers how todo so. Though, some roms do have a modification option built in.

I've just Rooted (Finally!) and flashed AOKP b27 and IT'S AWESOME!!!
Amongst many other cool things it enables you to change the dpi for the Nav Bar making it really thin and freeing up loads of screen space while keeping full functionality!
Sha-WHEET!

monoxide.tryst said:
I think swiping up and down (like the notification pull down) would be awesome
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With nova launcher you can do that
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

The massively annoying 3 dot menu at the bottom of everything...

This is the one thing that really annoys me about the One X!
Is it easy to fix and remove, will doing so (rooting) affect future OTA updates?
Any guides for it anywhere? Thanks in advance.

the problem is that remove it all together will make some apps unusable as sometimes you need the menu
I guess the best think would be to map the mutlitasking button to the Menu key instead, then remove the 3 dots
or make a floating 3 dot icon in the corner
somehow...

Me and another XDA member we talking about this yesterday. I'm wondering if it's because we have physical buttons vs the Gnex that has screen buttons. In addition, there is no physical "menu" button anymore (I'm coming from an Inspire 4G which had one) so they needed to put it somewhere for functionality. It also probably depends on the App. For example, Gapps like Google+ has the three dots in the top right corner of the screen with everything else. We'll just have to wait for app developers to adopt this idea since we don't have on screen buttons.

Dtguilds said:
This is the one thing that really annoys me about the One X!
Is it easy to fix and remove, will doing so (rooting) affect future OTA updates?
Any guides for it anywhere? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that it affects the OTA updates.When i wanted to update from 1.28 to 1.29 the 1.29 update kept stopping and i didn't know why.After i found an old 1.28 nandroid backup i've restored it and after that the 1.29 update worked.So i think that the OTA updates don't work if you have mods installed allready,so my advice is to make a nandroid backup of the stock rom without any mods on it in case the OTA doesn't work (like in my case).

I've used a fix found on these forums to remove the 3-dot menu and replace the "multitasking button" with a menu button. The phone has been a LOT more enjoyable for me now
Requires root though.

This has been discussed to death. You can modify it to disappear when a small arrow is clicked, you can kill it off and remap to the multitasking button with multitasking mapped to a long press. These require root and modification.
The menu button is indeed displayed because we have hard buttons, normally it would share the space with the back, home and recent apps.
The thing that worries me is that I'm not sure that app developers will make the change because on handsets without hard buttons (most of them) it doesn't seem out of place at all next to the back, home and recent apps buttons.
I have been talking to the writers of Dolphin browser about it and they do intend to integrate the menu function in to their UI. The best thing we can do is give apps low scores and reviews which mention the issue on our HOX's but even that may not get the devs to take it on.
It is a minor issue but an irritating one none the less. I actually wish we didn't have the hardware buttons, or, that we had a menu button, which clearly in NOT obsolete in ICS, that'd be a quick solution for everyone but we do, so we must hope the devs change their apps. I will root after a month or two if nothing is changing and remap to the recent apps button but that is the only temptation to root for me at the moment.

farnsbarns said:
I actually wish we didn't have the hardware buttons, or, that we had a menu button, which clearly in NOT obsolete in ICS, that'd be a quick solution for everyone but we do, so we must hope the devs change their apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't agree more. I do prefer hardware buttons vs onscreen buttons but now I really see the pros to having on screen buttons and wish they became the norm for all ICS devices. More Fragmen... I can't bring myself to say it...

otakonx said:
Me and another XDA member we talking about this yesterday. I'm wondering if it's because we have physical buttons vs the Gnex that has screen buttons. In addition, there is no physical "menu" button anymore (I'm coming from an Inspire 4G which had one) so they needed to put it somewhere for functionality. It also probably depends on the App. For example, Gapps like Google+ has the three dots in the top right corner of the screen with everything else. We'll just have to wait for app developers to adopt this idea since we don't have on screen buttons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In fact, we do have screen buttons. If you try and test your touchscreen (Developer Options in Settings), you can see that the lower part of the screen is also responsive to touch. Therefore, I assume I'd be possible to strap a small part of the lower bar with buttons, to a menu-button-function. You just can't see the button, but I'd be still there.

i don't mind the button at all....am i the only one?

yeah its annoying aswell.. although i do not want to root just yet.. only had HOX for a week.
So i take it, this affects off phone with hard buttons... and that the GSIII will be fine as they have a menu button instead of a back button? (if thats what i see in the screenshots)
So it really only the HTC ones that will look rubbish on.?

Dtguilds said:
This is the one thing that really annoys me about the One X!
Is it easy to fix and remove, will doing so (rooting) affect future OTA updates?
Any guides for it anywhere? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes there is ! wait till the app you are using becomes ICS truly compatible...

Yeah, I really don't see HTC's thinking here.
You have to understand that it's part of the ICS design style to have the 3 dot menu somewhere in your app. Those apps that pull up the black bar on the bottom like that, aren't designed properly for ICS.
However, HTC decided to go with hard buttons rather than using a full action bar all the time, but they decided to leave out the menu button, so now you get the silly action bar with just the 3 dot menu button on apps that aren't properly designed to the ICS standard. In a perfect world, everyone would upgrade their apps and this wouldn't be an issue. In a realistic world, HTC made a design decision that's sure to be obnoxious for quite a while to come.
I agree though, the best thing to do is write your app developers and ask them to upgrade their app to fit the ICS style guide with the 3 dot menu in the app somewhere so this doesn't have to pop up. Other than that, you can do some mods to get rid of it, change functionality, or be able to hide it, but all of those could result in loss of some kind of functionality of the phone.

even if the Design guide for ICS is to use the 3 dots and no Menu button... it still make no big deal to have a Menu button key as most of the time you want to go in to the program options, so the button as a quick way to it.
the multitask button is useless.. its just so pointless to have and could easily have been a long press on another button.
and a few times i have seen Youtube have the 3 dots at the bottom, usually i think when its launched from a link in the browser.
any ho.. very annoying and once thing too look forward to when rooted (although not for a long time yet)

kazgor said:
even if the Design guide for ICS is to use the 3 dots and no Menu button... it still make no big deal to have a Menu button key as most of the time you want to go in to the program options, so the button as a quick way to it.
the multitask button is useless.. its just so pointless to have and could easily have been a long press on another button.
and a few times i have seen Youtube have the 3 dots at the bottom, usually i think when its launched from a link in the browser.
any ho.. very annoying and once thing too look forward to when rooted (although not for a long time yet)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. I wish they'd just keep the 4 capacitive buttons. I don't want an action bar like on the GN, I definitely don't want an action bar JUST for the menu. If no one has done it by the time I get my phone, I may look into making the multitask button a menu button on click and multitask on long click. I think it's been replaced, but I don't think it's been replaced with a long press to still get to multitasking. I would like to keep that feature if at all possible since I've become to accustomed to it.

I wonder what will happen with all the 2.3 devices that get ICS later, will the also get the 3 dots + there hardware Menu button or no 3 dots?

kazgor said:
I wonder what will happen with all the 2.3 devices that get ICS later, will the also get the 3 dots + there hardware Menu button or no 3 dots?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think nearly all 2.3 devices have a hardware menu button, so they wouldn't get that.

I recommend that you root your phone, pick a custom rom and enjoy the HOX as it was meant to be.
Faster, smoother and no 3 dots.
The OTA updates are not an issue as all you need to do is revert to stock and flash an RUU to get the latest Radio and Hboot.
Then, reflash the custom rom again.
Voiding the HTC warranty is why I pay insurance.
Just my opinion

Just noticed this mod: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1582506
It does remap the recent apps, and to home which, honestly for me is a better spot since I'm used to Samsung devices that have the task manager mapped to home long press in pre-ICS versions and is the task switcher in ICS builds. Looks like the best solution to me. Didn't notice before that it did that. I'm still browsing around and seeing what you guys have done so far.

I don't know why people get their panties in a wad over this. The Galaxy Nexus has the same issue, only worse since that bottom bar is ALWAYS there. The SGS3 wont be the bees knees when in 6 months when its hardware menu button doesn't do anything in most apps.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

NO, the gal nex has a soft menu, so the 3 dots appears dynamically in the row of buttons and there is no extra screen taken up punching you in the face