Defending Android’s Hardware Buttons

Post by joebadmo » Thu, Nov 03, 2011, 10:44 PM UTC

nextparadigms wrote: post #29

joebadmo wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me it rarely feels inconsistent. I like that the back button remembers the context for whatever my current action is. It means I don't have to keep it in working memory. I just press back when I'm done. I also disagree with Gruber's complaint: Here’s one thing I don’t like about the Android Back button that I’ve never seen a counterargument for: it presumes that you, the user, remember the activity stack. If you t…

But if I hit back to get out of an app, I don't want to return to the previous one. I want to return to a default/home setting. And I'll usually want to use a different app after that, so I'll use the homescreen or the multitasking view anyway.

Then why would you hit back instead of home?

Post by Zhenya » Sat, Nov 05, 2011, 4:05 AM UTC

ajross wrote: post #24

Zhenya wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Search button at first seemed superfluous to me also, however I have really found a few great uses. I use it all the time now: Instead of launching the browser and then going to an web address, I can punch it in after hitting the search button. Opens browser with that address. I never have to launch the browser and then search for something. It's also great if you need to find someone in your contact list and dont fe…

Sure, but I don't think that's the right criteria. Any task can be made faster by associating a fixed button with it. But every fixed button has a cost. If you do a ton of "searching" then sure, this is good. My personal usage would be improved with a "go directly to email" button. Most people don't search that much. Or if they do, they do it from a desktop widget (even faster IMHO). I don't think it's an appropriate…

Interesting point about the desktop widget. Initially, i believe in 1.0 and 1.5, you could click in the widget and type.

After that the widget was updated to launch the search app just like the search button. It basically became a 4 column wide search link.

Re: Defending Android’s Hardware Buttons

Re: Defending Android’s Hardware Buttons