While you can argue that
capacitive buttons take away the estate from the screen, giving users the option to switch a bit like what OnePlus One did, is what would be ideal.
Not exact matches
Over time, Ford made the fonts bigger, brought back
buttons and knobs,
took out the too - cute - by - half
capacitive touch sliders, sent out USB updates, and most recently sent Microsoft packing (as Sync's software underpinning).
Taking a cue from Samsung phones like the Galaxy S4, a physical home
button sits beneath the screen that's flanked by
capacitive menu and back
buttons.
The front of the Vivo Tab RT houses a
capacitive Windows
button that
takes you back to the Start screen, along with a webcam that sits slightly off to the right.
Although I don't like nav bars
taking up screen real estate, I think they perform faster than
capacitive and definitely home
buttons.
The company is also keen to boast the return of
capacitive buttons on the front panel, which avoids the virtual
buttons onscreen
taking up valuable display real estate.
Previously, on OnePlus devices with
capacitive buttons, OxygenOS included the ability to opt exclusively for
capacitive keys — in that sense, the OnePlus 5T
takes a step back, as its lack of hardware navigation keys necessitated software
button stand - ins.
There are a few neat touches like a translucent slide up app drawer (from anywhere on the home screen), the option to
take scrolling screenshots and also a do not disturb mode for gaming where you can lock
capacitive buttons and block notifications for those intense gaming sessions.
I'm also not a fan of
buttons taking up my viewable display and like the larger area I get on my HTC One that has dedicated
capacitive buttons.
Asus
takes a simple approach to the ZenFone Zoom's design: You get a big 5.5 - inch screen in front, three
capacitive touch
buttons below that (Back, Home, Menu), a big camera module in back and a bunch of
buttons up and down the right side.
Below the display are the trademark three
capacitive Android navigation
buttons to
take you a step back, to the home screen or to open recently opened apps.
It's simple: hit the Windows
button (or
capacitive touch logo) in conjunction with the volume down
button, and it will
take a screenshot of your entire screen and save it to the Screenshot folder.
The bottom bezel has no function and could have housed a
capacitive home, back and app draw
buttons (like the Samsung GS7) instead of presenting these as soft keys
taking up valuable screen space.
It's
taken a long time for the majority of Android phone makers to ditch physical and
capacitive buttons, with only a few holdouts remaining as of mid-2017.
For both devices it looks like Huawei are
taking the minimal bezels approach, placing the fingerprint scanner on the back of both devices and leaving out
capacitive buttons.
On screen
buttons were also present on that screenshot, which is yet another hint that the screenshot has been
taken with the Mi MIX 2, as Xiaomi usually prefers physical and
capacitive keys.
With over a week of experience under my belt I only found two unexpected software bugs — one where the
capacitive navigation keys were inexplicably enabled after a reboot (and subsequently back to normal after a reboot), and another where the on - screen «back» navigation
button would
take a few presses to actually perform the intended action.
Those control features
take the form of four
capacitive touch
buttons marked by concave circles on the right eacup.
It's worth noting that the recent apps
button is
capacitive, along with the home and back
button, although the back
button and recent app
button have been flipped which can
take some time getting use to.
The flagships from LG have the system
buttons in the bottom of the display itself, but the entire L series has the
capacitive touch
buttons below the display and there are four of them here — Back, Home, Menu and SIM Switch key, which would
take you to the Dual SIM settings section.
The
capacitive navigation keys are found below the display, and depending on which device you are switching from, the placement of the Recent Apps key on the left and back
button on the right can
take some getting used to.
While it
takes a dextrous thumb to maneuver between the top notification shade and
capacitive home
button (that doubles as a fingerprint sensor), I never once felt it a precarious proposition.
Moreover, the
button offers
capacitive touch features as well, with just a tap on
button without even pressing it would
take you back to home screen.
BLU has
taken to using
capacitive buttons on the Energy X LTE, so we have recents, home and back (in that order) on the front.