Poll: Do smartphones still need physical buttons?

Published by Boc Ly on February 14, 2013

Lumia 820 covers

The touchscreen is almost universally accepted as the preferred form factor when it comes to smartphones.

It is easy to see why too. As well as providing a sleek and minimalist look, removing a keypad or Qwerty keyboard, gives you the space for a bigger screen. This, in turn, makes browsing the web, playing games or watching videos a more pleasurable experience. 

While many people might still prefer typing on a Qwerty keyboard, it seems that we’re prepared to sacrifice this for the greater benefits of a touchscreen display.

Given that we’re so used to tapping away on our displays, is it now time to do without physical buttons on our phones altogether?

Lumia8201

Unbuttoning

My Nokia Lumia 820, just like my Lumia 800 before it, has several buttons on the side that controls the camera shutter, the volume controls and the power/wake key.

However, practically all of these functions can be done without these buttons! 

Rather than use the camera shutter button, I tend to tap on the touchscreen instead. Likewise, when it comes to adjusting the volume, I actually use the remote control on my headphones, much more frequently than I ever use the buttons on the phone.

I know that not everyone is going to have headphones with a remote control but you can still use Nokia Audio to adjust the volume. It’s nowhere near as convenient as using the side volume buttons but it does demonstrate that the technology exists to make them redundant. 

Can we make do without the power button too?

Nokia Lumias are already gorgeous objects – just think how much prettier they would be without any of those side buttons.

 

Nokia Lumia 820

Personalisation meets power

Learn more, here.

Buttoned up

That’s the case against physical buttons. Are there any arguments in favour? To be honest, I’m struggling.

Pressing up and down to adjust the volume is undoubtedly convenient. But a simple swipe gesture could perhaps work equally well?

I guess a photography aficionado will always want a physical button to take a picture and it can’t be denied that there is also something deeply satisfying about pressing a button. It feels mechanical and, therefore, human. Tapping a screen is, somehow, more impersonal.

We’d like to know what you all think about this. It’s just for fun and out of pure interest – we’re not deciding a future design direction for Nokia!

Please have a vote in our informal poll and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Comments

  • realjjj

    Well you could have capacitive buttons on the side ,doesn’t have to be all on the screen.Many love a camera button and some might like a hardware button for some features like the camera and the mic for security reasons (nobody offers that isn’t it?).
    Then again you got rid of microSD in some models and that is a much more important feature so i’m sure Nokia will do w/e it wants , guessing the next flagship has no buttons (that would be ironic if it has a high res cam but no dedicated cam button).

    • boc_ly

      I love the idea of capacitive buttons on the side.

  • http://twitter.com/NokiaKnowings Kevin Everett

    All of the side buttons are needed. I hate when phones do not have a camera button. However I would like to see “double tap to wake” on my Lumia device.

    • jimboireland

      Agreed

    • Mythos88

      Wouldn’t it be a waste of battery polling for that double-tap event?

      • http://twitter.com/NokiaKnowings Kevin Everett

        Don’t know but it didn’t seem affect the battery on the N9 at all

  • Stoli89

    The power, camera (2 stage), and volume buttons are all necessary, IMHO. To lower costs, these items could be removed for non premium products…but they do have added value. For photos, having access to a button that immediately launches the camera app is desired…as is the 2 stage capability to first focus…then snap. Volume buttons/rockers are also important when blindly operating the device while it is still in a pocket.

    However, I would like to see easier FULL TOUCH means with which to unlock a device, without operating a button or mechanical slide. This does not negate the need for a power button for initial start-ups or resets, if necessary.

  • jormel

    “Removing Qwerty keyboard, gives you the space for a bigger screen” -this may be right, but qwerty keyboard gives you more space on the screen, because there isn’t touchscreen keyboard in the way. And since the keyboard can be slide out it doesn’t really even take space from the physical size of the screen.

    “it seems that we’re prepared to sacrifice this for the greater benefits of a touchscreen display.” – Tell me what are those benefits? Little thinner body is the only benefit that comes to my mind.

  • http://antoinerjwright.com Antoine RJ Wright

    Given what Nokia was able to demonstrate first with the flip to silence behaviors on the N95, and then with the ability to double tap the screen to wake it with the N9, its a pretty legit question, and one where its easy to say “no” but the better answer is yes.

    The better answer is “yes” because then we have to think about those actions that we use buttons for and figure out if there is another way to do those tasks than what we’ve done before. For example, given the advances in curved glass coming this year, it could make a lot of sense to tap the top of a side to turn on a device, gesture up/down to change the volume, and then perhaps a press-hold or tap to the bottom/right corner to imitate a camera button.

    There are better ways of doing lots on these slabs, and its worth exploring outside of the labs. Nice question Nokia.

    • http://post404.com/ Randall “texrat” Arnold

      That’s all good except for people with poor or no vision.

      • http://antoinerjwright.com Antoine RJ Wright

        Read again what I put down there. None of the methods that I meniton require vision, they simply require feeling teh device, or at least being able to tick it some small distance to make it move.

        We are thinking of controlling devices by imparted manipulation when we ask for physical buttons. I’m saying that direct interaction can happen if the movements that make functions happen are literally derived from our already learned behaviors. Buttons are not natural, large muscle movvements and smaller pointing/swiping is.

        • http://post404.com/ Randall “texrat” Arnold

          I should have posted with more detail, admittedly.

          Sightless people need a tactile starting point with any device. Unfortunately, many need the aid of a sighted person to get them started, even if ultimately the device will support blind usage. Buttons are natural in that they are tactile, and traditionally provide homing by adding distinctive features to specific, common keys.

          So my discomfort with where we are headed is that using mobile devices is increasingly difficult for sightless or vision-impaired persons. The industry should have anticipated this, and factored such consideration into design as we transitioned to touchscreens, but has failed.

          My preferred approach would be to design mobile devices where even setup could be performed by a completely blind and deaf user. To where such a user can easily find and identify the power button, turn the device on, and configure it the way they want to use it without ANY assistance from a sighted, hearing person. Granted, not an easy task… but it can be done.

  • http://twitter.com/smacula smacula

    The phone cannot work without the power button, and not many smartphones can.

    The camera button is probably what I love the most about Lumia820!

  • http://twitter.com/henboKA Henry Boehlert

    I cannot take a picture with the camera button without shaking the phone, but that’s just me, I guess.
    I need the physical buttons to soft-reset my 820 when it locks up.

  • sebamour

    Yes and no… Side buttons are important, front buttons not. I’m a Nokia N9 owner and shortly also owned a Lumia device. Windows Phone clearly is a huge step back compared to MeeGo when it comes to modern UI/non-use of buttons. With the right add-ons installed I wouldn’t even need the side buttons on my N9, except to turn it on.

    IMO future mobile system should only display buttons which are necessary, the way it’s already now on Nokia N9. I hope that WP some day catches up with that :-)

    Important though is a physical camera button: Smartphones of today have great inbuilt cameras, a physical button makes taking pictures easier!

    QWERTY keyboard like on Nokia 950/E7 was nice! But it’s much less demanded that touchscreen only. Sometimes I like to use the Swype keyboard, especially when I can’t focus 100% on typing.

    I miss a bit the old fashioned mobile phone number keyboards, where I could easily text a message without looking on my phone while watching TV or whatever :P

    • Giano

      “Yes and no… Side buttons are important, front buttons not”.. Perfect!!

    • ジェイソン フォギー

      Indeed!

  • malerocks

    “Nokia Lumias are already gorgeous objects – just think how much prettier they would be without any of those side buttons.”

    TO be honest, the buttons on the side of the Lumia 920 still look very pretty. I dont think it hampers the design in any way

    • http://post404.com/ Randall “texrat” Arnold

      The side power button hampers functionality for me. My hand naturally rests on it during normal use. So I have to deliberately hold the phone awkwardly.

      IMO protruding power button in general = very bad idea. Recessed power buttons make more sense for a handheld device.

  • http://post404.com/ Randall “texrat” Arnold

    How do we accommodate the vision-impaired customers? Who’s thinking of them as the industry continues to strip away physical buttons?

    • http://antoinerjwright.com Antoine RJ Wright

      Vision impaired means that we need to think differently. Spatial interfaces, gestures, and touch where more of the finger is used is what is needed then. And as we’ve seen before, when those affordances are made to the first gorup of visually impaired folks we think about (those mobilists who are over 40), then its something that can work for all.

      • http://post404.com/ Randall “texrat” Arnold

        But we’re not doing those things. We’re rushing to kill keyboards while failing to simultaneously address special needs.

        This is not something I’m guessing at, either. It’s frequent feedback I receive, especially when I speak with older customers.

  • http://twitter.com/harsha_g11 Harsha Vardhan

    I prefer having the camera button, don’t have any strong preference on volume/power.

    But the capacitive buttons at front are completely different story, I hate them! They are annoying (esp bing one), I would be really happy if you kill them and replacing with Win8 Style/SwipeUI.

  • AJE

    A good-quality camera button is an absolute must, especially for camera-centric phones such as the 808, 920 and the rumoured and (hopefully) forth-coming large-sensor Lumia!! The power button is required for resets and the volume buttons are more convenient.

    So yes, the side buttons are at least desirable if not necessary.

  • http://twitter.com/Bogdo milan

    I agree with what many of the commentators have already posted, that the side buttons for volume and camera are needed, but the back arrow, windows button and search key are not. In fact, I hardly utilize the search button to begin with.

    I think Nokia got it right with the swipe UI of the N9 and it would be great if they could apply that to their Lumia line of phones along with the other points of the N9 UI, like the open apps card layout and app list. Doing this would not just set them apart from other WP vendors, but would seperate them from Apple and Android manufacturers as well.

    Make it happen!!

  • http://twitter.com/naufalshazy Naufal Shazwan

    Bring the double tap on the screen to wake up the phone to Lumia! That’s a cool feature! Other than that, a gesture based volume would be cool to but a physical shutter button is a must have! It is necessary to focus more accurately on a subject.

  • gadgety

    My wife says “yes”, my daughter says “no” I say, I don’t need a physical keyboard, even less with Swype and, sorry Nokia, pen based devices… That said, I believe there’s room for physical keyboard products, despite added complexity and cost. Those who are used to it, probably prefer it.

  • http://twitter.com/JohnCDoherty John Doherty

    In addition to keeping ALL of the current buttons, it would be nice to 1) have a true SILENCE switch, and 2) have non-capacitive buttons on the front. Ever try to let a 3 year old watch netflix on your phone?… what a disaster.

  • steelicon

    The cold truth: YES.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jebyrnejr Jimmy Byrne

    Smartphones still need buttons. Not only that, they need more of them! What’s easier than swiping around your screen and looking for an icon, widget, or live tile? Pressing a freaking button. The greatest phone I’ve ever owned was a PPC-6600 (look it up kids, it predates the iPhone). It had 12 programmable buttons, and I could make them do anything from open an app to take a picture to start a new word document.

    Additionally, they need to stop making capacitive buttons. It sucks trying to show of something on my Lumia 920 to my iPhone friends only to have someone hit the search button and lose it. Really annoying.

    Oh, and anybody who thinks we should get rid of the volume buttons or replace them with capacitive ones needs to be smacked in the back of the head.

    Let the flaming begin, and Happy Valentines Day!

  • Sai Kiran

    Removal of Buttons makes A Phone SMARTER…. :)

  • davidw316

    Buttons are extremely important. Imagine trying to do a soft reset without buttons. Or doing just a simple click to get back home. Don’t do what blackberry is doing because I promise you its not working.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=501649056 Eric Sylvain

    For the love of god, yes! I HATE all these capacitive buttons! There’s no tactile feedback, and you can’t try pressing them without looking. This is one of the few things I hate about my Lumia 900…hate these capacitive front buttons. Don’t EVER get rid of buttons.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rick-Garcia/1070447953 Rick Garcia

    Nokia needs to bring back the E7 to Windows Phone, side buttons and all. Nokia’s problem is that they don’t even know what everyone wants. Nokia used to be top in the industry and now they’re struggling to get back on top. Leading the world in innovation and coming out with the best phones overseas, never releasing them to the US and all the product placement in movies (tease the best phones that never make it to market… Not a good strategy).

  • http://twitter.com/alvetica Al Pavangkanan

    I love having Call and End buttons on my 808

  • http://twitter.com/dkm1101 Dinesh_M

    Remove all the physical buttons and add a qwerty slider similar to E7 or N950. Some like me do love them. The lock screen needs fast access to apps if physical buttons removed which WP8 has no options.

  • MistelMistel

    More advanced smartphones like the Nokia N9 or the BlackBerry Z10 don’t need buttons. They are working great without. For the simple Series40 and Wipndows phone systems I prefer Buttons.

  • http://www.facebook.com/paqpal Pasquale Paletta

    only power/unlock button, camera button and volume.

  • http://twitter.com/nicolasraciti nicola simone raciti

    And if walking in the woods, and encounter an alien?

    I ask him “I’m sorry, you can stand still. Serves me about 1 minute to browse the menu of the app, the icon to start the camera?”

    True! I could put it as a favorite … (but I have already filled with the volume button and turn off the phone)

    Wake up Nokia!

    P.S. Exstend Qwerty I love!

  • wolfcda

    I’d
    actually prefer physical buttons to capacitive ones, at least for the
    Back/Home/Search buttons. Having used an iPod Touch & iPhone for
    ages, I adopted a certain style for typing quickly on the virtual
    keyboard, which is difficult to do without pressing a capacitive button
    on WP (or Android). I’m trying to find another style on my WP8
    device, but old habits die hard. I’ve also found myself accidentally
    triggering them when playing games… it’s a little annoying.

    For that reason, I’m still fond of my Lumia 710 – although I do wish the buttons were a bit bigger and sleeker looking.

    Likewise, I prefer hardware buttons for volume controls and camera shutter.

  • Xaphoon

    Yes, absolutely!!
    Please do not remove any of them, especially not the camera button…
    The Lumia 920 are just perfect

  • Donna p

    I vote stores atop. I loved my row frisson . Typing on them was virtually error free an so ovals faster. Now I will do it rain sucking slow and see if that helps. I like everything about my new Samsung galaxy s 3 apart from trying to type on th n touch screen. I want physical buttons back! My last phone was a l g touch screen had it 2 years an hated it for typing. Sony Erics son I loved. Wits buttons. It was super fast for typing and of course you don’t have to stare and concentrate at it all the time. You could truly use your sense of touch!

  • http://www.facebook.com/JM2friends Joey Myers

    Nokia N9 owner here. The only time i even use the buttons are when im powering off my phone (and i use my shortcut on my phone for that more than half that time)… I have friends with Iphones, Android phones, and Windows phone… they all swear by the keys… the problem is though when i hand them my device to play with and explain it they get confused, fruatrated and dont like it. if those keys where not there at all they would be forced to learn something new (which no one likes to do) and finally find that no buttons are nice. Honeslty the only button i slightly miss is the camera button for the camera turn on shortcut, but with an ad on from the nokia store, one of the volume keys does just that.

  • ジェイソン フォギー

    With the technologies of today, the smartphone does not NEED buttons, but I like the tactility of buttons. Everything I use buttons for can be done with the swipe of a finger or a tap of a thumb. The aesthetics of the device can be maintained with simple capacitive surfaces integrated along the side of the phone where the buttons would normally be, but issues of accuracy with touching those surfaces and the feeling of ‘fake-ness’ arise.

    The 920′s buttons feel so smooth and give a gentle nudge when pressed that make you EAGER to find a reason to press them. And the QWERTY keyboard on the E7 is my all-time favorite, so buttons serve their purpose, but I think we should keep ourselves open to technologies that may phase out the use of physical buttons. :(

  • Marcel B.

    You will notice the use and importance of the camera button when you’ll handle a device that comes without it!

    I have made that unfortunate switch and I find that the physical button not only helps you taking a picture while holding the device steady with both hands (when you’re at a concert and there’s people moving around you everywhere you’ll want that) but it also keeps your hands off that screen. When you are tapping on your screen to focus, during that split second, your hand is obstructing your view… and boy did I miss plenty of nice shots like this! So, to me, removing the camera button for an on-screen icon is definitely a step backwards…

  • steelicon

    The Long-Time Nokia Fans, Community and Clients have spoken. Now make a QWERTY mobile phone for flagship, high end, mid range, low end and entry level market segment.

  • http://twitter.com/khertan Khertan

    n950 is so great with his physical keyboard !!!!
    just miss a camera button !

    And yes front button are useless with a well thinked ux like MeeGo harmattan has.