What's the idea of no menu button?

[bigbadwulff]

Is it future app development that will be more i-Phone-like, making porting easier? Feeling a bit lost without it. If I wanted an i-Fauxn...

[Spey]

I will be interested to hear others perspectives on answers to your question.

I would assume to "simplify" user integration with the device (considering there's no hard keys, and the the menu button bar is also not fixed - it moves related to screen orientation). Seemed there were times when pressing the Menu Button has not effect, based on what/where you may be within an application there may be not support for that option. I struggled a little having to remember to look for those 3-dashed-lines when I want to access menu controls, but seems pretty intuitive now.

[ambrown]

I think spey got it, its UX simplification. Not that I think its the right way to go but it does cut down some clutter.

But I do like how the GS3 handles it, they made the key a menu key still, and simply moved recent apps to the home button that can be accessed by a long press. Basically thats how Gingerbread handled it so going with the GS3 or Galaxy Note 2 will make the transition to ICS and Jelly Bean easier for Gingerbread users.

Though I don't think I'll mind going over to the new UX, it will take some getting used to.

Sent from my DROID2

[bigbadwulff]

One nice thing I see is the fact that "button" can be used for other functions, like dropping the keyboard in some apps/functions. Pretty nice. Getting used to it now and it makes sense I guess. For someone that used the MENU button a lot it was disconcerting at first but things seem to work well this way.

[ambrown]

Yeah I use the long press secondary features a lot as well. Show/hide the keyboard with the menu key, and recent apps with the home key. Thats the inherent drawback to soft keys.

If you're into trying out ROMs then there are customizable options for the soft keys on Cyanogen Mod and others. Obviously that route is not for some people, but that is an advantage of making it software vs. hardware based.