8 ms·

I have a similar problem on my Droid X. Sometimes the back button goes back a page (such as in a web browser) or while reading a message back will go to my con

by parfe 15y ago

I have a similar problem on my Droid X. Sometimes the back button goes back a page (such as in a web browser) or while reading a message back will go to my contacts list (in google talk or google voice). But sometimes, in the same apps, the back button might take me back to the home screen (If i answered a message from the notification bar), or a previous app if something launched a browser. It's incredibly aggravating that the behavior changes, and especially so as Android devices have a home button! Back should be constrained to a specific application. Otherwise in google talk I have no reliable way to get back to my contacts and usually have to make a trip back to the home screen to directly launch the talk app.

LukasMathis 15y ago
Yeah, I've noticed that, too. If you jump directly into, say, an individual email on Android, you can't move "up" inside the application. I wonder if I'm just missing something.
- etherealG 15y ago
  I think they leave the "up" to the in-application UI. e.g. with email there's a button to go back to the inbox, but the physical back button takes you back to where you were previously. This seems more natural to me than for the back button to take you "up" in the application you're in. Otherwise how would you go back to where you were before?
  - juliano_q 15y ago
    Yes, it is natural to me too. If I am at the home screen and click on an email notification, I expect to read the e-mail, hit back and be back on the home screen, not in the inbox.
  - LukasMathis 15y ago
    Thanks for the explanation! (Yeah, I realize that using the back button to invoke the application's back function would cause its own set of issues. It's a case where the same button needs to do two different things based on the user's current mindset, which the phone obviously won't know about.)
  - fpgeek 15y ago
    Honeycomb adds the equivalent of the "up" button you're describing here. The convention is that in the upper left corner of a screen there's a button that takes you to your "home within the app" (e.g. the inbox for Gmail). I expect that this will filter into phone UIs with Ice Cream Sandwich.
jinushaun 15y ago
Unfortunately, it's really up to the discretion of the app developer to decide what "back" does. There are guidelines and "best practices", but nothing dictated by the API or operating system. The back button always goes backwards in the history stack, but the app developer can push new pages onto the history stack however they see fit. An analogy on the web is either navigating to a new page (back button works), or loading a new page on top of the current page (back button doesn't work).
ConstantineXVI 15y ago
The back button in Android is supposed to mean "take me to the last screen I was on"; it's not supposed to be tied to the specific app you're in. I have the reverse issue on iOS, if Twitter launches a browser there's no obvious way to get back to the screen I was on in Twitter beyond calling up the app switcher[1] Honeycomb introduces an "up" button[2], and it can be presumed the concept will make it's way to ICS. [1] PSA: you call up the Android switcher by holding Home [2] This isn't a hard button like home/back, instead the app logo gets painted with an "up" arrow when this is available.
jrockway 15y ago
There's no such thing as a "specific application" in Android. With that in mind, the back button behavior makes sense. Launch your email client from the home screen, read a message, click a link. When you hit back in the browser, you go back to the email message. When you hit back in the email message, you go back to the list of messages. When you hit back in the list of messages, you go back to the home screen.
- Peaker 15y ago
  That's not entirely true. When you hit back in the browser, you go back to the email message iff the browser did not open with an existing history. If it did, then it navigates to the previous page inside that browser, instead.
  - MatthewPhillips 15y ago
    I'm unable to reproduce this bug. I clicked a link from an email message and the browser opened the link in a new tab (several tabs are open). I clicked back and it took me to the email message.
    - jrockway 15y ago
      Same. I use K9 mail and Android 2.3.
    - Peaker 15y ago
      If I have the maximal 4 open windows in my browser, and then click some link, it cannot open in a new window, so it opens it in an existing window. Then, back manipulates that window, rather than returning from the web browser itself.
      - jrockway 15y ago
        OK, but this isn't a recent version of Android, right?
dolinsky 15y ago
I think the presence of a hard back button in Android is something that iOS is sorely missing. Whenever I switch from using my Droid X to my iPad I am constantly looking for the 'back' button, especially when installing an app from inside the Apple App Store (I find it very annoying that iOS kicks you out of the App Store and brings you to a seemingly random home screen just to show that it's now installing an app). The back button in Android does have the fault of not always being consistent, but that is due to it being usable by the developer of individual apps. I find it extremely useful that I can be doing something in Tweetdeck, click a link which opens up my browser (Dolphin HD), view the full article, and then just press the back button to go right back into Tweetdeck. That's just not possible on iOS. Also, long-pressing the back button in certain apps (like Dolphin HD) provide a nice shortcut to quitting the app (instead of keeping it running in the background), which helps on battery life.
- zentechen 15y ago
  Can't say much about Android, but the Back button on the Windows Phone is unreliable and doesn't always take you back to where it's supposed to be. It's just confusing. I much prefer the simple UI that iPhone has with a single button.
  - contextfree 15y ago
    fwiw, I've had completely the opposite experience. I've found the back button a godsend on both WP and Android platforms, and haven't really noticed this unreliability. Actually, as a user I prefer to use my Windows phone over my other devices almost entirely because of a combination of two features: the back button (missing from iOS) and a decent soft keyboard (missing from the Android phone I have, which is running 2.2. I've heard the keyboard in 2.3 is much improved, but unfortunately the upgrade wasn't available for my phone last I checked). There are a lot of things the other platforms have over the WP, but being able to have those two things together is enough to outweigh all of them and ensure that my SIM card stays in my Windows phone 70% of the time ...
    - sandipc 15y ago
hnsmurf 15y ago
The back button on Android is fundamentally broken. WebOS is the only operating system that really does this right, and it's because they've architected the entire OS around it. The way apps use scenes and stages makes the whole thing flow. Proper back button behavior isn't something you can bolt on, but Android could still get much better than they are.

by parfe 15y ago

LukasMathis 15y ago

Yeah, I've noticed that, too. If you jump directly into, say, an individual email on Android, you can't move "up" inside the application. I wonder if I'm just missing something.

etherealG 15y ago
I think they leave the "up" to the in-application UI. e.g. with email there's a button to go back to the inbox, but the physical back button takes you back to where you were previously. This seems more natural to me than for the back button to take you "up" in the application you're in. Otherwise how would you go back to where you were before?
- juliano_q 15y ago
  Yes, it is natural to me too. If I am at the home screen and click on an email notification, I expect to read the e-mail, hit back and be back on the home screen, not in the inbox.
- LukasMathis 15y ago
  Thanks for the explanation! (Yeah, I realize that using the back button to invoke the application's back function would cause its own set of issues. It's a case where the same button needs to do two different things based on the user's current mindset, which the phone obviously won't know about.)
- fpgeek 15y ago
  Honeycomb adds the equivalent of the "up" button you're describing here. The convention is that in the upper left corner of a screen there's a button that takes you to your "home within the app" (e.g. the inbox for Gmail). I expect that this will filter into phone UIs with Ice Cream Sandwich.

jinushaun 15y ago

Unfortunately, it's really up to the discretion of the app developer to decide what "back" does. There are guidelines and "best practices", but nothing dictated by the API or operating system. The back button always goes backwards in the history stack, but the app developer can push new pages onto the history stack however they see fit. An analogy on the web is either navigating to a new page (back button works), or loading a new page on top of the current page (back button doesn't work).

ConstantineXVI 15y ago

The back button in Android is supposed to mean "take me to the last screen I was on"; it's not supposed to be tied to the specific app you're in. I have the reverse issue on iOS, if Twitter launches a browser there's no obvious way to get back to the screen I was on in Twitter beyond calling up the app switcher[1] Honeycomb introduces an "up" button[2], and it can be presumed the concept will make it's way to ICS. [1] PSA: you call up the Android switcher by holding Home [2] This isn't a hard button like home/back, instead the app logo gets painted with an "up" arrow when this is available.

jrockway 15y ago

There's no such thing as a "specific application" in Android. With that in mind, the back button behavior makes sense. Launch your email client from the home screen, read a message, click a link. When you hit back in the browser, you go back to the email message. When you hit back in the email message, you go back to the list of messages. When you hit back in the list of messages, you go back to the home screen.

Peaker 15y ago
That's not entirely true. When you hit back in the browser, you go back to the email message iff the browser did not open with an existing history. If it did, then it navigates to the previous page inside that browser, instead.
- MatthewPhillips 15y ago
  I'm unable to reproduce this bug. I clicked a link from an email message and the browser opened the link in a new tab (several tabs are open). I clicked back and it took me to the email message.
  - jrockway 15y ago
    Same. I use K9 mail and Android 2.3.
  - Peaker 15y ago
    If I have the maximal 4 open windows in my browser, and then click some link, it cannot open in a new window, so it opens it in an existing window. Then, back manipulates that window, rather than returning from the web browser itself.
    - jrockway 15y ago
      OK, but this isn't a recent version of Android, right?

dolinsky 15y ago

I think the presence of a hard back button in Android is something that iOS is sorely missing. Whenever I switch from using my Droid X to my iPad I am constantly looking for the 'back' button, especially when installing an app from inside the Apple App Store (I find it very annoying that iOS kicks you out of the App Store and brings you to a seemingly random home screen just to show that it's now installing an app). The back button in Android does have the fault of not always being consistent, but that is due to it being usable by the developer of individual apps. I find it extremely useful that I can be doing something in Tweetdeck, click a link which opens up my browser (Dolphin HD), view the full article, and then just press the back button to go right back into Tweetdeck. That's just not possible on iOS. Also, long-pressing the back button in certain apps (like Dolphin HD) provide a nice shortcut to quitting the app (instead of keeping it running in the background), which helps on battery life.

zentechen 15y ago
Can't say much about Android, but the Back button on the Windows Phone is unreliable and doesn't always take you back to where it's supposed to be. It's just confusing. I much prefer the simple UI that iPhone has with a single button.
- contextfree 15y ago
  fwiw, I've had completely the opposite experience. I've found the back button a godsend on both WP and Android platforms, and haven't really noticed this unreliability. Actually, as a user I prefer to use my Windows phone over my other devices almost entirely because of a combination of two features: the back button (missing from iOS) and a decent soft keyboard (missing from the Android phone I have, which is running 2.2. I've heard the keyboard in 2.3 is much improved, but unfortunately the upgrade wasn't available for my phone last I checked). There are a lot of things the other platforms have over the WP, but being able to have those two things together is enough to outweigh all of them and ensure that my SIM card stays in my Windows phone 70% of the time ...
  - sandipc 15y ago

hnsmurf 15y ago

The back button on Android is fundamentally broken. WebOS is the only operating system that really does this right, and it's because they've architected the entire OS around it. The way apps use scenes and stages makes the whole thing flow. Proper back button behavior isn't something you can bolt on, but Android could still get much better than they are.