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Comment by Sharlin | Hacker News Reader

Um, iPhones, Androids and Windows Phones all have at least one front-facing button, either physical or virtual.

Blackberry has no front-facing buttons and also uses only a gestures-based interface.

And I think that was a strategically terrible move. They're trying to come from behind and they launched with a non-intuitive interface that makes the phone unusable in a demo.

You put a Z10 in a user's hands without the tutorial enabled and they're just helpless.

For new users perhaps it is a bit of a leap for them to take, but don't you think they can overlook this fact because they know they are working with a new operating system? Once you understand how the BB10 OS works its nice to use. The same thing happened recently with Windows 8 when everyone had to learn how to use the gestures for tables. The main point however is that jolla doesn't stand out from the pack just because they have no front-facing buttons...

I was referring to physical buttons.

Like I said, if your hands are wet, or you sneeze on the screen, or it is raining, or whatever, virtual buttons fail.

I've missed plenty of calls because I was in the shower or washing dishes and couldn't get my hands dry enough quickly enough to pick up the phone. I've also missed calls intentionally because I didn't want to take my gloves off in below-zero-Fahrenheit weather just to answer a call, and I couldn't answer a call with my gloves on.

I do wish smartphones phones came with a fallback "answer call" feature that didn't rely on the touchscreen being able to recognize your finger. I can answer a call on a flip phone with just my teeth.

If you can sneak up on it without triggering the proximity sensor I find pecking the screen with my nose works. If it's not wet & runny...

I'll be skipping this Jolla iteration and I am sad b/c a 2nd is looking doubtful. When my N900 dies I'll be going retro w/ my flip-phone, until an open device with physical keyboard, larger screen and isn't designed to spy on me 24/7 comes around.

Headsets always have a physical answer button, if you put one in, you don't even have to handle the phone.

They're tricky to take in the shower with you, though.

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