I have used eg. ported android apps on another system and in that case, the OS basic elements still applied and software buttons wern’t necessary and I hope it may be the same in Sailfish. For instance with the system I used, you swiped up to exit the ‘android’ app and this worked and other options worked the same as native apps.

In terms of swipe – you’re right there can be some downsides when the OS isn’t polished. I have tried two swipe systems, and for example if you are playing a swipe based game you sometimes swipe too far and come out of the game screen back to the phone UI. But in this case I have had the same issues with a touch button phone where I swipe for the game play and accidentally touch the home button etc so I’m not sure there is much difference.

I don’t think swipe alone will define whether something is a niche product or not… implemented well a swipe-based OS can easily be mainstream and is the future – what’s more important is a solid overall product in terms of hardware, software support, availability of apps and good distribution channels.

Just my two cents… thanks for the input :-)

I personally used i phone and personally hate the aluminium metal finishes. There were many instances of my i phone slipping off hand because of the little sweat that comes when phone heats up while playing games like fruit ninja for long.

My understanding is we go and design by what reviewers say. . we will get an exotic piece of art. . not a phone that you can use daily with out any hesitation. When we hold a phone we need to have the confidence while using not a fear of holding some delicate and fragile thing.

In that aspect Motorola defy and defy plus are really good. they are slightly thicker easy to hold and have an ergonomic rubber coating that prevents slipping. but again its a pure touch phone. . :(

Also another interesting form factor was made by Motorola called Motorola back flip. It has a physical keyboard which can be flipped back and used. An interesting feature of this form factor is the ability to integrate a track pad on back of screen so that the content on the screen can be scrolled very easily without our fingers blocking the screen, It was a great phone except for the rubber keypad (which can be made better) and poor configuration.

Another advantage of this form factor is ability to use a single camera on the keypad that eliminates the need for front facing camera. When we need to do video chat the keypad can be folded out and used as front facing camera, under normal use the camera is usually on the back of the phone. Kindly check that.

all the best jolla guys. . .

And for myself it is sometimes annoying to push on buttons that are really close to the edge. Sometimes the screen just bounces as it thinks I’m trying to do a swipe. Of course this is an UI design issue on the apps themselves, but there will always be apps for Sailfish which will ignore swiping issues (such as Android apps compatibility).

And that’s another thing: How will the Android menu/back/search -buttons be integrated in the physical design? Or will they just be software buttons that appear when you are using an Android app… Probably just software buttons…