A few people got a bit worried at a recent rumor regarding the back button on Windows Phone. According to third party sources, Microsoft was planning to kill the back button completely, rendering it pretty much useless on current devices. However, it seems that this is not the case… sort of.
The Verge is reporting that Windows Phone 8.1 will not see the removal of the Back button, but that it will be entirely up to manufacturers if they want to include one. Much like the dedicated camera button on Windows Phone devices, the back button will also be optional.
It’s not only the back button that will become optional either, because it would be silly to remove just ‘one’ button. It seems Microsoft is working on allowing manufactures to remove all capacitive buttons, Start and Search buttons included, which means future devices could be all screen on the front. Because of this, it appears Microsoft is working on Nexus-like functionality which displays virtual Back, Start and Search buttons on the screen.
This change will ultimately lower costs of future devices running Windows Phone 8.1. More so, as stated above, it’s entirely options. Device manufacturers will more than likely continue to use dedicated capacitive buttons for Back, Start and Search.
What are your thoughts on this? Would you buy a Windows Phone with on screen buttons like the Nexus 4? Leave your thoughts below!