<story><title>The Problem with the iPhone&apos;s Home Button</title><url>http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2011/07/14/the_iphones_home_button/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>parfe</author><text>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).&lt;p&gt;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.&lt;p&gt;It&apos;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.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dolinsky</author><text>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 &apos;back&apos; 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&apos;s now installing an app).&lt;p&gt;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&apos;s just not possible on iOS.&lt;p&gt;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.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Problem with the iPhone&apos;s Home Button</title><url>http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2011/07/14/the_iphones_home_button/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>parfe</author><text>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).&lt;p&gt;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.&lt;p&gt;It&apos;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.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ConstantineXVI</author><text>The back button in Android is supposed to mean &quot;take me to the last screen I was on&quot;; it&apos;s not supposed to be tied to the specific app you&apos;re in. I have the reverse issue on iOS, if Twitter launches a browser there&apos;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 &quot;up&quot; button[2], and it can be presumed the concept will make it&apos;s way to ICS.&lt;p&gt;[1] PSA: you call up the Android switcher by holding Home&lt;p&gt;[2] This isn&apos;t a hard button like home/back, instead the app logo gets painted with an &quot;up&quot; arrow when this is available.</text></comment>