There’s a trend among Android phone makers that I’ve seen reach its apotheosis at this year’s Mobile World Congress. The capacitive touch buttons that have been a signature of Android devices for many years are now all but entirely deprecated. LG and Sony long ago moved to on-screen software buttons, aligning themselves with Google’s preference and advice, but the intriguing thing at MWC 2017 is the addition of a new type of interaction that has neither capacitive nor software keys — it just relies on one pseudo-button.
Huawei and Moto have both moved to a new type of home button, which isn’t really a button but rather just a touch-sensitive surface. So far, so familiar, but the novelty is that they’re now combining gestures and taps to...
