After using many Android phones with the same navigation for two years, I looked at pictures of the new buttons on the Galaxy Nexus (and lack of them) and was puzzled.

In reality, it’s a nice evolution.

Front and center from the home screen are Back, home and the toggle/kill buttons. Although these buttons are mostly always present, they flip with the screen for horizontal orientation.

The buttons disappear entirely to give you the full screen for watching video.

Back works like it always has in Android, as does home. The circle with six dots on the home screen opens the apps.

The Toggle/kill button allows you to shuttle between open apps by sliding up and down. You swipe the app away to the right to shut it down. This new feature acts as a task killer as well as adds live thumbnails to the multi-tasking tray.

The familiar system settings button in pre Android 4.0 versions is now an app icon link that can be placed anywhere on the phone.

To access settings within an app, three dots appear, generally in the top right corner of the app (see last photo) Continue reading →