By 
Probably one of the most exciting OTA updates we have seen recently came to the AT&T HTC One X this week. This update brought the HTC device from Android 4.0.3 to 4.0.4, but the exciting part is hidden in the settings. It allows users to re-map the task-switcher button to become the menu button. It is still rare to see the AT&T version get the update before all others, but According to HTC, this option will also be rolling out to all versions of the HTC One X and HTC One S.
HTC was praised for adopting Google’s new button strategy, which gets rid of the menu button. HTC decided to avoid sacrificing its devices’ screen real estate by adding physical buttons instead of on-screen ones, though. Something that brought upon a new set of issues.
As these are not software buttons, they can not accommodate to apps that have not been updated to support the new button configuration. If an app is not designed to have a menu button within its software (which, many aren’t), a bar with such functionality would appear at the bottom of the screen. HTC devices are hence forced to be pestered by the same issue the company tried to avoid – the bar is still taking a section of the screen.
With this new option, users can now enjoy every single pixel of the screen when using apps that have not yet been updated to support the new system. For now, only AT&T users can enjoy this, but the update should be hitting all other HTC One X and One S devices some time in the near future. There is no word on whether this will come to other HTC devices with the same button scheme (including the very popular HTC EVO 4G LTE), but odds are that most of them will.
Until then, we will just have to live with that custom on-screen menu button. Many of you have probably gotten used to it, but is this new option welcome?
[Via: Anandtech Image: Droid-Life]
Great!
This and the multitasking fix in 4.0.4 is so awesome!
Cleanrom 4.5 is based of 4.0.4 and it’s better in my opinion, it was a good update though.
That is actually what I use, but it still was a really solid OTA. I can’t wait for 4.5 Dev Final. I like the AOSP theme and even more debloat.
This was the thing that bugged me most about the One X/S.
HTC should be commended for listening to customer feedback and coming up with this solution.. *slow claps*
They probably went to XDA and the complaints and most popular mods.
Me and my gnex are confused. Why do you need a menu button when using ICS??
That button is for accessing the menu and settings in most applications! It is the 3 vertical dots we see sometimes on the gnex.
Because some older apps don’t have the automatic menu button embedded yet. Personally, I don’t like the embedded menu icon anyway. That’s why I set up four onscreen buttons on my Galaxy Nexus, the menu button being one of them. I also shrunk the nav bar so it takes up less real estate. To each their own.
i email htc a couple days ago asking if it will come to the evo 4g lte. heres their reply
Knowing what’s coming up in future updates is definitely interesting. I apologize, but at this time we don’t have any details regarding changes to be made in future updates to the EVO 4G LTE. Since you’ve let us know I’ll definitely document your interest having these changes in a future update so we take them into account when it’s under development
grrrrr
This sounds like a downgrade to me. HTC should have gone with software buttons in the first place.
How can added functionality be a downgrade?? You have the option to keep as is, or add a dedicated menu button as a long press or short press on top of the multi tasking button. You keep the multi tasking button no matter what.