You told us: The alert slider vs customizable key debate has a surprise winner

Customizable side keys and alert sliders are two valuable design additions to smartphones. While the likes of Nokia opt for the former, OnePlus fans swear by the little sliding toggle. But which would you rather have?

In a recent poll, we asked our readers if they’d take a customizable side key or an alert slider if given a choice. The results are now in!

Would you rather have an alert slider or customizable side key?

Results

This poll garnered over 1,100 votes since it went live on October 12. More than 58% of those voters favor the alert slider, leaving the customizable side key with 42% of the vote.

That’s a pretty surprising result. The beauty of customizable keys is their flexibility. If you wanted to, you could theoretically set that key to disable alerts. You can also tweak the button to accomplish several other actions, from triggering the camera to launching a specific app. Alert sliders essentially serve to silence notifications, and that’s about it. However, some readers like this quick and covert method to halt alerts.

Your comments

• Anthorama: None of these.
• Wongwatt: Neither, both are pretty pointless.
• Yakubu Tukur: The keyword here is instantaneous. An alert slider happens to be the quickest way to silence the phone without drawing attention.
• Thalapathy Thalapathy: If I do have a customizable key, single press, double press, and triple press actions should be there which is why I chose a customizable key. it should also work as a shutter for the camera.
• deltatux: Given that my phone is always on vibrate, an alert slider is a waste of space on my device. A programmable button would be more useful.
• Aashish: Why not have a customizable key that can be configured as an alert slider?
• Patrick Mac: BOTH.

Thanks for voting and commenting on our latest poll. If you have any additional thoughts, be sure to drop them below.