But... I guess the problem might not be self-evident for somebody who has not done designs on this area, but what exactly would you control with the d-pad? You're talking for instance about navigating in menus. That assumes that there is a focus element on screen. Look at the iPhone UI, for instance. There is no focus element there. For a proper touch UI, you shouldn't have a focus element. A traditional UI style is to have focus elements and then means to move this focus element around; first click to move the focus to position on screen, second click to confirm. Another style is to have no focus on lists and menus: first click always selects whatever you click. But you can't really mix these styles together very well.