well, wife have that one here and most definitely there's more than enough bezel for buttons. I can compare it with HTC sensation from 2011 I think and the bottom bezel is almost the same.
As long as there is ~10mm of bezel I don't see the point in on screen buttons. Waste of screen, nothing more. They are still capacitve anyway.

Ummm, I don't understand.
The bottom of the Moto X '14 has about 9.8-10.1mm gap/bezel from the screen's edge to the bottom of the phone.

That gap is taken up by the speaker.

Most devices with Capacitive buttons need around 14mm's of gap. And don't have to contend with a speaker.

The Moto X '14 does not have space for Capacitive buttons. If it did, you would expect the device's length to increase from 140.8mm to at least 148mm. Or about the size of the LG G3 which has a 5.5inch screen compared to the Moto X's 5.2inch screen.

I'm not sure if I'm explaining things properly for you.

well, picture says a thousand words, right


and video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S9BY7pis9g
does that motog screen looks bigger? Does that motog bezel looks smaller?
I have them both and motog has bezel big enough for buttons like htc has. The same goes for xperia z3.
Cudos to samsung for keeping the buttons.

You do realize that is not the 2014 Moto G, right?

And the HTC Sensation has a lower bezel that measures 16.0mm's.
The Moto G '14 has a lower bezel length of 13.6mm's.
So it is close, but a little too narrow for Capacitive buttons compared to other models.
On top of this, it has the front speaker which will also take up significant space.

Like I said before, the SONY Z3 is close but still has a substantial lip. If it was smaller, it would've been the perfect device.

So going back to my original point;
On-screen buttons > Hardware buttons > Capacitive buttons

Hardware buttons are better than Capacitive ones because its easier to press and gives that satisfying tactile feedback. And they can have fingerprint sensor built into it.
And On-Screen buttons are even better because they are DYNAMIC. They move away when not needed, which results in a larger screen and smaller device. Its also a simpler from a design point of view. And if you're unhappy with some aspect of the buttons, you could modify it to your personal improvement. Downsides? It lacks the tactile feedback of physical buttons, which is a fair trade-off considering what you get in return.

I have used mostly the galaxy or note series before switching to the xperia z2 when i became underwhelmed by the s5. I used to think the lack of capacitive buttons would make a huge difference in my feel. Well honestly it makes not much of a difference.

As for bezels, well the iPhone has them and the n9 which I consider to be one of the best lookers had them too. They don't make much of a difference if the device is properly balanced in terms of size vs weight and feel in hand.

yes, but the point was/is that on-screen buttons sucks and the bezel is still there. So if it is there, why not make some use of it? Ofcourse, when you have something like motog 2014 or htc one (m7, m8, m9) with speaker grill on the bottom then you can't place the buttons all the way down. But still, M7 solution is better than M8

On M7 that bezel is used for something unlike on M8.
or this one

it seems to me that s5 has smaller bezel and yet, it still have buttons that make it useful unlike that black nothing on nexus 5
well, then you are lucky because trending, no matter how dumb it is, goes your way.

Well, you're misconstruing my point.

I want little bezels and on-screen buttons.
What's the point of having on-screen buttons if you have massive bezels?

Thankfully the trend is going that direction.
We are getting larger and larger screens at the expense of bezel size.
In effect, its a more efficient design.

I wrote a little about it here:
http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...postcount=2814

I don't think so. I'm all in for what you are saying but for now we dont have devices with so small bottom bezel so I'll rather stick with buttons on bezel then on screen. That's all.
And that speaker grill is also stupid, makes the device bigger. Make them a bit thicker, put bigger battery and speakers on a side like N900.

A speakers on the side is odd (are you listening, Jolla? ). You usually listen to the speaker while watching what is on the screen, which makes an argument for a speaker on the front.

On the other hand, two speakers on the front make little sense due to the very narrow stereo base so that is an exception where putting them on the sides makes more sense.

I'm not sure if that's right.

The NOTE 3 has its loudspeaker on the side (ie/ bottom) and produces tinny noise. Half of the volume is directed towards the user so that somewhat compensates. However, overall its a poor experience.

And the shift to the NOTE 4 had them move it back to the phone's backside. Samsung quoted the reason for the shift was due to lack of space for the new speaker. According to iFixit they're right. The NOTE 4 produces much louder and clearer sound than the NOTE 3. Its mostly due to an upgraded speaker. However, since it fires to the rear the volume is greatly reduced and quality is muffled.

So dual front facing stereo loudspeakers is the best approach to take. You could just have a large mono frontal one and save more internal space. But doing so would increase volume but reduce clarity. I think there should be a balanced between the two.

And I'm all for greater battery life... but I don't want it to negatively affect the experience.
I mean check the HTC One M8... one of the thickest, heaviest and (relatively) largest high-end phones of its time. And what's the result? Complaint after complaint about dropping it !

So when designing a phone its all about choices and compromises. And its a real tightrope act.