This app was mentioned in 11 comments, with an average of 1.36 upvotes
I had the same thing man. A widget for the buttons saved me for a while, but then I got a Moto x (2014) and it has been great. Edit: this is the app
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.yesoft.handysoftkeys
I have the same problem. First the hardware buttons stopped working and later the software buttons stopped working too.
Are you 100% sure the touchscreen is still working in this area? Mine doesn't work most of the time. I tried a reset and diffrent ROMs but nothing helped. Sometimes the screen randomly works again...
I didn't find a solution yet. I'm currently using Handy Soft Keys to avoid the problem.
I assume your soft keys (Back, Home, Multitask) are no longer working.
This is a hardware issue; your digitizer is dead or dying.
Replace the screen (and digitizer, they usually come as a package) and you'll fix it. In the meantime, you can use a helper program like this one: Handy Soft Keys
I bought just a screen and adhesive off Amazon, but I wish I would have bought a full screen-on-frame assembly. It's a little more, but you get a screen already attached to the frame - all you have to do is swap over the rest of the parts of the phone.
You can find videos on youtube. Be warned - my coax antenna cable was taped to the battery, so when I popped out the battery I ripped the coax cable out of one of the connectors, and had to wait for a replacement to arrive.
This app looks like it does that, but I've never tried it (or any similar app). This one doesn't require root but most do, it looks like.
EDIT: It works for me, just follow their directions in the description.
I've tried all kinds of slide-in bars and pie menus. Sooner or later you get sick of them, because they're getting in the way of something. The only one I could stand was Handy Soft Keys because you could reposition it without fuss, but even so.
Oh, not to mention newer Android versions constantly bitching "you have an active overlay, that's a security risk, I can't let you grant permissions to this other app while that's going on". Why they can't let you whitelist overlay apps the way they do for doze and many other things is beyond me.
There are plenty of 3rd party apps that create a duplicate navigation panel and allow you to move the location of it across your screen.
I had a bad digitizer for a couple months, then I dropped it and shattered the screen. Bought my replacement screen on Amazon, and replaced it last night. The fit is not great - but maybe I should have cut out some of the extra adhesive sheet? The screen sticks out from the body of the phone just a hair - enough to feel rough but not so bad that it will actually catch on anything.
I swear the screen looks a little smaller than before (maybe 1mm on either side), however it seems to be high enough resolution. Every now and then I think it misses a tap, but that seems to be rare enough right now. My Back, Home and Multitask buttons are working again, which allowed me to re-enable USB debugging (data backup to PC) and such, so that's good. And I can dump Handy Soft Keys which was definitely helpful but still not as ideal as the stock buttons.
The bad news is that I didn't see that the white coax antenna wire was TAPED to the battery, so as I followed along with a Youtube step-by-step video I yanked the wire right out of one of the connectors. Good news is that I can find them cheap on ebay, bad news is that my phone is still out of commission; wifi is only on about 5% of the time and there is NO cell signal at all.
As far as the video is concerned, I don't think you have to remove the battery, you just have to disconnect it. I would have been fine leaving it in, the only reason anything got yanked or forced is because the battery was stuck down so hard I was focused on not killing the battery while also trying to remove it. In hindsight I would have left the battery on the frame and just disconnected it from the motherboard.
Was already using Handy Soft Keys: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.yesoft.handysoftkeys
Wanted to start using the Navigation Bar again x)
Was already using Handy Soft Keys: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.yesoft.handysoftkeys
Wanted to start using the Navigation Bar again x)
Tried that, it sucked. Trying to hit the Bixby button while holding the phone one handed loosens your grip and is asking for a shattered screen.
Handy Soft Keys is a far better solution. Place your nav bar whereever you want, reachable with one finger.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.yesoft.handysoftkeys