[contextfree]

fwiw, I've had completely the opposite experience. I've found the back button a godsend on both WP and Android platforms, and haven't really noticed this unreliability. Actually, as a user I prefer to use my Windows phone over my other devices almost entirely because of a combination of two features: the back button (missing from iOS) and a decent soft keyboard (missing from the Android phone I have, which is running 2.2. I've heard the keyboard in 2.3 is much improved, but unfortunately the upgrade wasn't available for my phone last I checked). There are a lot of things the other platforms have over the WP, but being able to have those two things together is enough to outweigh all of them and ensure that my SIM card stays in my Windows phone 70% of the time ...

[zentechen]

What WP do you have? My Samsung Focus soft touch button is so sensitive that I hit those buttons by accident ALL THE TIME. That's just frustrating. I'd rather not having any button at all or replace those with press-down real buttons.

Having fewer buttons seem to make interface cleaner and less chance to screw up for users. But again it's a hardware issue for debate rather than software.

[contextfree]

Oh, I hate capacitive buttons too as do all right-thinking people, but I still vastly prefer the capacitive back button (on my Dell Venue Pro - not recommended, btw) over none at all. I don't really hit the buttons by accident myself, but this does seem to be a problem for new users (as I've discovered on the occasions where I lent my phone to someone who needed to make a call).

[sandipc]

Swiftkey is a decent android soft keyboard.