[seltzered_]

There's some advantage with not having physical buttons.

Most notably you can quickly "cancel" an intended action with a non-physical button by sliding your finger away from it while holding down.

e.g. you're playing a game and accidentally press the home button. slide away to continue playing. You can't do that with a physical button unless they implement something where holding the button down causes a less intrusive action. iOS does this i believe by not exiting the app but bringing up the multitasking menu when you hold down the home button.

I currently have a thinkpad tablet with physical buttons, and I'm afraid of using them half the time because of accidentally hitting them.