phone with edge buttons

[tonypan]

Are there any phones that have hardware buttons beyond just the volume rockers along the edge? I don't mean a hardware keyboard. I'd like some buttons that can be programmed to play/pause music, silence the ringer for example. I don't always want to pull the phone out, activate the screen, and put my face in it. Thanks!

 

[Tangent]

I dunno about playing/pausing music, but can't you silence the ringer by pressing a volume button? Not including the full keyboards on their sliders, the most physical buttons I've seen on a device are on the myTouch line. The myTouch 4G for example has physical power, volume, camera shutter release, home, back, menu, genius search, (their replacement for generic search) and the touchpad also works as a button. I dunno what you'd have to do to retask them to work as play/pause etc...

 

[MyNamesTooLong]

have you looked to the market for apps? I know there is one thatll silence your phone if its face down(more of a hassle than the volume rocker) so there should be something similar for music playback

 

[tonypan]

Thanks for the suggestions. The MyTouch and Sidekick phones have edge keys, as does the Epic 4G. There are some Blackberry shaped phones running Android as well.

There is an impressive looking app called Tasker which can probably handle the key remapping... although I haven't checked whether it will work while the screen is locked.