The reboot button has been a contentious issue in stock Android for years now, and Google has to date seemed content in not providing this function to users. We actually brought this up with core Android dev Dan Sandler at Google I/O this year - or, rather, Artem brought it up. There's no doubt in my mind that at least some on the Android team don't like the idea of the button because it's a tacit admission that Android needs to be rebooted frequently enough to make the key useful - i.e., it is not as stable over long uptimes as, say, iOS. But that wasn't really what we discussed.

The question of the reboot button really came down to whether or not it was something people were likely to want and to use. That is a core operating principle of user experience on the Android team - at least these days - and Dan explained at length the agonizing over every new toggle, menu item, description, and feature that is added to the OS. While it is easy in principle to add things, it was said, it is much harder to then take them away down the road. People get, well, upset.

And while it may have been more to placate and / or torment Artem more than a sincere promise, Dan said he would be seriously looking into adding a reboot button to stock Android (though likely with the caveat that it would need to go through said agonizing). So, what do you guys think on the reboot button: yea or nay? Or just plain apathy?