How to Replace the Capacitive Buttons With Sofkeys On Elife S5.5

Root Required

I have to admit, at first I was not a big fan of the softkeys. My first android device was a Nexus 7 and I always wondered why they decided to waste valuable screen space with on-screen buttons?!

When I finally got my Gionee Elife S5.5 I was really glad it had capacitive buttons. It was great for about two days, and then I realized how restricting capacitive buttons really are. They can't change at all. They can't adapt like softkeys.

This is why we are changing them today. The process is really very easy. Here we go:

1
Root your Elife S5.5 phone. see how here.

2
Download the SoftKey Enabler app. Run the app and tap the giant circle in the center that reads "Enable." You'll notice the softkeys pop right up!
SoftKey Enabler

3
a Now the harder part. Well, it's not really hard but you have to pay real close attention. Open up your favorite file manager and navigate to the following folder:
Device - system - usr - keylayout
b Open the file Generic.kl with your favorite text editor.
c Navigate to the following lines and add # right in the beginning of the each one.
key 139 MENU        VIRTUAL
key 172 HOME        VIRTUAL
key 158 BACK        VIRTUAL

so... make them look like this:
#key 139 MENU        VIRTUAL
#key 172 HOME        VIRTUAL
#key 158 BACK        VIRTUAL
and then save the file.

4
Once you've changed the Generic.kl file, the changes will not take effect until you reboot your device. But before you reboot you might want to go to the device's settings and turn off the light on the capacitive buttons because even though they will now be deactivated, they will still light up. Thankfully our Elife S5.5 has a setting where you can just tap a check box to turn the lights off. Its under Display settings, called "Close Button Light."

Once you've done that, go on ahead and reboot and you will be done.

Tips
It's important that you always have at least the softkeys of the capacitive keys active. If you accidentally turn them both off then... you'll be in big trouble. If you don't like the softkeys and you want to switch back, then first turn on the capacitive keys by removing the # from key lines described above in the Generic.kl file. Then reboot and once you can confirm they are working, then you can safely disable the softkeys.

If you like the softkeys but want them to auto-hide, then you will like this next app. There is a paid version with improved functionality but the free version is good enough to auto-hide. You can even change the look of the softkeys to look like the Android L softkeys.
GMD Auto Hide Soft Keys ★ root