Patent ID: 8589823

Claim:
A method of navigating between application contexts in a portable device, comprising: displaying a current application context of a messaging application in an application display region of a display, wherein the current application context is a current mailbox context; displaying a navigation bar adjacent to the application display region, the navigation bar including at least three horizontally adjacent regions, comprising a current context region for displaying an indicator of a second application context comprising the current application context, a prior context region for displaying an indicator of a first application context comprising an application context preceding the second application context, and a link region, wherein the navigation bar maintains a fixed location on the display; upon detecting user selection of the prior context region, shifting operation of the portable device to the first application context, including changing display in the prior context region of the navigation bar from the indicator of the first application context to an indicator of a fourth application context comprising an application context of the messaging application that preceded the first application context, the indicator of the fourth application context being distinct from the indicator of the first application context; and upon detecting user selection of the link region, changing a message displayed in the current mailbox context.