Systems and methods for controlling a portable electronic communication device use device operational context to provide user trigger or command input. When user input is received from a user of the device, a set of user input options is selected based on an operational context of the device, including an identification of at least one running application. Each user input option is associated with a device action, and the received user input is mapped to a matching user input option within the selected set of user input options. The device action associated with the matching user input option is then executed.