Forced gesture navigation

[mustang7757]

So, slap on a launcher - you still get the benefit of the superb camera and a VERY smooth experience, as long as you use a good launcher.

I use Nova, but it's not the only game in town.

I use to use Nova , haven't in past 2 years always have it ready but prefer stock launcher in my phones

 

[klau25]

So they figured out how to disable gesture.

https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/...ing-ui-can-disabled-itll-cost-pixel-launcher/

 

[I Can Be Your Hero]

So, slap on a launcher - you still get the benefit of the superb camera and a VERY smooth experience, as long as you use a good launcher.

I use Nova, but it's not the only game in town.

From my understanding, a launcher won't change the system navigation setup? It'll remain with the new pill setup?

I'm seriously doubting purchasing the Pixel 3 now. I thought the gesture system was terrible back when I was on the Android Pie beta. It is objectively slower and more cumbersome to use than the previous three icon setup, but I thought they'd still have the option to go back to previous setup in the settings somewhere, but that's not the case.

 

[SteelGator]

From my understanding, a launcher won't change the system navigation setup? It'll remain with the new pill setup?

I'm seriously doubting purchasing the Pixel 3 now. I thought the gesture system was terrible back when I was on the Android Pie beta. It is objectively slower and more cumbersome to use than the previous three icon setup, but I thought they'd still have the option to go back to previous setup in the settings somewhere, but that's not the case.

*subjectively slower and more cumbersome ...

I get not everybody likes it, and that is fine. I personally find it faster in my use, and I actually use app switcher more frequently now that I have the gestures there.

 

[jtcannonball]

I actually have no issues with the gestures but really love Nova swipe down for notifications and the finger print swipe option doesn't do it for me in the stock Pixel Launcher.

 

[EMGSM]

AMLike

Isn't theverge regarded as pro iPhone?

 

[I Can Be Your Hero]

*subjectively slower and more cumbersome ...

I get not everybody likes it, and that is fine. I personally find it faster in my use, and I actually use app switcher more frequently now that I have the gestures there.

No, it's objectively slower and more cumbersome.

Examples:

OLD: A small flick up on the homescreen (swiping up <10% of the screen) will pull up the app drawer.
NEW: A large swipe up on the homescreen (swiping up >50% of the screen) will pull up the app drawer.
CUMBERSOME: Requires a MUCH higher swipe and if you didn't swipe high enough, then it will pull up the task switcher and you have to do another swipe up to get to the app drawer.

OLD: While in an app, tapping the home button then a small flick up on the homescreen (swiping up <10% of the screen) up will pull up the app drawer.
NEW: While in an app, the launcher requires an even larger swipe (swiping up ~80% of the screen) to go to the homescreen.
CUMBERSOME: If you don't swipe high enough (now an ~80% screen swipe!), you again will only open the task switcher and have to do another swipe. While you can do two flicks in quick succession, you have to move your thumb back down after the first flick to do a second one. The old system had you tapping the home button, then your thumb was already in position for a small flick to bring up the app drawer.

OLD: Tapping the square button would bring up the task switcher.
NEW: Swiping up will bring up the task switcher.
CUMBERSOME: It's faster to tap the square button than to swipe up. My thumb is on the screen less time with a tap than it is for a swipe to achieve the same outcome.

OLD: Double tapping the square button would immediately pull up the previous application.
NEW: Swiping to the right will pull up the previous application.
CUMBERSOME: The new method is slower as it slides to the previous app, the animation pauses, then brings it to the foreground. The old method would avoid this with your second tap, which is essentially confirming you want to go right back to the previous app and it'd do it right away. New method is slower as it does a slide, pause then brings the app to foreground.

So the new gesture system is definitely objectively slower and more cumbersome in the new Android Pie navigation than the Oreo navigation.

And there are other, subjective things that I dislike:

- Moves to a half-gesture system, yet makes no space savings whatsoever. The pill takes up the same space the previous setup did.

- Now the UI is lopsided with the pill and back button and the right being completely empty.

- Swiping on the pill to scroll through applications feels weird and unintuitive. Swiping the pill to the right scrolls through the apps in a slowish pace and if you want to speed it up you have to do this weird right, left, right swipe to have the apps swipe with the movement of your thumb.

The whole system feels confusing and unintutitive. I was holding hope that Google would still allow the old navigation to be toggled, but they're going all in on this new system which isn't nearly as good as Apple's gesture navigation without giving us an option to use a different method.

 

[anon(10534352)]

yeah, if only gesture works as good as the button should, mainly just move around faster at times.

 

[anon(10092459)]

No, it's objectively slower and more cumbersome.

Your examples are not even close to objective. For instance:

OLD: Tapping the square button would bring up the task switcher.
NEW: Swiping up will bring up the task switcher.
CUMBERSOME: It's faster to tap the square button than to swipe up. My thumb is on the screen less time with a tap than it is for a swipe to achieve the same outcome.

The old multi task button was static on screen, botton right. Thus to take action, your thumb has to tap, bottom right. With the gestures system, the same is accomplished with a single flick up from anywhere in the lower region of the phone. left, center, right, search bar, app row... That's not objectively slower or more cumbersome. If anything, quite the opposite.

 

[anon(10092459)]

Isn't theverge regarded as pro iPhone?

IMO, I would say moderate. I would say most writers are in the middle, but some definitely find Apple more favorably and Google in a more "disgruntled" light.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

Objective has a definition that does not get to get changed to anything resembling "in my opinion" or "I think" or "can be". Stating that something is objectively true is also stating that it is factual, so stating something is objectively true when describing subjective opinions is also known as stating something that is not true.

 

[Coop61]

From my understanding, a launcher won't change the system navigation setup? It'll remain with the new pill setup?

I'm seriously doubting purchasing the Pixel 3 now. I thought the gesture system was terrible back when I was on the Android Pie beta. It is objectively slower and more cumbersome to use than the previous three icon setup, but I thought they'd still have the option to go back to previous setup in the settings somewhere, but that's not the case.

Not entirely true. Nova on my Phone the swipe up still brings up previously opened apps. The second swipe up doesn't do anything now. To get to the app drawer I have to tape on the 6 little dots.

 

[Robisan]

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.apps.nexuslauncher

Lol. After three generations the Pixel launcher is still labeled as nexus in code.

 

[Caezar07]

There are only two positives to the new gesture based nav:
1) You can access the app drawer from within an app.
2) Swiping right to get to the previous app is quicker than the old double tap method.

In my opinion, the gestures are overall clunky and not intuitive, and really, there wasn't much point in switching to them if it doesn't save space and go full screen like on the iPhone X. The Pixel 3 nav bar takes up just as much space as the old nav bar. I wouldn't even really call it gesture nav...they just added in a few swipe features.

For me, the two worst things about the new nav bar are:
1) The slow swipe up to get into the app drawer just isn't intuitive and wonky. I don't think I will ever get the muscle memory to execute the slow swipe up consistently even on my smaller Pixel 3. I see this being a huge pain on the larger Pixel 3 XL.
2) The recent apps list shows less apps, and it swipes kind of "fast" and so I'm constantly flicking past 3-4 apps when I only mean to swipe past 1-2 apps in the list.

I think the solution to all this would be to:
1) Make the home button long press shortcut to the app drawer. There are already 27 other ways to access Google assistant on the Pixel phone.
2) Use overlapping cards for the apps in the recent apps list, like on the iPhone X, and make the swiping slower and smoother.

 

[Mike Dee]

While I agree there should be options for those they don't like gestures I got used to the gestures right on away on my 2XL and did not go back even though it was optional. I don't find either method faster or slower but I find it difficult to go back when I'm running a phone with Oreo. Maybe we are all wired differently.

 

[mustang7757]

Google could've used in the blank space to the right of the pill a emoji middle finger as u try to use the navigation gestures then it wouldn't be blank

 

[anon(10092459)]

I can understand why some people don't like Android P. Can even understand wanting the option to use either system. But some "problems" are just users not wanting change and being used to what they know. The new system takes a different navigation understanding, but really is more efficient and simple.

Google needs to move Android forward. They always have and always will. We had an app drawer button until Oreo, for crying out loud. I remember people complaining they didn't like that they had to swipe up to access the app drawer and wanted that button back too.

 

[SteelGator]

Your examples are not even close to objective. For instance:


The old multi task button was static on screen, bottom right. Thus to take action, your thumb has to tap, bottom right. With the gestures system, the same is accomplished with a single flick up from anywhere in the lower region of the phone. left, center, right, search bar, app row... That's not objectively slower or more cumbersome. If anything, quite the opposite.

I agree with this and I'm not going to argue the point. He clearly does not like the new system. I find it easier and faster to get my way around in my use. That is what makes it subjective and not objective. Everybody's milage will vary with use.

I know I prefer it, because when I had the choice on my OG Pixel, used the gestures, not the old system. I hope they continue to develop the system and move to a more gesture based environment and less on buttons.

 

[mustang7757]

I can understand why some people don't like Android P. Can even understand wanting the option to use either system. But some "problems" are just users not wanting change and being used to what they know. The new system takes a different navigation understanding, but really is more efficient and simple.

Google needs to move Android forward. They always have and always will. We had an app drawer button until Oreo, for crying out loud. I remember people complaining they didn't like that they had to swipe up to access the app drawer and wanted that button back too.

I don't think it's so much for changing to gestures I prefer it over buttons but how they did it . It makes no sense to me to do double swipe waste of time where I want to go. They trying something that's most of a manufacturers didn't do with their gestures. why? Are all these other phone manufacturers wrong ? I rarely go into the recent apps menu , but I do go to my app drawer to see my apps I haven't put on my home screen. Why couldn't 2 swipes bring the recent app and one quick to app drawer. Just it could've been done different. I love changes when it's done right .

 

[SteelGator]

I don't think it's so much for changing to gestures I prefer it over buttons but how they did it . It makes no sense to me to do double swipe waste of time where I want to go. They trying something that's most of a manufacturers didn't do with their gestures. why? Are all these other phone manufacturers wrong ? I rarely go into the recent apps menu , but I do go to my app drawer to see my apps I haven't put on my home screen. Why couldn't 2 swipes bring the recent app and one quick to app drawer. Just it could've been done different. I love changes when it's done right .

I wonder what data they have on how much folks go into their app drawer versus the switcher. I rarely need apps from the app drawer. If I needed them frequently, I'd put them on a home screen.

I also find that the app predictions from the switcher are highly helpful to me. It is uncanny how many times the app I want is there. I can count on my loyalty apps to be there when I need them, to the point that the quick flip up is faster for me than moving over 2 screens to get to my Starbucks/WaWa app. It also knows when I need my music and pocket caster app a very high percentage of the time.

As with all features, it depends on how well they work for individuals. The recent changes fit into my workflow very well, and I guess I am very predictable, because the device seems to know what I need better than I do all to frequently.