Google Appears To Be Testing iPhone X-Style Gesture Navigation In Android P

A new screenshot that Google recently shared (and since deleted) is stirring up theories about a possible iPhone X-like gesture navigation interface for Android P. Android Police reports: What we see is a decidedly odd navigation layout, with this short little bar in place of the expected home button, a back arrow that's now hollowed-out, and an app-switcher that seems utterly absent. So how would Google's presumably screen-only implementation work? Well, not only does that home bar look like a narrower version of the bar you'll find on the iPhone X, but we hear that the Android version may function in a quite similar way, with users swiping up to access their home screens. While we still haven't heard any details about how app switching might work with this new regime, the back button will reportedly only appear when needed, disappearing on the home screen, for example. As to other controls we can only speculate, like how you would gesture to conjure up the Google Assistant.

I feel old...

[war4peace]

UIs are becoming shittier and shittier.
I see a monochrome+blue layout, a flat UI with no differentiation between elements (where does one start and where does the other end), with a tendency for that horrible minimalist approach MIBs get off on.
It's all shit.

I like it

[110010001000]

I prefer UIs where controls disappear occasionally and you need to swipe in different directions to get different behavior. It is more of a bonus if swiping produces different behavior depending on what screen you are in.

Re:

[rogoshen1]

What about UI's that hide elements with absolutely fuck-all in the way of contextual clues as to where the anchor point to display the element is? Charming i tell you, absolutely charming.

Bait and switch

[Daetrin]

So Google convinced most (all?) of the manufacturers to switch from hardware buttons that were off the screen to software buttons that are on the screen for reasons that i'm still not really convinced by. And now that they've succeeded at that they're intent on getting rid of the buttons, presumably because they're taking up screen space.

I wish this mad "we must cover the entire front of the phone with screen" rush would take a flying leep and they would just go back to having separate buttons at the bott

So, gesture based navigation like the iPhoneX?

[williamyf]

Errr... I think they meant:

Like in Blackberry's BB10...

And before it, like in Nokia's Meego N9...

And before it, like in Plam's WebOS...

I am now on Android, but until recently, I had a Q10, and before that, an N9, and I certainly miss the ease and fluidity that gesture navigation brings (once you learn the new gestures, of course).

Will be a welcome chance, if and when I get Oreo on my phone (still on Nougatt, fully patched).

Re:

[LWATCDR]

The Pre had so much potential.
Yea drop the iPhoneX and speak the truth. Android is following Apple by looking into copying the Palm Pre's UI.

iPhone X UI is absolutely the future

[SuperKendall]

I wasn't at all sure about an interface free of a home button. But after months of use I greatly prefer how the iPhone works over having a home button.

The home button was just getting to be too overloaded, with single vs. multiple taps. The gesture UI works really well, and as a nice side effect leads you to think of using other kinds of gestures within apps, more often.

There may be some hiccups in the initial approach (the model to decide what going back vs. forward means along the bottom is still not pe