Wanted to see how everyone in the community felt about the using the android navigation bar buttons vs using gesture control.
I’ve used the navigation buttons since they released on android and just recently started trying to use the gesture based navigation. It’s been a little difficult for me to adapt to it so far, but curious what others experience has been.
A navigation bar is so simple, so direct, with little room for error.
It was actually painful and annoying for me to try navigating with gestures after updating Android, to the point where I simply disabled them because someone had the right idea to make them default.
I’m the weirdo who misses the hybrid two button layout. It has some gestures and some nav bar and once I got used to it I did like it. The new gestures nav throws me off something terrible.
If you own a recent Samsung device, definitely try One Hand Operations app - takes gesture navigation to a whole another level. One of my favourite apps.
Gesture navigation is good enough for me to use, but bad enough to be infuriating.
Its better than the navigation buttons, because non-tactile buttons are bad generally. Gesture navigation lets you navigate basic system interactions without looking at the screen, but its badly implimrnted. A horizontal swipe often accidentally becomes a back.
A physical set of navigation buttons would be best, but gestures is a solid second place, C tier navigation system.
3-button nav bar all the way. gesture navigation just feels so ambiguous and inexact compared to discrete buttons. I never understood why google decided to copy that stupid anti-feature from ios when they already had a superior system that worked (and still works) perfectly well.
I’m using the aosp/pixel gesture nav. Took a bit to get used to and I rarely have weird glitches (like using the fast swipe to previous app, but the app manager is yeeting to the last app or so; the nav bar/pill being visible in a video; the pill being on the wrong side of the display after having it rotated), but I like the look and feel. Also I’m still hoping that we will get to the point where it’s “embedded” like in iOS.
Me too! I actually miss Pie controls sometimes. I know 3rd party apps can replicate it but it just not the same. Maybe it was because of the time period.
I went through a lot of different apps before settling on this one. It’s a perfect recreation (+ way more customization) and works flawlessly. The app is 100% worth the pricetag if you want Pie controls on stock.
I started using gesture controls back on my One Plus 6t and just haven’t looked back since. I do wish gesture controls had some more uniformity between manufacturers. Like when I got my Pixel 6a there were minor differences in how you use multitasking. My SO gets tripped up when using my Pixel cause the gestures are different from her iPhone.
I still use nav buttons. I really liked apps that had that left slide out drawer (something Google pushed for a while and then quietly abandoned) and I kept navigating elsewhere while trying to pull out the menu drawers, so I went to buttons.
My final cool app with a drawer, rif is fun, is no longer on my phone, so I guess I can switch to navigation gestures… But it would take a lot of getting used to and “what gesture goes where?” (Note that I am particularly bad at remembering this sort of stuff - I’m the type of person who keeps a screenshot of a keybinding map on my second monitor while playing games.)
I’m interested in using gestures but I’m on a tablet 98% of the time. I even use a tablet for phone calls and SMS. Gestures feel too much like exercise on a bigger screen.
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I’m so used to gesture control now that I struggle to go back when I need to sort out my mum’s phone for her.
A navigation bar is so simple, so direct, with little room for error.
It was actually painful and annoying for me to try navigating with gestures after updating Android, to the point where I simply disabled them because someone had the right idea to make them default.
Yet, for me this was peak ->
I want physical buttons back.
I much prefer gestures
I’m the weirdo who misses the hybrid two button layout. It has some gestures and some nav bar and once I got used to it I did like it. The new gestures nav throws me off something terrible.
If you own a recent Samsung device, definitely try One Hand Operations app - takes gesture navigation to a whole another level. One of my favourite apps.
I do. Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll take a look
Gesture navigation is good enough for me to use, but bad enough to be infuriating.
Its better than the navigation buttons, because non-tactile buttons are bad generally. Gesture navigation lets you navigate basic system interactions without looking at the screen, but its badly implimrnted. A horizontal swipe often accidentally becomes a back.
A physical set of navigation buttons would be best, but gestures is a solid second place, C tier navigation system.
3-button nav bar all the way. gesture navigation just feels so ambiguous and inexact compared to discrete buttons. I never understood why google decided to copy that stupid anti-feature from ios when they already had a superior system that worked (and still works) perfectly well.
I’m using the aosp/pixel gesture nav. Took a bit to get used to and I rarely have weird glitches (like using the fast swipe to previous app, but the app manager is yeeting to the last app or so; the nav bar/pill being visible in a video; the pill being on the wrong side of the display after having it rotated), but I like the look and feel. Also I’m still hoping that we will get to the point where it’s “embedded” like in iOS.
I started using Pie controls with Paranoid Android back in 2015 and never gave them up. It’s great for muscle memory
Me too! I actually miss Pie controls sometimes. I know 3rd party apps can replicate it but it just not the same. Maybe it was because of the time period.
Here’s the app I use FWIW: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ivianuu.pie
I went through a lot of different apps before settling on this one. It’s a perfect recreation (+ way more customization) and works flawlessly. The app is 100% worth the pricetag if you want Pie controls on stock.
Thanks for this. I’ve been looking for a worth while replacement for a while.
I started using gesture controls back on my One Plus 6t and just haven’t looked back since. I do wish gesture controls had some more uniformity between manufacturers. Like when I got my Pixel 6a there were minor differences in how you use multitasking. My SO gets tripped up when using my Pixel cause the gestures are different from her iPhone.
Have been using gesture control since android 10 came out.
I still use nav buttons. I really liked apps that had that left slide out drawer (something Google pushed for a while and then quietly abandoned) and I kept navigating elsewhere while trying to pull out the menu drawers, so I went to buttons.
My final cool app with a drawer, rif is fun, is no longer on my phone, so I guess I can switch to navigation gestures… But it would take a lot of getting used to and “what gesture goes where?” (Note that I am particularly bad at remembering this sort of stuff - I’m the type of person who keeps a screenshot of a keybinding map on my second monitor while playing games.)
I use the nav bar. Never got used to gestures and don’t need them.
I’m interested in using gestures but I’m on a tablet 98% of the time. I even use a tablet for phone calls and SMS. Gestures feel too much like exercise on a bigger screen.
Yes same for me on my Chromebook. Like… no
Gestures solely for the edge swipe to go back. It just makes sense and I can never go back. Plus one-handing big phones with the nav bar is tough
This 100% gestures just feel more fluid for me at this point.
I prefer navigation bar, but I tolerate gesture controls due to the ease of swiping between apps.