I switched to a Pixel 7 today from a Xiaomi Android phone. I always felt my existing phone was too big, and when looking for a new one the first thing I did was go to gsmarena and search for a phone released relatively recently with a smaller screen. Literally the only result was the Iphone SE.
The Pixel phone is practically the same size as my existing phone, just a tad smaller and just a tad heavier. But there is a significant difference in the gesture support, which is usually something I don’t bother with. The result is that the basic system navigation and app switching can be done with my right hand only, in its normal holding position. The swipe from the left to go back a screen can be done from the bottom of the screen, so I don’t need to stretch my thumb up and across to do it from the middle of the screen.
Stretching unnaturally is still required to swipe down from the top of the screen, or I guess if third party app design puts buttons in the top left. But as a software solution to this hardware problem which also preserves the larger screen size for cases where that’s useful or desired, I think it’s pretty good.
Over the past day of use I’ve realised I can also swipe left from anywhere on the right edge of the screen to go back, and the swipe down doesn’t actually need to start from the notification bar. I can just swipe down from wherever and it seems to consistently figure out that I’m trying to do a gesture. I installed my normal launcher Niagara and the gestures all still work fine, so with that inclusion general operation is fairly one-handed and comfortable now, other than typing.
@LordShrek@gila iphones used to have the control center by swiping up. Took a while to adjust to doing it from the top right. Wish we had the option to add it to the bottom
I figured out that the swipe down doesn’t need to begin from the actual notification bar, like it does on my older Android phones. I can just naturally extend my thumb up to halfway up the screen and swipe down from there. Doesn’t work if I have scrollable content already on screen though
I switched to a Pixel 7 today from a Xiaomi Android phone. I always felt my existing phone was too big, and when looking for a new one the first thing I did was go to gsmarena and search for a phone released relatively recently with a smaller screen. Literally the only result was the Iphone SE.
The Pixel phone is practically the same size as my existing phone, just a tad smaller and just a tad heavier. But there is a significant difference in the gesture support, which is usually something I don’t bother with. The result is that the basic system navigation and app switching can be done with my right hand only, in its normal holding position. The swipe from the left to go back a screen can be done from the bottom of the screen, so I don’t need to stretch my thumb up and across to do it from the middle of the screen.
Stretching unnaturally is still required to swipe down from the top of the screen, or I guess if third party app design puts buttons in the top left. But as a software solution to this hardware problem which also preserves the larger screen size for cases where that’s useful or desired, I think it’s pretty good.
Interesting feedback
Over the past day of use I’ve realised I can also swipe left from anywhere on the right edge of the screen to go back, and the swipe down doesn’t actually need to start from the notification bar. I can just swipe down from wherever and it seems to consistently figure out that I’m trying to do a gesture. I installed my normal launcher Niagara and the gestures all still work fine, so with that inclusion general operation is fairly one-handed and comfortable now, other than typing.
you should be able to install a custom ROM that allows you to have notification bar on bottom so that you can swipe up.
@LordShrek @gila iphones used to have the control center by swiping up. Took a while to adjust to doing it from the top right. Wish we had the option to add it to the bottom
@apple @android feature request here. submitting ticket.
I figured out that the swipe down doesn’t need to begin from the actual notification bar, like it does on my older Android phones. I can just naturally extend my thumb up to halfway up the screen and swipe down from there. Doesn’t work if I have scrollable content already on screen though