I guess this has been said before but I want to reiterate it here.
The 3 button navigation is simpler, much faster than gestures and less prone to input errors than gessure navigation.
It’s easier to use the phone one handed when using 3 buttons especially considering the size of phones nowadays.
The only real downside to the 3 button bar is the space it takes away from the screen. I can’t deny you get better immersion due increased screen size and gestures being intuitive (for me at least.
With that said I understand that depending on the brand the feel of gestures and their quality can vary (like between a pixel phone and a xiaomi device), but in terms of efficiency (and maybe slightly improved battery life due to less animations) and simplicity the 3 button navigation is still miles ahead.
I don’t think you know what objectively means. You meant to use the word subjectively.
I have my navigation buttons turned off for years now, so I couldn’t disagree more.
Same. I recently showed someone my pixel and they asked if it’s possible to use buttons instead of gestures, so I showed them and it felt so weird.
You can’t say something is “objectively” better than. Then proceed to list “subjective” opinions. Clearly you dislike gesture navigation, which is fine, but that doesn’t make it objectively worse.
I don’t dislike gesture navigation I’m currently using it but you can’t tell me that it’s faster for switching between apps for example.
edit: I prefer gestures but button navigation (at least on my Poco F3) is waaaaaaay faster.
edit 2: I just realised I wrote better instead of faster in my title no wonder it’s so divisive
Poco
That’s probably the problem
Do you have any data to back any of your claims? If not, that’s what makes them subjective. In your opinion, button navigation is faster. Doesn’t make it objective by any stretch.
I have an actual recording of using both gestures and buttons and the buttons are just much faster in general. even going back to the previous app is faster with the button. there’s quite a delay to pull up the gesture from the bottom of the screen. so at least on my device it’s not my opinion it’s a fact. I’m really curious about the the Samsung one handed+ mode that some say combined to gestures is the superior way.
I’m fully aware of it’s meaning. My post may have come across the wrong way. I really understand what you’re trying to say I understand what is the difference between an opinion and a fact. I should have put more effort into my post but i’ll put some effort in this answer at least.
Gestures or very big screens such as tablets are faster than using buttons because of the distance your fingers have to travel. Gestures are in general much better(my bad for the title) to use than buttons for various reasons: they give more screen space (that’s a fact) they create engagement with the phone and positive feedback loops because of said engagement. They are intuitive (that can be an opinion since that’s how I feel about them).
However on smaller phones where there is less finger travel buttons are just simply much faster. there is no multi-tasking pull up animation, there is no need for double input while playing a game (protection against misinput is necessary while in game which means more delayed input). Also making big upwards and swiping movements holding your thumb down while including the gesture pull up delay is just factually slower than two taps with buttons (again on phones not tablets).
I know my post came across as quite opinionated because I didn’t put the necessary effort into it. I agree with you though saying buttons are objectively better than gestures is only an opinion since there are quite good examples of gestures being better than buttons. What I precisely meant is that when it comes to speed on certain devices buttons have a clear edge over gestures.
Your post isn’t divisive because you wrote better instead of faster. You used the term “objective” incorrectly, and are continuing to. There’s nothing wrong with having an opinion, or even testing things out for yourself. That doesn’t make your point of view objective.
I understand I’m continuing to use the word objective incorrectly. I failed to grasp the definition you sent me. Please give me an example of something that is objective in your own words.
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Once I got used to gestures, I couldn’t go back.
I honestly find it very fast and intuitive.
Yeah, despite having quite a lot of accidental backswipes, it’s not annoying enough to go back to buttons over gestures. Especially when browsing and scrolling, my fingers are not down at the bottom of the phone.
Strong disagree. Gestures are so much quicker and just generally more natural feeling.
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Gestures are faster and more intuitive. You don’t have to do hand gymnastics just to get to the recents apps screen or to go back. The gesture bar can be hidden and it will still work, unlike the buttons which you have to swipe up to bring back, and even when shown it doesn’t take up much screen real estate. Apple got it right when they brought gestures to the iPhone and I’m glad Google copied.
None of this makes any sense. How are invisible gestures more intuitive than a button? And aren’t gestures literally “hand gymnastics”? Gestures and any “hidden” input are decidedly user unfriendly precisely because they’re invisible. I don’t recall specifics but there have definitely been apps where a user gets stuck on a screen because the developer unexpectedly opted for a gesture instead of a visible widget.
Gestures are good for the screen real estate part but that’s kinda it, IMO. I stopped fighting the current and (mostly) adapted.
I would disagree if gestures being faster. Mostly because animations can’t be disabled with gestures.
If I hit the home button I am instantly on my home screen rather than waiting on the zoom and shrink animation. Same issue with recent apps.
On a large phone (so almost all of them) gesturing is much easier than reaching for a button. When I first switched it was slightly awkward because of muscle memory, but after a while gestures felt much better.
That’s one hell of a controversial opinion.
I personally prefer gestures. I find them quicker (you don’t have to move your fingers as much to do anything, especially back gesture) and more intuitive (like swiping on the navigation pill or whatever it’s called to quickly switch apps, much better than double clicking recents button). Gestures also integrate nicely with the rest of os (like swiping from backspace to erase whole words in gboard).
One thing I hate and I can’t understand how that’s not fixed in stock AOSP is opening left side menus (those hamburger ones) with gestures enabled. Half of the time instead of opening the menu it will just go back, even if sensitivity on left edge is set to minimum.
This is something that custom roms address nicely as most of the time setting sensitivity to minimum would actually disable gestures in this area (take note Google). If this is something that’s bugging anyone, you can disable gestures on left edge over adb (without root) with:
adb shell settings put secure back_gesture_inset_scale_left 0or with:su -c "settings put secure back_gesture_inset_scale_left 0"if you have root access (for more info look here).Issue is that developers are honestly, kinda of dumb in regards to the menu gesture, and AFAIK there wasn’t an actual “canonical” guideline for that gesture in the first place.
Discord offers the best implemention in my opinion, as it can function on the middle of the screen and not on the edge, so it doesn’t interfere with system gestures.
Pro tip. Press left edge for 0.5 seconds then pull it out. Works every time
I prefer gestures, it feels more natural and there is a bigger margin for error, as in I can swipe from anywhere along the bottom to go home or anywhere along the sides to go back. The one downside for me is the left back gesture conflicting with drawer navigation, but apps seem to be moving away from that anyway
It is also sometimes annoying when you try to crop the margin of a photo and the cropping area overlaps with the back gesture trigger area. But for me gestures win every time because the back gesture, which is the most common of the 3 operations, is available anywhere my thumb currently is, not just on the bottom edge of the screen.
Objectively? You’re just used to them. I like the extra screen real estate and they’re much easier on my hands
It is less prone to input errors. That’s true, but all other points I disagree with. Gestures are faster on a larger device, because you don’t have to relocate your fingers. Additionally they are easier to use on a larger screen for the same reason.
It’s just what you are used to and I don’t like that gestures are not as intuitive as buttons (worse UI/feedback), but they do work better overall and that’s a fair tradeoff.
It took a few attempts and switching back and forth until it really clicked, but it is so much better on a larger device.
I’m glad that Android (still) gives us the option to chose one or the other.
Exactly my thoughts. I don’t mind either navigation option but I’m thrilled I have the choice
I prefer buttons because there’s less risk of accidentally highjacking the gestures used by mobile screen-reader users to navigate.
Also buttons theoretically tell you what they do before they do it (when they’re not just abstract icons). Gesture relies on cognitive load, which forces me to remember an action mapping. Which I do not. Especially since covid. Or i have to abandon my task to search for documentation, which is worse because it reduces the odds I’ll compete the thing I was trying to do.
What I dislike personally about the 3 onscreen button thing is most phones are oled now and I’d rather not have anything permanent on my screen because of potential burn in but that goes for the status bar as well.
