With Android manufacturers going after the gesture-based navigation on their skins, Google is rumoured to follow the same principle by adding gesture-based controls to the stock Android P itself. Hours before the Google I/O 2018, a video of Android P Developer Preview 2 has popped online giving a glimpse at how the gesture-based navigation system will work on Android P. Well, Google might be revealing this feature at its event officially, and the search giant could possibly release the Android P Developer Preview 2 at its developer conference later today. However, before the official announcement, here's how the feature works.
The entire hype for gesture-based navigation was created by Apple with its $1000 iPhone X because it lacks a home button and Apple is not looking to add on-screen navigation keys. Soon after Apple releasing the iPhone X, Android manufacturers starting adopting the same functionality on their custom Android skins. Brands such as Xiaomi, OnePlus already rolled out this feature to their Full-Screen (18:9) display smartphones.
Today's video of 28 seconds was shared by Gabriel Bryne on Google Plus. As you can see in the video, the gesture 'Swipe up on Home Button' is clearly visible and it lets users switch between recent apps by swiping up from home button. Also, the home button' is now a pill-shaped one, as it was rumoured earlier.
https://youtu.be/prOBCZdFnI8
Another gesture revealed by the video is the 'Swipe Right' one. When enabled, it adds a horizontal scroll bar beside the pill-shaped button. And this scroll bar acts as a dragging button to quickly navigate between the recent apps. The description of this feature reveals swiping on the home button will show the recent apps, and two swipes will display 'all apps.' The 'All Apps' mentioning is confusing as it did not state whether it will show the app drawer or the apps which are loaded in the memory.
That said, when this scroll bar feature is enabled, the recent apps button disappears, removing the redundancy of accessing the apps menu. A report by Android Police reveals that these features are legitimate and could be part of Android P Developer Preview 2.
