It is a foregone conclusion that the next generation of Android will include gesture controls, but how will it interact?

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The next generation of Android operating system Android P will introduce gesture operation. In an article on Google's official blog introducing the new features of Android P, a screenshot (which has been removed by Google) accidentally leaked evidence that gesture operation will be introduced in Android P.

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This relatively short oval virtual button below the screen will serve as the Home button in the future Android P. 9to5Google, the foreign media that discovered this screenshot, said that this Home button will automatically hide on the main screen, but will automatically appear in a multi-level menu.

Today, 9to5Google has obtained more information from sources about the gesture operation that will be used in Android P.

Of course, the biggest change in the new system is the abandonment of the recent tasks key, which is now the square virtual key on the far right of the Android system navigation bar.

The oval virtual key in the leaked image has the functions of the Home key and the recent task key. Swiping up on this virtual key will call out the recent task. This operation logic is the same as the gesture operation on the iPhone X.

The multitasking UI has also been redesigned. The previous method of swiping up and down to select cards has been changed to swiping left and right. Swiping up can eliminate tasks. The shape of recent task cards has also become more slender. In addition, rounded corners are also incorporated into the new system.

This multi-tasking design style has long been reflected in the iPhone X and many domestic mobile phones, but this design should still be a relatively early version, and it is not impossible for Google to make modifications in the future.

However, 9to5Google said that they learned from sources that users can still return to the home screen by tapping the Home button that looks like a small pill, without having to swipe up to return to the home screen like on the iPhone X.

This is why the virtual key on Android P is not placed right below the screen, in order to give users more space to tap, but the problem is that this still does not optimize the display space of the screen.

In addition, the reason why this Home button still supports tap operation is that in the current version of the Android system, in addition to calling out Google Assistant by voice, long pressing the Home button is another more commonly used way to call out, and this operation has also been retained.

Obviously, Google may not have found a better way to manually call out Google Assistant. Of course, on Google Pixel 2, you can call out Google Assistant by squeezing the phone frame, but on iPhone X, in order to get closer to the best full-screen experience, Apple has given the task of calling out Siri to the power button, but it is really uncomfortable to use.

You may have noticed the back button on the left side of the navigation bar in the screenshot. According to 9to5google, this button will automatically hide on the home screen, but it is not clear how it will be presented and used in other interfaces. In addition, it may be completely abandoned in the official version of Android P. In the beta version before the official version, it is very likely to exist as a convenience for developers to debug the system.

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What is certain is that the next generation of Android operating system will introduce gesture operation, and the addition of gesture operation to native Android will also provide full-screen gesture operation specifications for the entire Android camp. After all, the gesture solutions of many OEM manufacturers are different, some are easy to use, and some are too complicated.

Gesture operation is currently the only way for users to get a full-screen experience, but judging from the leaked content, Google seems to be still relatively conservative on the road to full-screen.

Title image and some sub-images: 9to5Google, AndroidPolice