Oliver Haslam·

Android P Multitasking Recent Apps Screen Getting iOS-Like Design, Navigation System Gets Detailed

A couple of days ago, we told you about what appeared to be a new navigation system that would be used in Android P, the next big revision of the Android mobile operating system.

That came following what appeared to be the accidental posting of a screenshot in a Google blog that showed what looked like a new iPhone X-like gesture bar for navigating user interface.

Now we know a little bit more about that navigation system thanks to a report by 9to5Google and just as we thought, that new system will be more gesture-based than the one it will eventually replace.

As we surmised from the screenshot itself, the new centre pill (gesture bar) that will live in the navigation bar will be swipe-able, with a vertical swipe invoking the multitasking screen for recent apps. That screen will do away with the vertical carousel that Android users are familiar with and replace it with a horizontal one. This will resemble the multitasking gesture and imagery that iPhone X and iOS users will be familiar with.

Unlike Apple’s iOS and iPhone X, Android P devices will not allow “home” to be revealed by a swipe. Instead, that pill will be tapped, just as the home button is today.

If you were wondering where Assistant will be, well, it’ll be exactly where it was in Android O – behind a long press of that new pill. Essentially, what we see here is a new gesture replacing the multitasking button in the navigation bar as well as the look of multitasking recent apps UI which now mimics the one like in iOS, and the home button becoming a pill, but beyond that, everything looks like it will work very much as it does now.

That may be comforting or disappointing depending on your stance, but if this is correct, then it may not be the big radical gesture-ridden redesign many had expected.

We’ll admit to being a little disappointed by that.

(Source: 9to5Google)

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