It is a stretch to say that the first device control gestures appeared on the PDA, when you had to pull the slider to scroll through the menu, or even at the time of the appearance of the first computer mouse. But all these gestures did not allow working with the system as a whole, but only controlled some of its functions. With the release of iPhone X, gestures have become a real trend in smartphone manufacturing. All manufacturers began to move away from on-screen and physical buttons en masse, replacing them with swipes. And inexpensive brands even separately emphasize the presence of gestures in the control of their smartphones. It turns out they are really convenient and useful? It turns out so! Moreover, Google has found a new gesture for controlling smartphones in Android 11. This gesture is simple but effective.
Control gestures are really more convenient than buttons.
What will Android 11
While reviewing the early version code Android, 11 XDA noticed a new smartphone control feature. Apparently, Google is still only testing it, but there are no guarantees that the gesture will appear in the final version, which we will see in almost six months.
The essence of the gesture is to double-tap the back of the smartphone. This touch launches a pre-assigned application or one of the selected functions. In this case, the function should work not only for touching the smartphone body. It will even work with cases.
The function was codenamed “Columbus”. How she is associated with the famous seafarer remains a mystery. Although, if it is he who means, then the function should be revolutionary, given what Columbus did for America, where Google itself comes from.
For now, we can assume that this control gesture will be available exclusively for future generations of Google Pixel smartphones. We have already talked about some other exclusive features earlier.
Given the peculiarities of the new control gesture, it can be assumed that it works due to the communication of several sensors, including a gyroscope and an accelerometer. In this case, the company will have to work hard to get the bundle to work correctly, excluding cases when it does not work or, more importantly, does not work by accident.
By tapping on this part of the body, you can call some functions.
So far, only a few functions can be called with such a gesture, but again, there is no guarantee that this list will remain unchanged, both upward and downward. The list of functions looks like this:
- Timer
- Camera launch
- Calling Google Assistant
- Play / pause
- Silent mode
- Snooze alarm
- Reset notifications
How to use gestures
To try the new control gesture, you need to have a Google Pixel smartphone with beta Android 11 for developers installed. There is no exact information yet on which models the update will work. It is precisely known about the Pixel 2 XL and Pixel 4. Perhaps, other smartphones of the line will be added to them.
It is difficult to say how convenient such control will be. On the one hand, new gestures are new features that you can use or not. Everyone chooses for himself. On the other hand, function for function is also a dubious innovation.
At one time this was the case with Active Edge, which at first interested everyone in HTC U11, but somehow did not become widespread, although they still perform some functions just in the Google Pixel.
In any case, it is interesting to look at it, and then we will decide how much we like it and how much we will demand such an opportunity from other manufacturers. Since this is all done programmatically, in contrast to the same active faces (all sensors are already in the smartphone), the appearance of such a gesture from other manufacturers seems quite possible.