Google shared a new post on the Android Developers blog with a screenshot of a new feature for DNS over TLS. However, the nav bar looked different than what we’re used to. The company quickly edited the screenshot to remove the nav bar but it’s too late. As we all know, you can’t remove anything from the internet.
This nav bar has a back button (just an outline, like on older versions) and a blob instead of a home button. The recent tasks button is entirely missing. It’s an odd look, but it’s a bit reminiscent of the bar at the bottom of the iPhone X. Could this be an early implementation of gesture controls?
In the current implementation, it makes no sense. If you have an area dedicated to a navigation bar, why use gesture controls when the buttons are more simple? Why take a simple tap and make it into a gesture? Future implementations may be better, but this makes absolutely no sense as it doesn’t save space or time.
Of course, we look forward to what Google has in store for us. Not every change in Android is for the best but we hope Google can figure gesture controls out if we’re really headed down that path.
Is this another reason to not look forward to Android P? There’s plenty of controversy over the cartoony new theme as well as the clock being on the left of the status bar, so we’re not running short on controversy. Let us know what you think in the comments!