Google seems to have finally settled on the gesture navigation system that they deem to be best for Android and are making sure other manufacturers put it at the forefront of their phones.
9to5Google were digging through the latest Google Mobile Services (GMS) agreement which provides manufacturers with the requirements they need to adhere to to be compliant to use Google services. Inside was a section about the gesture navigation systems.
According to the GMS document any manufacturer releasing a device with Android 10 will need to ship it with the classic three button navigation system or Google’s new gesture navigation system. Devices being upgraded to Android 10 are being ‘strongly encouraged’ to keep this setting in place.
Manufacturers’ own navigation systems will need to be hidden away in the settings and not provided as an option for the user in the setup. This does not mean they cannot be included but their own gesture navigation systems cannot be emphasised to the user by the “Setup Wizard or any other method” — which most likely includes those little apps manufacturers include to help you finish the setup based on their own tweaks and customisations.
Another tidbit to come out of the document was the lack of a mention of the older Pixel 2-button navigation — it seems the pill is dead.
Google have obviously done some form of research and determine that going forwards and given their directions to app developers their gesture navigation system works best. It would be difficult for developers to have to code their apps for multiple gesture types from different manufacturers so this way it simplifies the Android apps and makes the gesture use uniform across the ecosystem.
An interesting strong arm move by Google but it makes sense when you consider the app developers and the work they need to put in. What do you think?
