Android 10 has finally rolled out to Android devices after several months of beta updates. The search engine giant released the public build of Android 10 last September 3. The final version of Android Q does not really differ from the last two betas, and is now available to almost all Android devices.
Android 10 offers a plethora of goodies like the dark mode, enhanced permission controls, and new theme alternatives. More importantly, the latest Android build introduces the latest fully gestural navigation system. Surprisingly, OnePlus is a revelation in the Open Beta of the Android-based OxygenOS where it provided its very own take of the new navigational gestures.
According to Android Central, the tweaked gestures of OnePlus devices are extremely superior compared to the gestures that Google is pushing on its users. The report claim that the main functionality of the gestures is similar, including swiping up and holding to gain access to the recent apps page. It also uses the left or right edge swipe to allow users to go back.
Interestingly, the gestures of OnePlus seem to be a little bit tweaked, especially in the back gesture, which makes it less infuriating to execute. The new back gesture breaks the hamburger menus in several apps, and the solution that the search engine giant provided requires two different approaches. One is by holding your finger on the edge of the screen, wait for the menu to the surface and swipe all the way.
The other is by using your two fingers to bring out the smartphone's menu. Many users find both gestures not good. With OnePlus getting the Android 10 update, the back gesture is executed by simply swiping anywhere from the bottom 80 percent of the device's screen's edge. Swiping over from the top 20 percent will allow the slide-out menu to peek.
Additionally, OnePlus gestures enable users to utilize new gestures with third-party apps or launchers. This is not the case with Google's new gestures. If you try making the same gestures to third-party launchers, you will be redirected to the old three-button navigation system. According to the search engine giant, it will develop additional gesture support to third-party launchers in the future, but obviously, we don't know when that will be.
Rumors have it that Google is having this particular issue because of too much gestures integration with the Google Pixel launcher. But, this is just a rumor and Google has not confirmed about this. Whatever the reason for this, it's just disappointing that OnePlus was able to offer better support for this.
