The new Android multitasking is terrible and should be changed

I've been using the Google Pixel 3 XL since its launch two weeks ago and I totally agree with the conclusion of our review that the Pixel 3 offers the best Android experience currently. But there is one aspect of this Android experience that I can not stand, and no, it's not the gigantic hack. This is the new appalling multitasking system, which is mandatory for this year's Pixel generation, giving up the option of the old trio of Android buttons as we had with the Pixel 2 on the same Android 9 operating system Pie.

In appearance, Google's new approach to switching between apps looks a lot like the one introduced by Apple with the iPhone X. It relies on slippage and shares two of the same basic gestures: a sliding upwards from the bottom of the multitasking presentation screen, while the side scans of the lower navigation bar switch between applications. Like my colleague Dan Seifert, who argues that everyone should copy the gestures of the iPhone X, I think the implementation of this approach by Apple is beautiful (in its animations) and quickly becomes a second nature once you understand the basics. Google, on the other hand, is filled with internal contradictions and painful annoyances.

The first big sin of Google with the implementation of these new gestures in the Android interface is that the company refused to get rid of an old one. The application drawer, the place where you store all the apps you do not need on your home screen, has long been accessible by sweeping from the bottom of the screen. screen. (At least in the Android style of Google.) Now, this same scan is the way to switch to multitasking, which is fine – I do not fear the change – but Google thought it wise to always have a scan to the top to access the application drawer, just a lot longer and horribly unnatural. With a phone the size of the Pixel 3 XL, it's a legitimate exercise for the thumb tendon to scan in full screen.

When I want to access my applications, what tends to happen most often is that I fail to complete the long and tedious scan, go to the multitasking menu, and then make another quick hit to access applications . This may seem minor, but it actually decreases the speed with which I can access my least used applications. Even if I powered these applications with half a dozen home screens or folders, it would take even more time than the previous system of Google, which consisted of scanning and select immediately the desired application. Where once there was fluidity and speed, Google has now introduced frustration.

Picture of James Bareham / The Verge

The simplest aspect of Apple's iPhone X / XS navigation is the way you can slide your finger across the motion bar at the bottom to switch between apps. Google has a drunk version. First, it lacks the fluid animation of the Apple system. In Android Pie, the application window narrows, it slides to the right, and then the application previously used zooms in. This animation is discordant, with this latest application seeming to bounce back to you.

Apple's navigation also allows the user to swipe left and right between applications, while Google simply toggles between the most recently used application and the current application. To go back further, you do not do more scans, you have to place your finger to the right of the navigation bar that appears and works a little like a scroll bar in desktop operating systems. The problem is that I can never judge the appropriate shelf life to access the desired application. With the iPhone, I know that the fifth most recently used application is five thumbs up, I can do it without looking or paying attention to the phone. With Pixel 3, I have to choose very carefully the right moment for the phone to switch between my recently used apps. It's like trying to walk on an ice rink.

Set aside comparisons with Apple's gestural interface, which is still not everyone's favorite cup of tea. What about Google's existing multitasking system in previous Android iterations? There was a dedicated software button to access the multitasking, so no sliding conflict with the application drawer, and I could double press this button to switch to my last used application. It was fast, but more specifically, it was easy to turn into an unconscious habit. The new Google system is neither easy nor natural.

Photo of Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Another undesirable change in Google's latest multitasking view is that basically you only see your current application, with only vertical fragments from the two neighboring applications. In previous versions of Android, you had a stack of vertical applications, which allowed you to press to access older applications faster. Samsung always does, and when I get the Galaxy Note 9 with Android 8.1, I feel like I had an interface improve when changing applications.

In summary, Google has reduced the usability and information density of its multitasking without gaining anything. Even if you believe, as Google does, that the trio of Android software buttons should disappear to simplify the experience and leave more space on the screen for other uses, this is not the case. Was not really the case with the iteration introduced in Android 9 Pie. There is still as much space on the screen by the back and home buttons as in the past with the three previous buttons.

I do not think Google's new multitasking system is an irremediable disaster, but I also do not think it's worthy of being the only default option for the company's signature version on Android on the Pixel 3. Give us back the old option, Google, while you fix the flaws of your new.