Android’s new multitasking is terrible and should be changed back
I’ve been using the Google Pixel 3 XL since its launch two weeks ago, and I wholeheartedly agree with our review’s
conclusion that the Pixel 3 offers the best Android experience right
now. But there’s one aspect of that Android experience that I can’t
abide, and no, it’s not the gargantuan notch. It’s the appallingly bad
new multitasking system, which is mandatory on this year’s Pixel
generation, foregoing the option of the old familiar Android button trio
as we had with the Pixel 2 on the same Android 9 Pie OS.
On its surface, Google’s new approach to switching
between apps looks a whole lot like the one Apple introduced with the
iPhone X. It relies on swipes and shares two of the same fundamental
gestures: one swipe up from the bottom of the screen brings up the
multitasking overview, while lateral swipes across the bottom navigation
bar flip between apps. Like my colleague Dan Seifert, who argues everyone should copy the iPhone X’s gestures,
I think Apple’s implementation of this approach is gorgeous (in its
animations) and quickly becomes second nature once you figure out the
basics. Google’s, on the other hand, is filled with internal
contradictions and painful annoyances.
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