The Pixel Fold finally fixes Android’s garbage multitasking UI

Ever since Android 9 Pie’s launch again in 2018, I’ve been furious in regards to the modifications Google made to Android’s latest apps UI. Commonly often known as Overview, the inventory Android UI that shows recently-opened apps is without doubt one of the most ineffective, worst-designed items of UI that Google has ever created.But the Pixel Fold (opens in new tab) seems to be to be altering this for the higher, taking cues from Samsung’s Good Lock (opens in new tab) — one of many causes I’ve most popular utilizing Samsung telephones for years — permitting customers to decide on between a number of apps with a single faucet when multitasking. No scrolling required!But does this symbolize a bigger shift to Android, or is it simply Pixel Fold-specific? We’ve seen groups at Google tweaking and redesigning UIs lots recently — the brand new Google Home app (opens in new tab) is a wonderful instance of this — so I’m definitely hoping it means greater than only one product will get improved.What makes overview so dangerous?(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)All the most effective Android telephones (opens in new tab) assist Google’s glorious gestural navigation bar launched in Android 10. It was a monumental improve from the “pill” launched in, shock, shock, Android 9 Pie. Most of the time when I’m multitasking on a cellphone just like the Pixel 7a (opens in new tab) I’ll simply swipe left or proper on the underside bar till I discover what I would like.But, generally, I wish to return additional than the final 3-4 apps. That’s what Overview was created for or, at the very least, what it as soon as was created for.As a person, I’d anticipate to open up Overview — accomplished by swiping up on the bar and holding for a second — with a view to navigate again to an app that I not too long ago opened. The whole objective of this UI is to maintain me from going again to my residence display and discovering the app I would like once more.Except, all I see after I open Overview is the app I presently have open.(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)Really? You’re severely telling me that somebody at Google’s AOSP group thought a UI constructed for multitasking ought to present the present operating app first?Not solely that, nevertheless it’s the one app you’ll be able to see on the display due to some ridiculously outsized thumbnails. You need to scroll to the left to see the subsequent app and, even then, you’ll be able to’t see additional again than one app at a time.This is a wholly ineffective and ridiculous UI for multitasking. It accomplishes not one of the objectives it is presupposed to be created for and utterly fails its sole objective.To make issues worse, the parents at Android UI design have solely doubled down on this terrible design through the years, taking away the AI-powered steered apps icons on the backside and changing them with buttons to take screenshots or copy textual content.Newsflash: when I’m multitasking, I’m not seeking to take a screenshot. I’m seeking to swap between apps as shortly as attainable.Plus, to open up multiple app at a time, it’s a must to click on on the little icon on the high of every app’s thumbnail view and faucet the break up display button. Why cannot I simply drag the thumbnail of the app to the highest or backside of the display?This whole UI is terrible.(Image credit score: Android Central)If I carry out the identical gesture on an iPhone, I’m introduced with a considerably similar-looking display that differentiates itself in a single very, essential approach: I can see multiple app at a time.Yes, it nonetheless makes use of a horizontal-scrolling carousel on a really vertical show — as soon as once more, a colossal waste of area — however I can at the very least predict how far I’ve to swipe to get to the place I would like within the multitasking carousel. Good luck doing that on most Android telephones.Samsung mounted this a very long time in the past due to Good Lock and I have never ceased applauding their efforts ever since. I simply want it have been accessible with out having to obtain one other app.How the Pixel Fold is fixing it(Image credit score: Michael Hicks / Android Central)The Pixel Fold is lastly fixing Android multitasking for good, and it is not simply doing it by addressing most of my predominant complaints with Overview over the previous 5 years. It’s going one step past that, as properly.Let’s start by visiting the Overview display utilizing the very same gestures I simply used on a Pixel 7a and an iPhone 14.(Image credit score: Android Central)Do you see what simply occurred there? Not solely does the multitasking carousel present multiple app at a time, however a brand-new taskbar seems on the backside of the display — extra on that in a bit. Let’s concentrate on Overview, first.While the energetic app nonetheless exhibits most prominently in the midst of the display — I’m nonetheless asking Google why it thinks this makes any sense in any respect — a fast swipe to the left helps you to swap between as many as six completely different apps at a time. This is extraordinarily just like how I configure Good Lock to run on Samsung telephones and it makes multitasking a lot faster and simpler, regardless of the display dimension or side ratio.As a bonus, the duty switcher now exhibits the app pairs you have made, so you’ll be able to simply swipe between a number of apps at a time when operating apps in break up display.But, wait! There’s extra!(Image credit score: Android Central)Thanks to the work Google and Samsung put into Android 12L, there is a new taskbar that seems on the backside of the show when swiping up — or when opening Overview, as you beforehand noticed.The taskbar acts as a approach to shortly use split-screen mode and run multiple app at a time. Samsung first launched this with the Galaxy Z Fold 4 (opens in new tab) final Fall and I could not consider how a lot simpler it was to split-screen apps due to it.This works precisely because it ought to and precisely as I anticipate it to.Not solely that however dragging content material from one app to a different now seems to work as anticipated, as properly. These aren’t essentially new ideas for Android telephones from producers like Samsung however they’re issues which might be new to Android as a base working system.All I can say is lastly. Thank you for listening, Google, and I hope you resolve that these varieties of fantastic multitasking options make sense for the remainder of the Android ecosystem as an entire, too. Phone offers: Best Buy (opens in new tab) | Walmart (opens in new tab) | Samsung (opens in new tab) | Amazon (opens in new tab) | Verizon (opens in new tab) | AT&T (opens in new tab)