sean (1)
Seems to me the edge-drawer was created to enable people to quickly access a handful of their favourite apps, contacts or files without returning to the Home screen to search for what they want.
I’ve not missed not using this feature, and in the screenshots I’ve seen I’ve hated the persistent pulltab on the side of the display to open the drawer.
I have my own solution, one that also deals with other pain points I have with Android smartphones:
- Allow users to pin their favourite apps to the top of their app drawer.
- Have a black navigation bar at the bottom of the display that is almost unnoticeable because it merges with the phone’s chin.
- The nav-bar has three buttons: Back, Home and Recents. Users can customise these buttons by choosing further actions upon double-tap and long-press (split-screen, refresh webpage, etc).
- It also features a Dot (a virtual LED) that lights red when the battery is at 10% or less, and flashes when it reaches 2%.
- Users can swipe up on the nav-bar to reveal the user’s pinned apps (a method that mirrors pulling down the Notification Drawer at the top of the display).
- Swiping up a second time opens the full App Drawer.
- This means that users have – at all times – instant access to their favourite apps, and all other apps with a second swipe.
- For users likes myself that can’t reach the Notification Drawer whilst holding their phone with one hand, the Navigation Drawer can become the new home of the QS tiles, and could either be placed alongside the app icons, or in a separate section by swiping left/right when the drawer is open.
- Swiping in the opposite direction goes to the audio controls if something is playing.
