Motorola schools Android P on how to make swipe navigation good

Motorola schools Android P on how to make swipe navigation good

Google's upcoming Android P software has nothing on the humble Motorola Moto Z3 Play, Moto G6 and Motorola's other phones for 2018, for one simple reason. You can swipe left to go back.

Android P, now in its third and final beta, is Google's vision of the next version of its Android operating system. This is the software that will eventually run on most Android phones around the world. Android P embraces swipe gestures over the traditional three button navigation we've seen since the very beginning of Android phones. With Android P, a slider control lets you swipe right to open your recent apps and press it once to go Home. 

But if you want to go Back, you have to press a separate Back button to do so. Android P's Back button supports apps that require it, and it only appears when you can actually use it. Otherwise it doesn't show up.

This change is interesting and important because Android P will bring Android phonemakers a unified look and feel that they can riff on. Android P will also be the basis of 2018's Google Pixel phones, and of phones that run the more "pure" Android One operating system, which is about as Googly as you can get without being a Google phone.

Google's Android P swiping navigation lags behind Apple's novel iPhone X gestures by about a year. Those gestures -- added because Apple completely removed the iconic home button from the iPhone X's face to maximize screen size -- will no doubt be expanded to additional iPhone and iPad models as the iPhone X-style design moves further through Apple's line, as rumored.

Now as Google attempts to catch up to the iPhone in screen navigation and support for the notch screen design, a wave of Android phones will shift to adopt gesture navigation, too.  

But while Google hammered out what it wanted to do, phonemakers like Motorola, OnePlus, Xiaomi and others have already dreamed up their own formats for gesture navigation. Motorola's option, which it calls one-handed navigation, relies on a single virtual button that has an elegance and economy of movement that Android P's software lacks.

You can swipe right on Android P, but you can't swipe left.

James Martin/CNET

Gesture navigation helps free screen space of unnecessary digital and physical buttons. Swiping to get around can also feel more natural and fluid than hunting for buttons. 

But although Google's design works, in the strictest sense of the word, phones like the Moto Z3 Play manage to pack everything you want to do into a single onscreen slider button.

In comparison, the placement of Android P's back button on the left of the phone, next to a home button you can slide right, adds up to a clunky, asymmetrical experience.

On the Moto Z3 Play, the actions look like this:

• Short press - Home
  
• Long press - Launch Google Assistant
  
• Swipe left - Back
  
• Swipe right - Recent apps
  

Google Product Manager Allen Huang recently addressed the Android team's position on Reddit:

HOME and BACK are so central to Android navigation (both the system and the apps) - that ensuring the dependability of them via buttons with enough space led us to the current design. All that said - we really value both the aesthetic and functional appeal of a smaller nav bar / more gross-gesture navigation and are continuing to explore opportunities to bring that in.

It sounds like the Android P Back button could still get the heave-ho.

Once upon a time, Google owned Motorola. I used to credit that association with Motorola phones' long history of smart software additions. But Team Motorola, which is now owned by Lenovo, has proven it has its own ideas. It's clear that Google still has much it can learn about software from the hardware brand it once brought into its fold.

This story first posted July 31, 2018 and updated Aug 1.

Read now: Apple iOS 12 versus Google Android P: Guess who's winning now 

Read next: Google: We'll officially name Android P 'soon'

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Save Big on a New Phone for Prime Day: Google Pixel 6, Motorola Edge and More

Save Big on a New Phone for Prime Day: Google Pixel 6, Motorola Edge and More

This Prime Day, Amazon is offering deals on some of CNET's favorite Android phones, including the Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, OnePlus 10 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. If you're taking advantage of today's deals, don't forget to check out our Prime Day live blog and anti-Prime Day deals at competing outlets.

When shopping for a new device, consider your budget and what matters most to you in a phone. Do you care about having the best camera, or do you mostly use your phone for reading and streaming Netflix? Are you planning to hold on to your phone for the next three to five years, or do you usually upgrade every two years? These questions can help shape your decision, and you can read more about how to find a new phone in our full guide.

Patrick Holland/CNET

The combination of price, design, cameras, processor and software make the Google Pixel 6 one of the best value phones you can buy. The Pixel 6 exemplifies the best of what Google services and Android 12 have to offer. Google updated the design, added new camera hardware and even made its own processor for the phone, the Tensor chip.

Read our Pixel 6 review.

Google

The Google Pixel 6 Pro's unique design, great software additions, superb camera quality and solid all-round performance have already earned the phone an excellent rating in our full review. With performance that's every bit as good as its design, it's the best phone Google has ever made. The main camera is on par with the best iPhones. And at $699 for the base 128GB model in this sale, it trounces its premium phone rivals in price.

Read our Google Pixel 6 Pro review.

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

The OnePlus 10 Pro earned a good score in our review thanks to its slick design, its powerful performance, long battery life and its price tag, which undercuts its main rivals. It needs a few improvements -- most notably to the camera, charging and waterproofing -- but this flagship offers a great overall experience. If you're after a top-end 5G phone that's a bit different to your friends' iPhones and Galaxy phones then it's a solid option to consider.

Motorola

We praised the Motorola Edge for its long battery life and smooth screen, which can boost its refresh rate up to 144Hz. Our biggest complaint about the Edge was that it didn't do enough to stand out against competitors at its normal price of $700. But it's still a solid overall choice for those who prioritize having a fluid screen and long battery life above all else in a phone, even if that means settling for a camera that's just average. Read more in our full Motorola Edge review.

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If you're looking for a good budget phone that comes with a basic stylus and support for 5G, then the Moto G Stylus 5 is a great pick. The cell phone features a stylus that you can store inside the phone along with a built-in Notes app to help with productivity. This phone also offers a 48-megapixel main camera, a spacious 6.8-inch screen and a large 5,000-mAh battery. 

Read our Moto G Stylus 5G review.

Looking for something else this Prime Day? Check out our roundups of the best deals under $50 and best deals under $25.

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Motorola Moto X Play review: A brilliant, customisable phone at a low price

Motorola Moto X Play review: A brilliant, customisable phone at a low price

Motorola has defined itself in recent years by sticking to cheap-but-awesome phones that focus on customisable designs and dependable performance rather than envelope-pushing features. The Moto X Play is no exception.

This 5.5-inch phone handset rocks a full HD display, a great 21-megapixel camera, a meaty processor and a version of the Android Lollipop operating system that's free of the painful bloatware most companies insist on installing. Add a splash-proof body that protects the internals from all kinds of spilled drinks, and the option to wildly customise the colours of the phone to suit your exacting tastes and you've got yourself one hell of a smartphone.

The cherry on the top of this already delicious dessert is the affordable price. In the UK, you can pick up the Play directly from Motorola (building it yourself using the Moto Maker tool) for £280, with 16GB of storage. The Play launched in August in 55 countries, although the US was not one of them just yet -- there, Motorola is instead pushing the larger Moto X Pure Edition (called the Moto X Style outside of the US). For reference, its £280 price converts to about $435.

In Australia, the X Play is a Vodafone exclusive, but is only available in black. You'll pay AU$5 per month on the AU$40 plan over two years (minimum cost is AU$1,080). Motorola has mooted the idea of a version coming direct to retail at a later stage, possibly for AU$569, but says this is "to be confirmed."

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

The Moto X Play sits in the middle of Moto's new lineup of handsets, which includes the cheap and cheerful Moto G at the bottom, and the more premium Moto X Pure/Style at the top. The latter is slightly bigger at 5.7 inches, but packs a higher-resolution display and a more powerful processor, and you can have it wrapped in luxurious leather or various types of wood.

Design

• 148 by 75 by 10mm (5.8 by 2.9 by 0.4 inches)
• 169 grams (6 ounces)
• Customisable colours
• Water-resistant

The name Play suits this Moto X model as it looks like the more rough-and-ready sibling of its higher-end X Style. Instead of that phone's leather and wood panelling, the Play's back skin is made from rubberised plastic, with a tyre-tread style pattern. Together with the waterproofing, which I'll come to in a moment, it feels like a phone that's built for a tougher life than simply sitting inside a jacket pocket.

Not that it doesn't look good. My review model of the Play came in the most plain colours available: black and grey, which looks arguably more professional than fun. Using Motorola's Moto Maker online tool, however, it's hugely customisable. There are 14 different colours available for the back panel, with seven colours to choose from for the metal accents. Mix in the choice of a black or white front and the option to add laser engraving to the back for free, and it's possible to tweak your own phone very much to your own tastes.

The resistance to water is a welcome new feature for the Moto X series. The Play isn't designed to be fully submersible, so it's not the phone to take with you on a scuba diving trip -- for that, check out the new Sony Xperia Z5 . What the Play's waterproofing is for is to protect it from spilled drinks in the pub, rain showers or an accidental fall in the toilet. I knocked several cups of water over the phone and it's still working perfectly. It certainly adds a little peace of mind to know that your phone can shake off spills.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

It's not the most compact of phones around, measuring 148mm long and 75mm wide, but it's not so chunky as to be cumbersome to use. It slides neatly into your pocket and its 169 gram weight shouldn't drag your jeans down. You'll find the power and volume buttons, the 3.5mm headphone jack and the Micro-USB port around the edges of the phone, with the SIM card and microSD card slots underneath the back cover. You won't find features like a fingerprint scanner or heart rate monitor, so if that's a deal-breaker for you, you'll need to expand your budget and look toward the Galaxy S6.

The phone is available with either 16 or 32GB of storage space. It's worth opting for the higher-capacity model if you download a lot of big apps -- particularly as it's not a huge amount of extra storage. You can fill up 16GB pretty quickly, and will soon have to rely on popping in external storage cards to store your files.

Display

• 5.5 inches
• 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution

The 5.5-inch display has a full HD (1,920x1,080-pixel) resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 400 pixels per inch. Sure, that's fewer pixels than you'll find on phones like the Galaxy S6 or the LG G4, but it's more than sufficient to make icons and text look crisp and high-resolution photos look good too. It's not a quad-HD display, but for this price, you can't really expect anything more. If you want extra pixels, the 5.7-inch Moto X Style is the phone for you.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

It's a bright display, making it easy to read under the cloudy skies of an average London summer. I wish I could report on how easy it is to use in bright Tuscan sunshine, but all I can say is that it's off to a good start. Colours are vibrant as well, without being too overpowering, making it a great screen for basically anything you'll want to put on it.

Android software and processor performance

• Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
• Near-stock Android with minimal Motorola additions
• 1.7GHz octa-core processor
• 2GB RAM

The Moto X Play runs on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, and Motorola is one of the few companies that doesn't apply its own skin over the top. What you're left with then is pure vanilla Android that's free of all the manufacturer-made nonsense that plagues Sony and Samsung's phones.

Benchmark test comparison

Motorola Moto X Play 8,070 2,143 Motorola Moto G (Late 2015) 4,473 1,609 Motorola Moto X Style (Pure) 19,725 3,528 Huawei Honor 6 Plus 14,270 2,866

• 3DMark Ice Storm (Unlimited)
• Geekbench 3 (Multi-core)

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

Vanilla Android is simple to use and swift to navigate around. What helps is the 1.7GHz octa-core processor stuffed inside the Play's rubbery shell, which is more than capable of handling all your everyday essentials. Apps load quickly, as does the camera, and gaming works well. Angry Birds 2 plays perfectly smoothly, and more demanding titles like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas play without any issue as well.

In performance the phone is certainly no slouch. It achieved a multi-score score of 2,143 on the Geekbench 3 test, putting it above the new Moto G (1,600), although predictably falls short of top-end phones like the Galaxy S6 (4,608). It scored 8,070 on the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited graphics test, again putting it above the Moto G (4,473) and below the Moto X Style (19,725).

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Motorola has thrown in some of its own bits and bobs too. Beyond the Migrate tool, which will help you transfer all your data from your old phone to the new one, you'll find the same voice control features found on the previous Moto X. You can teach the phone to wake up when you say a chosen phrase (mine was "Oi, phone geezer, listen up"). You then can perform searches, open apps or even send messages, without needing to touch the phone at all. I haven't really felt the need to use it, but I can see it being handy if you're baking, for example, and don't want to prod at a phone with sticky cake fingers. When I used it, I was impressed at how easily it recognised my commands.

Camera

• 21-megapixel rear camera
• Dual-tone LED flash
• 5-megapixel front-facing camera

Around the back of the phone is a 21-megapixel camera, which is a huge number of megapixels to find on a phone of this price. It's also a big step up from the 13-megapixel camera seen on the previous Moto X. It's not just about the resolution either, as the Play is capable of taking some great shots.

Motorola Moto X Play camera test, outdoor (click image to see full size) Andrew Hoyle/CNET

This park scene is very well exposed, with a great balance between the bright sky and shadowy areas in the trees.

Motorola Moto X Play camera test, outdoor (click image to see full size) Andrew Hoyle/CNET

The exposure is again spot-on in this scene, with rich, vibrant colours too. The high resolution of the sensor also means there's a ton of detail on the leaves when viewed at full screen.

Motorola Moto X Play camera test, outdoor (click image to see full size) Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Colours are extremely rich in this brightly lit shot of a flower.

Motorola Moto X Play camera test, low-light (click image to see full size) Andrew Hoyle/CNET

In low light, the camera still does a fair job of getting the shot. This scene has come out bright enough to be seen properly and there's not too much noise in the shot either. The colours are rather more muted than I'd like to see though.

Motorola Moto X Play camera test with flash (click image to see full size) Andrew Hoyle/CNET

With the flash on, colours once again pop, and it's achieved an extremely crisp focus on the scene. The flash is not so powerful as to wash everything out.

Motorola Moto X Play front-facing camera test (click image to see full size) Andrew Hoyle/CNET

The 5-megapixel camera on the front also is well-equipped to capture great shots. Even if the person in the shots would perhaps rather be behind the camera than in front of it.

The camera app itself is simple and clean, hiding the settings on a wheel that you swipe in on the screen to view. It's quick and easy to switch between shooting modes or to select video, so you won't miss capturing the adorable moment when you balance a tiny cowboy hat on your dog. You'll also find features like a burst mode, panorama mode, HDR mode and a slow-motion video function too.

Battery

• 3,630mAh non-removable battery

Motorola reckons you can get up to two days of use from its generous battery, which is an impressive boast, and one that I'd say is about accurate. During our battery tests for continuous video playback, it lasted an impressive 15 hours and 45 minutes on average. As such, if you spend all day gaming or streaming video with the screen brightness set to maximum then you shouldn't expect to have power left in the evening, but if you're even reasonably careful, you'll easily get a whole day of use from it.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Keeping the brightness down will be the biggest help to extending battery life, and keeping Wi-Fi and GPS off will help too. If you're cautious with use then you'll be able to whizz past the first day and get through much of the second day too. As with all smartphones though, I'd always recommend giving it a full charge overnight. The battery isn't removable, so you can't swap it out for a fresh one when it finally does conk out.

Conclusion

With its bright, bold display, powerful processor, great camera and water-resistant design, the Motorola Moto X Play isn't just a great phone for the price, it's a great phone, full stop. It's got everything you should expect from a high-end device, and the ability to customise its look is just the icing on the cake.

If you want a splash more luxury, you might want to opt for the Moto X Style (or Pure), with its customisable leather or wood back. But at £399 or $399, you're shelling out a lot more cash than those extra features justify. That's why, if you're after an affordable high-performing phone to tackle all your everyday tasks, the Moto X Play is a brilliant choice. It's a better value for your money, which is why it snags a slightly higher rating than we gave the X Pure Edition.

There's really very little that even comes close to the Play's value. The HTC One M8s has a full HD display, similar power and a slick-feeling metal chassis, but it mimics the look of last year's flagship phone and costs more at £350 SIM-free ($545 or AU$755 converted, but it still isn't on sale in the US or Australia). The Huawei Honor 6 also has a good screen, its camera performs well and it's similarly priced, but its heavily customised software is far less pleasant to use. The Moto X Play is undoubtedly the phone to go for at this price.

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Samsung Galaxy S II (AT&T) review: Samsung Galaxy S II (AT&T)

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Samsung Galaxy S II (AT&T) review: Samsung Galaxy S II (AT&T)

Editors' note: Portions of this review were taken from our evaluation of the unlocked Samsung Galaxy S II and the Samsung Epic 4G Touch, since the devices share a number of similarities.

The Samsung Galaxy S II is making the carrier rounds, and its next stop is AT&T. Available on October 2 for $199.99 with a two-year contract, the Samsung Captivate successor boasts a faster dual-core processor, sharper display, and better cameras. It more closely resembles the unlocked Galaxy S II than the T-Mobile and Sprint versions, since it features a smaller 4.3-inch touch screen (versus 4.5 inches), but we actually think that's a good thing since it offers a more appealing design. More importantly, the Android Gingerbread device delivers great performance in almost all aspects and earns itself our Editors' Choice Award. If you're an AT&T customer looking for an Android smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S II would certainly be our top choice.

Design
The Samsung Galaxy S II joins AT&T's lineup as the carrier's thinnest (oh, if only we got a dollar for every time we heard that superlative) 4G smartphone. The handset measures 4.96 inches tall by 2.6 inches wide by 0.35 inch thick--a whole 0.1mm thinner than the Infuse 4G, if you're counting. The difference in thickness is negligible, but still, the Galaxy S II is much easier to hold and pocket since it's not as wide or as tall as the Infuse or the Sprint and T-Mobile versions of the phone.

This is because the AT&T Galaxy S II has a smaller 4.3-inch (versus 4.5 inches) touch screen. Screen size is certainly a personal thing, but we found 4.3 inches to be enough to comfortably view Web pages, video, and messages. Plus, the AMOLED Plus, 800x480-pixel display shows off deep colors and sharp images and text.

The touch screen is responsive. The smartphone offers several virtual keyboards, including Android, Samsung, and Swype. It registered all our taps, and we were able to easily navigate through the menus. In addition to using the standard touch interface, you can also use motion gestures. With the settings turned on, you can flip the phone to mute it. With two fingers on the screen, you can tilt to zoom in and out in the photo gallery and browser. Flicking your wrist left or right (panning) can move a home screen icon when you're holding it. However, panning and zooming weren't as responsive as we'd like. While most of the motion controls may not figure into your daily use, this type of gesture functionality adds welcome options in general. You can also perform certain tasks, such as composing and sending a message, calling a contact, and launching the music player, using voice commands with the Vlingo-powered Voice Talk app.

Below the screen, you'll find the menu, home, back, and search buttons. On the left side, there's a volume rocker and a power/lock button on the right. The top of the device houses a 3.5mm headphone jack, and the bottom features a Micro-USB port.

Just above the screen in the left-hand corner is a 2-megapixel camera for video calls; the main 8-megapixel camera and flash sit on back. The microSD expansion slot is located behind the very flimsy plastic battery door. The latter aside, the Galaxy S II feels nice in the hand, and because of its more manageable size, we think it will be an attractive option for a wider audience than the Infuse 4G or other Galaxy S II models.

AT&T packages the Samsung Galaxy S II with just the basics: an AC adapter, a USB cable, and reference material.

User interface
The Samsung Galaxy S II runs Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread along with Samsung's latest TouchWiz 4.0 user interface. We're often less enthusiastic about custom interfaces; they sometimes add unwanted complexity and unremovable apps, and are usually slower to update to new OS versions. However, TouchWiz 4.0 has a few things going for it: some carryovers from previous versions of TouchWiz. There are seven home screens, for example, and the notification pull-down menu has icons for easily turning on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, flight mode, and screen rotation.

Customizing the home screens is made easier with a carousel-like setup that lets you move through the various panels to add and remove shortcuts and widgets at the same time. Previously, you had to do a long-press on one screen to change it and then repeat the process if you wanted to change another page. You can also now resize Samsung Live Panel widgets, and there's a more fluid motion when scrolling through widget lists and home pages.

Some of the changes are purely cosmetic, but they certainly add some polish to the UI. There are also some useful additions as well, such as an integrated task manager that displays all your active applications, downloaded apps with the option to uninstall, RAM status, and system storage. Also great: the ability to now capture screenshots by simply pressing the power button and home key simultaneously.

Features
The quad-band Samsung Galaxy S II offers a speakerphone, conference calling, voice dialing, video calling, and text and multimedia messaging. The smartphone is compatible with AT&T's HSPA+ network and can be used as a mobile hot spot for up to five devices. Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), and GPS are also onboard.

As we noted earlier, it is running Gingerbread and all of Google's services are accounted for: e-mail, maps, voice navigation, search, chat, Places, Latitude, and YouTube, plus basic tools like a calendar, a calculator, an alarm clock, a world clock, a stopwatch, and a timer. In addition, Samsung and AT&T have preloaded the phone with a number of extras, including the Quickoffice suite, Kies Air (a Wi-Fi-based PC-to-phone sync manager), AT&T Navigator, AT&T Code Scanner, and Yellow Pages Mobile. We're not a fan of having so much bloatware on the phone, but thankfully, AT&T now gives you the option to uninstall some of its apps, such as AT&T FamilyMap and Live TV.

There is no shortage of entertainment options on the Galaxy S II. In addition to the built-in music and video player, the smartphone offers Samsung's Media Hub where you can download movies and TV shows to rent or own. You can also shoot your owns videos and photos with the handset's 8-megapixel camera, which is capable of 1080p HD video capture. The camera app has plenty of tools, such as effects, white-balance controls, ISO settings, and more. Samsung also throws in a photo and video editor, which we appreciate. The video editor is particularly great, since it makes it easy to piece together clips with different effects and music, all from right on your phone.

Picture quality was impressive. Even under less-than-ideal lighting conditions, the camera produced bright, detailed, and clear images, and camera performance was fast. Video quality was also very good. Again, colors looked vibrant and there was very little blurring and pixelation, even during action sequences. Once you're done capturing media, you can store files to the Galaxy S II's 16GB of internal memory or to an SD card (expansion slot accepts up to 32GB). You can also share via the usual social network channels or to your HDTV using DLNA or with an HDMI adapter.

Performance
We tested the quad-band Samsung Galaxy S II in New York using AT&T service and call quality was excellent. We enjoyed clear audio with very little to no background noise. Occasionally, callers sounded a bit muffled, but overall, the voices sounded true to life without any kind of distortion. Friends were also impressed with the sound quality and didn't have any major complaints.

Samsung Galaxy S II call quality sample Listen now:

Speakerphone quality wasn't quite as good. Callers said they could hear a bit of an echo, and on our end, they sounded far away and there was barely enough volume to hear them in noisier environments. We were able to pair the smartphone with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset and Mobile S9 Bluetooth Active Headphones and make calls and listen to music without any problems.

We didn't experience any dropped calls during our review period. Data speeds on AT&T's HSPA+ network, which the carrier calls 4G, were OK, but not a standout compared with competing carriers' 4G networks. Using Ookla's Speedtest.net app, we averaged download speeds of 2.36Mbps and 1.12Mbps up. With such speeds, CNET's full site loaded in 20 seconds, and the mobile sites for CNN and ESPN came up in 5 seconds and 7 seconds, respectively. The phone was able to load and play high-quality YouTube videos in a couple of seconds, and playback was smooth and continuous.

Equipped with Samsung's 1.2GHz dual-core Exnyos processor, general performance on the Galaxy S II was fast and powerful. Navigating the phone was zippy, and we were able to launch apps and switch between tasks with ease. Whether it was playing games or viewing Flash content, the smartphone was up to the challenge.

The Samsung Galaxy S II ships with a 1,650mAh lithium ion battery with a rated talk time of 8 hours and up to 16 days of standby time. The Galaxy S II provided an impressive 10 hours of continuous talk time in ourbattery drain tests. According to FCC radiation tests, the Galaxy S II has a digital SAR rating of 0.36W/kg and a Hearing Aid Compatibility rating of M3.

Conclusion
As we've already seen from the other series models, the Samsung Galaxy S II is an excellent Android smartphone, and it makes for a great addition to AT&T's lineup. The carrier already has a number of other great Android devices, such as the Samsung Infuse 4G, Motorola Atrix 4G, and HTC Inspire 4G, but the Galaxy S II brings the total package of an attractive design, great set of features, and solid performance to make it the top pick and Editors' Choice winner.

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