Related
(please delete the other thread)
N1 suffers from one simple but debilitating hardware limitations - lack of hardware buttons.
Since trackball clicking is rarely used, it would be nice to assign a different function to it.
The first function coming to mind has to do with the fact that the device is a phone -
make trackball into a "Send" button.
This is what it should do:
1) whenever not in the dialer app, clicking trackball should bring up/start the dialer.
2) when in the dialer app, and a phone number was entered, clicking trackball should dial the number.
3) when there's an incoming call, clicking the trackball should answer the call.
I know some people with arthritis who would kill for such an app.
Thanks.
If such an app. were to be created, how about the case where the foreground process requires the use of the trackball click? Then every time you clicked it, the phone dialer would load.
I also don't personally thing the Android APIs would allow such a global hook (w/o root), but I'm not the best dev. out there so I'll let the more experienced respond to that one.
jayshah said:
If such an app. were to be created, how about the case where the foreground process requires the use of the trackball click? Then every time you clicked it, the phone dialer would load.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that's the whole point.
You mean like a game? So far, games might be the only programs where you HAVE to use trackball for functionality.
I think all other programs allow touch screen input in place of the trackball.
Since I never use the trackball for anything, and I've seen a number of comments with the same sentiment (ie "trackball is useless"), I'd gladly trade the entire trackball function (including moving the cursor with the ball) for the ability to have a hardware "send" button.
I'll personally pay 50 dollars to a man/woman who can make this work. Then they can collect the money from thousands of market goers who'd would prefer a useful hardware button over a useless one.
Just a small bump.
why is this in the development section?
/sarcasm
jesus people your right stuff like this should be posted next to / under/ above threads like Cyanogen and Amon_RA
And how would you handle the movement of the ball when it rolls? I find when in recovery, it doesn't take much for the trackball movement to register and overshoot the options I am aiming for if not careful. Obviously a sensitivity setting would be the recourse for such a dilemma but still...or were you thinking that anything beyond buttonOn (false function obviously) is ignored?
Technically you could go as far as to have the tracball pressed trigger the dialer. From there you can scroll to call log, contacts, favourites using the trackball and then scroll down if you so desire.
I do find it odd that the phone has this hardware button and rarely is it actually used.
I think being able to touch the trackball and force the phone out of sleep is a sound expectation for this phone...the fact it isn't there is odd.
just get a sense or blur rom, that fixes everything
PsychoKilla666 said:
just get a sense or blur rom, that fixes everything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hahaha...
in other news, plenty of people have no interest in senseUI
One more bump.
Someone should really write this program.
Using the trackball to bring the phone in and out of sleep would drain your battery. That trackball is way to easily pressed (ie in your pocket) to be of any use as that function, but I would love the phone/send function. Would be wonderful as I hate having a phone shortcut on my homescreen.
Would be willing to pay or donate as well.
APrinceAmongMen said:
Using the trackball to bring the phone in and out of sleep would drain your battery. That trackball is way to easily pressed (ie in your pocket) to be of any use as that function, but I would love the phone/send function. Would be wonderful as I hate having a phone shortcut on my homescreen.
Would be willing to pay or donate as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. One of very few people who seem to understand this problem.
Anyway, the community's reluctance to implement this feature is a seeming indication of difficulty to do it. Maybe Android OS isn't that flexible; or maybe it's just too new, so people haven't really learned yet how to do things with it.
After all, the Win Mobile OS has been around for ages, and sure enough, as soon my Sprint Touch Pro2 was released, I had an app to rebind all the keys to whatever function I wanted.
Perhaps, in the future, we will see an Android app like the one I want. But, to my greatest disappointment, it may be years...
bump bump bump
I'll bump it one more time.
Any progress with this feature?
Another month has passed...
Has any developer figured out if it'd even be possible to make an app like that?
Thanks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itIPS3U2bf8&feature=player_embedded
Another KB with no voice icon.
Seems buggy on N1 , and IMO awful for fast typing... but like the potential
Very awful for fast typing. I rather type with swype or HTC IME
Yeah i gave this a try for about 2 seconds.
In THEORY it sounded like a good idea.
In practice tho, horrible.
The layout shifts as you are typing (which i thought would have been cool), causing keys to move around on you as you type.
If you type fast (like i assume many of us do) you will type faster then then layout shift can keep up, and when you go to hit the "E" key (or whatever), you've seen where the "E" key is, your mind has registered it, and your finger is already moving for that spot... THEN IT MOVES as your finger is in mid-air, heading for that spot you already registered in your head.
Like i said, in theory, a grand idea.... in practice tho, terrible.
stshannon said:
The layout shifts as you are typing (which i thought would have been cool), causing keys to move around on you as you type.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, thats the part that really made it unusable for me. I kept trying to type "night" and it kept coming out "noghe" or something like that.
I like swype's abilities, but i wish it handled regular typing a bit better than it does now, cause i dont always feel like swyping everything. I mean it works pretty good as a regular keyboard too, but its not completely spot on all the time.
The phone interface totally sux! Is there anything better out there? When I get a call I have to drag the thing over to answer. This is very hard to do with 1 hand. Also half the time the screen goes black and I have to unlock it or whatever. Is there any way to just tap to answer?
Making calls is 10 times worse, you have to unlock the phone, find the phone app, open your contacts, tap your contact, tap make call, and then tap call!! It’s like I have to type a freaking paragraph just to make a call! Is there any way to just press one button to open the phone and then press 1 button to speed dial??
Also I turned on Google Voice to make all my calls. It nice and I know how to turn that off, but now all my incoming calls it says "incoming call from so-and-so... Press 1 to accept" so I have to tape the dial pad, and then tap 1, adding 2 more taps just to answer a freaking call! How do I turn that off?
I love everything else about this PDA, but the phone sux! Please help...
---signed, frustrated
P.S. I think I used less key strokes typing all this than I need to to make a call! lol
Any chance they will improve this interface in v2.2??
Very constructive. And I see it’s your 11th post. It’s not a matter of being impatient. It’s a matter of missing calls because its nearly impossible to do while driving, walking a dog with a leash in one hand, caring groceries, almost every real life situation that keeps you from using both hands on your phone. And as I described it’s a lot more than the 1 swipe.
If you don’t agree with me you don’t need to reply but I find the swipe open to be unacceptable and I'm asking if there is another interface out there that is just a tap open. Or a way to map a hard key to answer the freaking phone!
I'm sitting here at my work phone calling myself over and over to "practice" answering with the swipe. I can do it with one hand but it’s a pain in the ass and just thoroughly a really, really bad design. There has to be an app or mod or something that does away with this.
I just saw the new "Rule the air" Droid commercial. Cool commercial... Notice the one thing they didn’t show anyone doing? Getting or making a call!!!
All these new devices are fantastic PDAs with a really bad phone function slapped on top...
BTW with an 2.2 Froyo official release or rom, when the call comes up theres no need to unlock or swipe, just a click of a button.
What are you running 2.1, 2.01/0 or 2.2? Why don't you try finding an app on the store or searching here? You never know....
So I literally called myself 10 times and practiced answering the phone with one hand. Then I went out to bars and got actual calls and it was like impossible to answer them. That drag thing is just ridicules!! You have to drag it all the way across the screen!! Cany they at least meet me half way?? Even with 2 hands it’s hard to answer!!
Come on, you guys all know this is true. This design is just awful!
I understand why they did it, so when you get a call while it’s in your pocket it doesn’t tap against something and answer when you don’t know it… but it’s just terrible!! And like I said making calls is even worse. It’s like a ton of taps so there is no way to make a call while driving.
The Bluetooth headset would help but we all know anyone that actually uses that looks like a total D-bag..
So here is my solution… Someone will make a killing on this and it will make a mockery of the Android phone interface at the same time. We need a little, lightweight Bluetooth dumb phone that has physical answer and hang-up buttons as well as the full number pad that you can assign speed dials too like a NORMAL F-ING PHONE!! If this was out there on the market I would pay $100 easy for! Leave your brilliant PDA that sucks as a phone in your pocket and use the Bluetooth handset to actually make and take calls like a normal human!!
1. how tiny are your hands that you can't slide the bar down with your thumb?
2. i think there's an app called dialer one that will open a keypad where you can see all your contacts and spell their names out with the numberpad to make it easier
Just because some of you don't have the same issues as the OP doesn't give any of us the right to respond in this manner.
The OP has been called dumb, amateur, told he shouldn't have a smartphone; and the list goes on.
I personally have the EVO; there's not a damn thing wrong with my hands and I come from a very long time of smartphones. MORE times than I can count, I'm swiping the screen and not a damned thing is moving. By the time it unlocks, the caller is gone.
So until you have the same problem, some of you might want to get your head out the clouds and stop replying like these *smart* phones are perfect and the people using them are too dumb to know what they're doing.
On HTC phones with Sense you simply press a button to answer. No swiping. I'm surprised there's no app out there to do this on other Android phones.
Just cleaned this thread. All deleted posts are in violation of rule 2.
Please be aware of the rules before posting. Nothing constructive to say; then don't post!
WB
gtg465x said:
On HTC phones with Sense you simply press a button to answer. No swiping. I'm surprised there's no app out there to do this on other Android phones.
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Click to collapse
I have to slide to answer my phone if it's locked before I get a call. I prefer the swipe because I don't want to accidentally answer a call while the phone is in my pocket. That said, I would recommend the op check out the app I mentioned or root his phone and find a sense based rom
there are apps for this kind of problem search market and google
gtg465x said:
On HTC phones with Sense you simply press a button to answer. No swiping. I'm surprised there's no app out there to do this on other Android phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do not be surprised, because there is an app to achieve this. It is called ed's Droid Tools.
I've used Gesture Search (by Google) since it was released on the Market for finding and calling and/or texting my contacts. Put it on your home screen, then when you want to call somebody, open Gesture Search then write their first initial with your finger (or thumb) then touch the phone icon to call or the message icon to text. Works well for me. Never tried it driving, but then again, I'm one of those guys who yells at idiots who drive and talk on their cell at the same time (it's illegal here).
The standard Droid UI doesn't have a skin, so you get the basic Android dialer. While I don't think the slide-to-answer is all that bad, I'm also coming from a Blackberry Storm, which was wicked-terrible when it came to doing... well anything, so I don't complain much about the stock android experience. One thing Android is good for though, is allowing UI replacement apps (ala Dialer One) so poke around the Market and I'm sure you can find something that changes the answer experience for you.
Love windows
Love windows
i am also fooled by android
power user any thing u want to do go with windows mobile
Droid9 said:
The phone interface totally sux! Is there anything better out there? When I get a call I have to drag the thing over to answer. This is very hard to do with 1 hand. Also half the time the screen goes black and I have to unlock it or whatever. Is there any way to just tap to answer?
Making calls is 10 times worse, you have to unlock the phone, find the phone app, open your contacts, tap your contact, tap make call, and then tap call!! It’s like I have to type a freaking paragraph just to make a call! Is there any way to just press one button to open the phone and then press 1 button to speed dial??
Also I turned on Google Voice to make all my calls. It nice and I know how to turn that off, but now all my incoming calls it says "incoming call from so-and-so... Press 1 to accept" so I have to tape the dial pad, and then tap 1, adding 2 more taps just to answer a freaking call! How do I turn that off?
I love everything else about this PDA, but the phone sux! Please help...
---signed, frustrated
P.S. I think I used less key strokes typing all this than I need to to make a call! lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey dude
to help you out with your dialing problem all you have to do is put the phone/contacts app on your homescreen. the way you described calling the contact is the same way you'd have to do it on almost every other phone so don't act like its a huge task.
organize your homescreens to your preference so that it could make your life easier.
also you can add people to your favorites list so you dont have to scroll through your whole contact list.
as for answering calls, its not that bad. you just gotta hold that green button and slide your finger over. I don't understand how that's difficult or why you'd need practice
phone doesn't suck at all bud
Hi There,
I was thinking of getting one of those because most of my calling during driving...
do you advice me to do so? i mean is the hardware bad? or it is just a matter of waiting for sometime to get an update solving all these problems?
Thank you in advance.
Ok as some of the members of this forum may know I got off to a shaky start with my Android wear watch (a Sony SW3).
I've now had it about four weeks and have over come the major problems I initially had, so I thought I would start a tread highlighting the things I love and the things I hate so others can assess if a smart watch is for them.
Firstly, what I love:
- Reading messages from Text, Email, Whatsapp and Messenger
It's so simply to just quickly look at my wrist see if I'm interested, if not I delete, if I am, may read further on the watch or if the message is to long, find my phone and continue there.
- Voice control
A really unexpected plus for me. I thought 'OK Google' was a bit of a gimmick at first, but how wrong could I have been. It's fantastic (OK, I feel a bit of a nerd saying OK Google to get it started, but that's a tiny problem). Driving and going to be late, OK google, Send text message to XXXX, then speak your message eg ' Sorry running late will be with you in 30 minutes. The translation is actually pretty accurate and it's done, you don't have to take your eyes off the road!
- It's an accurate watch, not sure where it gets it's time from but I guess it comes from the phone which in turn gets the time from the network which means no more setting, not running fast or slow. Not sure how it works when you change time zone though but I'll find that out soon enough.
- It's waterproof. Don;t forget to turn the touch screen off, but I've now been swimming with it, I regularly shower with it. Not a hint of a problem.
- Control you music system. I use Sonos around my home and I can turn the volume up and down, change track. Ok it's limited but it still an unexpected benefit.
- Control Bluetooth music with Spotify. Really a feature best used in the car. There's an app that will fire up Spotify on your phone which in turn will use the blue tooth audio to connect to your car. No more digging around to find you phone, unlock it, fire up spotify, find your play list etc etc etc.
- Incoming calls. Nice feature as I can decide if I want to take the call without having to find my phone to see who's calling.
What I hate (ok hate is a bit strong, but)
- The UI I think is not properly thought through You have al these options, tilt to wake, tilt to scroll through cards. Clumsy at best and a battery drain at worst (tilt to wake particularly) Even the touch screen to wake is not that cleaver as it can be operated but a lot of things touching the screen not just me, eg a sleeve, particularly one that is damp
- Voice control Ok I know I've said above that voice control is fantastic but it has one major down side, it needs internet connectivity. If it doesn't have it, it just doesn't work! Wish it would use the processing power of my phone to process voice.
- Wifi, ok I accept this is probably a bug, but wifi doesn't currently work properly, for some reason it will drain all the all the battery for no apparent reason and it does it very fast. I've now turned it off and only turn it on on the occasions because it's great to have full functionality
- Screen, the screen is fine, but that's damming it with faint praise. I would really like to see a higher quality screen and a little bit bigger would be nice.
- Incoming calls. When rejecting a call, it would be good to be offered a 'rejection message' that is sent via text giving a reason for the rejection.
When rejecting calls you can slide up instead of left por right swipe ano it will show up predefined messages that it will automaticly send to The caller.
::enviado do meu oneplus one via tapatalk::
My complaints (1 month usage) is the app tray feels bloated. Not every app needs to be displayed. Not every app has options set through the watch. Also the layout feels cramped to me. I would prefer some options (icons only, 1x2, list mode, 1x1 mode, text/no text, recent shortcuts at top on/off, etc.)
2. Embedded speaker for taking quick calls without digging for your phone last minute. 1 problem a watch introduces is that your phone starts to be left behind. I now leave my phone on the counter while I buzz around my home. Phone rings, its a mad dash down stairs to find my phone.
3. Some sort of keyboard. I'll take the old school T9 input. Just let me type a few things.
player911 said:
My complaints (1 month usage) is the app tray feels bloated. Not every app needs to be displayed. Not every app has options set through the watch. Also the layout feels cramped to me. I would prefer some options (icons only, 1x2, list mode, 1x1 mode, text/no text, recent shortcuts at top on/off, etc.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download wear mini launcher from the playstore. It's a brilliant replacement that let's you customise the watch to how you want it.
I totally agree with you. I also use Android wear for
Reading messages from Text, Email, Whatsapp and Messenger
Voice control
Agree with some points according to my experience with my old android wear.
Hope my new one will work better.
My most of my complaints are solved with the Asus ZenWatch2. It is a solid upgrade to the LG G Watch. Once Marshmallow drops, we'll get a new app tray and speaker support (Zenwatch2 and Huawei) for calls.
I tried the alt launchers and it doesnt replace the stock launcher but runs over top of it. So it just adds to the chaos. However after the nostalgia wore off, I dont really use apps thus dont need to go into the app drawer.
Keyboard: try FlickKey
player911 said:
3. Some sort of keyboard. I'll take the old school T9 input. Just let me type a few things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try FlickKey Keyboard for Wear. It adds a keyboard to any app that wants to call it. Right now, that is limited to Wear Messenger, Coffee for Wear, and K-9 for Wear - you need one of those messaging apps to be able to use it. BTE, FlickKey is not a T9 style keyboard - it works better than that.
I have tried various keyboards. What I was referring to was an option, by default, in Android wear to have a keyboard input. I don't use any of those apps, thus having a keyboard right now would be irrelevant.
What apps would you like to use a keyboard with?
player911 said:
I have tried various keyboards. What I was referring to was an option, by default, in Android wear to have a keyboard input. I don't use any of those apps, thus having a keyboard right now would be irrelevant.
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Click to collapse
I certainly agree that users should be able to decide for themselves if they want to use a keyboard or not, and which one they want on their smartwatch. What apps would you like to use a keyboard with? FlickKey can be added to any app with just about 15 lines of code. So message the dev who makes the app you want FlickKey in and let them know they can easily add it for free.
I find Android Wear to be very useful - when it works. Performance on my original 360 hasn't been very consistent either but I'm sure the S400 watches fare much better. Seriously though - every Android OEM needs to switch to AMOLED as soon as possible since it's much more suitable for smartwatch use.
I have installed AW on a Samsung Gear 2 (ported to the watch by @biktor_gj) and it runs really great !
Much much better than the default Tizen where it comes with normally.
Since I am using AW, I'm really hooked on it.
I love to be able to navigate with my watch and/or get notifications (from Google Maps) about any traffic jams or hold ups on my route.
I love to be able to use my voice to respond to whatsapp messages or even use my voice to make a new message without even holding my phone.
Really looking forward to the upcoming version (Marshmellow?), which suppose to have speaker support, because the Gear 2 has a build-in speaker.
So that means I can make calls too again from my watch (which is now only possible in Tizen, but not AW).
Hangouts and Messenger and Email (I know there are email clients that support wear and flickkey). I doubt Hangouts or Messanger will get it support.
I've had the Pixel 4a since tuesday and I like it. I've a few observations I thought I'd put here in case anyone else agrees; there's a fix/workaround etc:
1) The speaker isn't too loud and it's only in the last 20% or so of the volume bar that you can hear the difference. They should change the linearity such that there's more control over the sound difference of the last 20% of the range, if that makes sense. Not a big deal.
2) It's annoying that I can't swipe back (ie swipe left from the right edge of the screen) to get rid of the keyboard. Instead a large percentage (10?) of the bottom of the screen is black except for the arrow which closes the keyboard. Waste of space.
3) On a similar note, there's a white line near the bottom of the screen. I guess it's to show that you can swipe up, but I'm not sure. Why would anyone who wasn't sure if they could swipe up see a white line and go "ah - I bet I could swipe up here"? But that's my best guess. And this is on most screens. It's the worst, and the most noticeable, on chrome. You have a full screen site, curving nicely at the top of the screen, and at the bottom the screen starts to curve but then there's the black rectangle, which exists purely to highlight the mystery-white-line-which-might-mean-you-can-swipe-up-here, cuts in, ending the curve and wasting around 5% of the height of the screen. This line doesn't appear in 3 button mode. But isn't the point of gestures that you don't need to waste space on buttons. So...don't waste the space showing me you can swipe up then. There's no swipe down hint, or swiping left/right hint. I don't get it at all. It knows I know you can swipe up, because I've swiped up.
4) Nova launcher problem. It just doesn't stick. Every once in a while it stops being the default launcher and you have to run it again. This has happened on other phones and eventually they fix it. I guess I have to try nova launcher again every month or so. The stock launcher isn't too bad, but:
5) Stock launcher is quite unconfigurable. The 5 icons at the bottom of the screen are sort of like the nova launcher dock (which i always turn off) and are there on every screen.
6) There's a notification history, which is a great idea. If you swiped away a message but then forgot if it was an email, or which whatsapp contact it was, you can see quickly what the most recent message was. You access it via a button under the notification shade which you can press to get at it. But...get this: That button only exists if you currently have unread notifications. If you swiped the last one away, the history button vanishes. You now have to go into settings to read it (why settings? my photos aren't in settings). Why? Who thought that was a good idea? That's when you're most likely to want the history! Doh!
7) Aggressive app killer. This will never change - no matter what google says about ai and machine learning, there's something too complicated about "ok, there's a music player running, playing music, and there are headphones attached, and the headphones are playing music...but...oh, the screen is turned off, which apps can I kill to save battery...well, there's this music player nobody's looking at, that'll do" to ever fix. Really? You're not checking if an app gets reloaded immediately after it gets killed every time it's killed and learning "hmm... it's as if.....he was listening to music and didn't want the app killed?" I guess it's true what they say - most machine learning is just a regex, and this isn't something which can be solved with a regex, so... I've disabled the battery optimisation for this app; time will tell whether that does the trick.
8) Can't disable the sound it makes when taking a screenshot.
9) Google photos can't keep up with quickly deleting a number of photos. To be fair, this happens on the website too. It's odd - you'd think it would be easy. You're not actually doing anything other than marking the fact that a photo is deleted. You're just moving it to the bin; it still exists locally. It's an offline-operation. Why doesn't it just defer until later, or do asynchronously - whatever it's doing. On both web and phone it's so laggy and disorienting that it's easy to end up deleting the wrong photo, the only workaround being to delete literally one picture every 5 seconds. Annoying if you're been taking pics of kids and took a bunch so as to ensure you have at least one without a blur or closed eyes etc.
Well, sounds quite ranty I guess. It's a great phone though - highly recommended. I really bought it for the camera and the fact it's quite a small phone. I recommend the spigen tough armor (sic) case; nice and grippy and feels like it's going to keep it pretty safe.
Maybe these things will be fixed in future updates. I reverted back to 10 and flashed Dirty Unicorns, just a better overall user experience compared to stock at the moment.
I would like to add something: do you also the "bubbles" always appear on the left of the screen even if you have moved them to the right before closing them?
_a! said:
...Well, sounds quite ranty I guess. It's a great phone though - highly recommended. I really bought it for the camera and the fact it's quite a small phone. I recommend the spigen tough armor (sic) case; nice and grippy and feels like it's going to keep it pretty safe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most observations in original post pertain to Android 11 (AOSP) and have little to do with the device itself. My experience on a couple items:
- Nova has yet to crash since updating to Android 11 (stable on A10 too). That said, you likely interact with the launcher in different ways not to mention app portfolio interactions. Should submit a bug report to developer via contact link in Nova settings.
- Not experiencing the same nonlinearity in volume adjustment. Max volume is fine for my tastes but probably would work well as the sole audio source at an Italian wedding
DB126 said:
Most observations in original post pertain to Android 11 (AOSP) and have little to do with the device itself. My experience on a couple items:
- Nova has yet to crash since updating to Android 11 (stable on A10 too). That said, you likely interact with the launcher in different ways not to mention app portfolio interactions. Should submit a bug report to developer via contact link in Nova settings.
- Not experiencing the same nonlinearity in volume adjustment. Max volume is fine for my tastes but probably would work well as the sole audio source at an Italian wedding
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The device runs Android 11, so that's all I can talk about, not what might happen if it ran a different operating system.
I never said nova launcher crashed; just that it stopped being a default launcher by itself a few times.
The white line at the bottom of the screen is annoying! I liked having the option in Oxygen OS to hide it, hopefully that becomes an option on future updates.
Overall I'm really enjoying the phone after coming from the Nord.
_a! said:
The device runs Android 11, so that's all I can talk about, not what might happen if it ran a different operating system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not what I said; no reference to an alternate OS
_a! said:
I never said nova launcher crashed; just that it stopped being a default launcher by itself a few times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Almost always the result of excessive memory pressure (also has nothing to do with the device assuming memory is adequate...which it is on the 4a)
For your issue 4 I guess there's bug in Nova launcher. I had similar issue with Nova, but after switching to Lawnchair it sticks permanently.
Default gesture navigation is surely ****ty. I prefer using old 3-buttons navigation.