Samsung recently announced a bunch of new devices, including the Galaxy Note20 series, the Z Fold 2, the Tab S7 duo, and more. The Note20 series runs the company’s One UI 2.5 software, and one feature that the firm’s adaptation of Android 10 finally brings is the ability to use full-screen gesture navigation on third-party launchers. This was confirmed earlier this year by a Samsung Community moderator and is a welcome addition.
One UI 2.0 brought Android’s full-screen gesture navigation feature to Samsung’s Galaxy flagships, along with other improvements such as enhancements to the quick settings panel, camera UI changes, and more. However, the ability to use these navigation gestures with other Android launchers was not present. The minor One UI 2.1 update did not debut that feature either. Users could only use Samsung’s gesture navigation solution with other launchers, with the full-screen implementation greyed out.
The limitation was not just specific to Samsung devices, since Pixel phones running stock Android 10 too did not support the feature at launch. While the Pixel 4 launched with the feature, Google added it to older devices via the monthly security patch in December last year. As per Android Police, developers realized that the change was a major one, which is why OEMs were not expected to introduce the feature right away. That could explain the delay for Samsung as well.
While the Note20 series comes with One UI 2.5 out of the box, it is unlikely that Samsung will serve an update for One UI 2.5 to older flagships, especially with Android 11 slated to be released to the S20 series later this year. It will not be surprising if the feature is rolled into the Android 11-based One UI version. Therefore, the wait for other Galaxy phone users could be slightly longer.
Source: Android Police
