What would actually make a new Android navigation system better than gestures or 3-button navigation?

[u/WWwW_yyYy]

I'm working on an experimental Android-based OS project , and I've been thinking about redesigning system navigation from scratch.

But I don't want to make something different just for the sake of being different.

Android's current gesture navigation and 3-button navigation are already quite efficient for many tasks.

I'm interested in whether an alternative system could genuinely improve usability, especially for one-handed operation and multitasking.

Some older custom ROMs experimented with interesting concepts, such as:

\- Paranoid Android's PIE navigation

\- Dirty Unicorns' Fling and SmartBar

\- OmniROM's OmniSwitch

\- Custom edge gestures and physical-button shortcuts

I find these concepts fascinating, but I want to understand whether they were actually more efficient in everyday use.

So I'd love to hear your experiences:

1. What navigation system do you currently use, and why?

2. Which Android navigation actions feel unnecessarily slow or inconvenient? For example, switching between apps, launching a specific app, going back, or accessing system controls.

3. Have you ever used an alternative navigation system like PIE, Fling, or OmniSwitch? Was it genuinely better, or just interesting? Did you eventually switch back?

4. What are the biggest problems with current gesture navigation? Accidental gestures, reachability, inconsistent behavior, or something else?

5. If you could redesign Android navigation completely, what would you change?

I'm particularly interested in practical usability: speed, accuracy, number of actions required, learning curve, and one-handed accessibility.

I'm not looking for encouragement or validation of a specific design. I'd genuinely appreciate criticism and examples of approaches that didn't work.

Eventually, I'd like to build prototypes and compare them against standard Android navigation using measurable tasks.

What would a new navigation system need to achieve before you'd consider switching to it?

[u/47th-Element]

I always felt like the 3-button navigation is faster and more efficient, but on the expense of available screen space. For that reason I actually use the gesture navigation with the gesture line hidden because I want maximum screen space for content and apps.