Revamped App Switcher Added To Android N

[DroidModderX]

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The recents tab in Android can be pretty handy at times. It allows you to see apps you have recently had open on your device. This allows you to have a somewhat seamless multitasking experience on Android. You can open an app, launch another, hit the recents button and go back to your previous app pretty quickly without having to venture back to the homescreen, then back to the app drawer, then re launch the app.

The new app switcher in Android N brings some new features. Now when you double tap the recents button from the homescreen Android will launch your most recently used app. You can double tap again from within that app to launch the second most recently used app. If you were needing to multitask between a series of apps you could close all apps from within the menu, then launch those apps and use this feature to quickly and seamlessly move between them No more endlessly scrolling through a list of open apps, unless you just wanted to of course.

 

[Mustang02]

That's awesome. Just tried it.

 

[cr6]

meh..

 

[Jonny Kansas]

I can see how this feature would be handy. Honestly though, as someone who never really used multi-window on my Samsung devices, I like the ability to swipe up from the recents button to automatically launch into split screen. (You have to enable this feature in settings first.)

Haven't had a good excuse to use the split screen yet, but I can think of a number of times on other phones where I was switching back and forth doing stuff that it would've been handy. I like this implementation of split screen better than Samsung's so far, even though they're not THAT different.

 

[cr6]

Split screen would be great on my tablet, but other than that I doubt I'd use it on my 5.1" device. I've only used the floating window feature a few times over the past 22 months.

S5 tap'n

 

[mountainbikermark]

I can see how this feature would be handy. Honestly though, as someone who never really used multi-window on my Samsung devices, I like the ability to swipe up from the recents button to automatically launch into split screen. (You have to enable this feature in settings first.)

Haven't had a good excuse to use the split screen yet, but I can think of a number of times on other phones where I was switching back and forth doing stuff that it would've been handy. I like this implementation of split screen better than Samsung's so far, even though they're not THAT different.

I'm not sure how Google will handle it but Samsung has limited ability,ex Tapatalk won't open as a secondary screen on my Note4 so the recents ability comes into play if I want to post a link that I have to find first whereas if I want to post one in a gmail I can open both the browser and gmail as split screens. I hope Google builds on what Samsung started instead of just copying a limited ability.

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[Jonny Kansas]

Split screen would be great on my tablet, but other than that I doubt I'd use it on my 5.1" device. I've only used the floating window feature a few times over the past 22 months.

S5 tap'n

Yeah, It'd be great on a tablet. I don't mind it on my 5.7" phone, but I don't think I'd use it on a smaller device. In landscape mode, if you have them split equally, each app is about the width of portrait mode, just shorter, so it's not so bad. But, the less screen you have to work with, the smaller and more frustrating it will be to try and use. That may actually be a part of why I never liked Samsung's. I had it first on the S4 and it made no sense to me.

I'm not sure how Google will handle it but Samsung has limited ability,ex Tapatalk won't open as a secondary screen on my Note4 so the recents ability comes into play if I want to post a link that I have to find first whereas if I want to post one in a gmail I can open both the browser and gmail as split screens. I hope Google builds on what Samsung started instead of just copying a limited ability.

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Oh, you mean something like this...

Some apps say "May not work in split screen mode," but every one that's told me that so far has actually worked just fine. It's not restricted to only apps that support it like Samsung's.

The biggest complaint I've seen so far about the feature is that YouTube videos stop playing when you start working in the other window. I'm sure that'll change if they decide to keep this feature in the official release.

 

[mountainbikermark]

Yeah, It'd be great on a tablet. I don't mind it on my 5.7" phone, but I don't think I'd use it on a smaller device. In landscape mode, if you have them split equally, each app is about the width of portrait mode, just shorter, so it's not so bad. But, the less screen you have to work with, the smaller and more frustrating it will be to try and use. That may actually be a part of why I never liked Samsung's. I had it first on the S4 and it made no sense to me.


Oh, you mean something like this...

Some apps say "May not work in split screen mode," but every one that's told me that so far has actually worked just fine. It's not restricted to only apps that support it like Samsung's.

The biggest complaint I've seen so far about the feature is that YouTube videos stop playing when you start working in the other window. I'm sure that'll change if they decide to keep this feature in the official release.

Tapatalk used to work on split screen with Samsung. I don't know if it was Samsunged/AT&T lollipop or a TT update that took it away. I don't use it much either and noticed only yesterday that it no longer works in split screen. I used split a lot on my Note2 but not so much anymore. That YouTube stopping thing,I used to have a floating video player back before split screens were out and, though why anyone would do it I don't know, it'd play up to 6 different videos in separate windows at a time. I still have a floating calculator I use when I don't have my S on or am already using the phone and want a quick calculation.

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[Jonny Kansas]

Tapatalk used to work on split screen with Samsung. I don't know if it was Samsunged/AT&T lollipop or a TT update that took it away. I don't use it much either and noticed only yesterday that it no longer works in split screen. I used split a lot on my Note2 but not so much anymore. That YouTube stopping thing,I used to have a floating video player back before split screens were out and, though why anyone would do it I don't know, it'd play up to 6 different videos in separate windows at a time. I still have a floating calculator I use when I don't have my S on or am already using the phone and want a quick calculation.

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From what I understand about Samsung's implementation, it's up to individual devs to make it work. I misunderstand that though.

I watched the official Android Dev "What's new in N" video today, even though I'm not a dev and that's who it's geared to. They said that a video should keep playing in one window, so I'm guessing it's something that just hasn't been ironed out. I haven't actually tried it myself yet.

I don't really see why you'd watch a tiny video on half of the screen either while doing other things. I guess maybe if you were following a tutorial about how to do something in an app? I like to watch videos fullscreen and when I'm watching them, it's generally because I don't have other things to do.