Over the past few years, phones have gradually become larger and more cumbersome, with the recent Galaxy S21 Ultra being an excellent example. To make your oversized phone more manageable, Android 12 may feature a dedicated ‘one-handed mode’ that shrinks the contents of your phone screen.
As phones got bigger, different companies heard the complaint that it can be difficult to use just one hand with one hand and addressed it in their own ways. Many OEMs offer a way to scale down your phone screen to better accommodate one-handed use, by usually placing a smaller rectangle near your dominant hand. Samsung has even gone a step further and created One UI, which puts the most useful content on the screen within reach of your thumb.
According to information provided by 9to5Google, Google is preparing a dedicated one-handed mode for Android that can debut with Android 12. To enter one-handed mode, you can use a gesture, such as a diagonal swipe from below.
Most one-handed variations for Android involve scaling the screen vertically and horizontally. On the contrary, it seems that Google can keep something else in mind for the one-handed mode of Android 12, and only shrink your phone vertically and give it a powerful look. That said, individual phone manufacturers might be able to customize it.
Interestingly, there should be quite a few ways to leave Android 12’s one-handed mode. There are simpler ones, like a similar oblique gesture or when you tap outside the shrunken screen. You should also be able to set a time-out period, where Android automatically goes down with one hand after a few seconds.
Optionally, the mode must be able to exit with one hand when switching programs. In addition, every time you open the keyboard, it should be exited, which makes sense when you open the keyboard, the screen shrinks upwards, while the one-handed mode shrinks it downwards.
Since Android 12 looks closer than ever before, we do not have to wait long before we get our hands-on mode. What apps and phones would you use with one-handed mode in the meantime? Let us know in the comments.
Dylan Roussel contributed to this article
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