Since smartphones seem to have fairly large screens, with the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Xiaomi Mi 11 both hitting 6.8 inches diagonally, some people with smaller hands may find it difficult to reach all the corners of the screen properly. A new feature for Android 12 could help fix that.
Android 12, the 2021 version of the annual Android update that comes with most non-iPhone smartphones, looks like it could come with a switchable one-handed mode to make the phone easier to use without using all ten of your digits. It comes from XDA Developers, which refers to the feature in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP).
Android is open-source software, which means anyone can borrow and customize it according to their needs, and the AOSP is the repository for the source code as it appears in phones. The presence of the one-handed mode reference in the AOSP probably means that the feature will come to Android 12, although it is certainly not confirmed.
How could this Android 12 feature work?
Android is an open-source software, and many smartphone companies modify the source quite a bit before putting it on smartphones. In fact, some brands, such as Samsung and Sony, already have their own one-handed modes.
For the most part, these modes reduce the visible screen to about two-thirds or half the size it was before, and move the usable area to the bottom left or bottom right of the screen, making it easier to reach with one hand . The rest of the screen that is not used is usually turned off when this happens.
However, this is not necessarily the only way to implement a one-handed mode, and it is possible in Android 12 that we may see a different way. The possibility is to move the key buttons to one side, to reach them easily or a joystick on the screen to control the touch.
Either way, a one-handed mode will better enable people with smaller hands to use large phones. This will enable them to still enjoy the great real estate when it matters, such as streaming TV shows or playing games.
The Android 12 update is expected to roll out to phones by the end of the year, but before that we should see Google formally announce the software update in the middle of the year.