GoKawiilRita El Khoury / Android Authority
I wanted to properly test this new Android direction and see how it compared to my beloved Pixelbook Chromebook memories. Most importantly, I wanted to see how close Google is to providing a workable desktop experience. But I hit a wall the moment I tried to connect a mouse to my Pixel Tablet.
One of Android’s most basic features, the back gesture, isn’t adapted to mice. And that, in my opinion, is a big stumbling block for any decent desktop experience.
Have you tried to use Android with a mouse? 16 votes Yes, with Desktop Mode, DeX, or other desktop-friendly interfaces. 50 % Yes, directly on my phone/tablet. 25 % No, I haven't but I'm curious. 19 % No, I'm not interested in using Android with a mouse. 6 %
Going “Back” is crucial to Android; missing it is outrageous
Joe Hindy / Android Authority
The Back button has been foundational to the way Android works since day one. Since 2008, it’s morphed from a physical button to an on-screen button to a gesture, but it’s always been here. It’s the most ingrained gesture-function in my brain and my mechanical memory as an Android user. I go back a thousand times on my phone every day, from wanting to step back one screen in an app, dismiss a pop-up, close the keyboard, get out of the app drawer, go back to the home screen from an app I just opened, it’s swipe-and-done. I don’t think about it anymore.
But with my new Logitech M350s mouse ($20-25 on Amazon), I immediately noticed that it isn’t possible. Some apps seem to let me click on the right side of the screen and drag quickly to the left to go back, but it’s not as reliable or as smooth as I want. Other apps don’t even seem to support this, or at least I failed to trigger it there. Any gesture that works less than 95% of the time is not worth my trouble. If I’m wasting time trying and second-guessing whether something will work, I’d rather skip it entirely.
What's the point of floating resizable app windows when I can't go back after I open them?
This instantly soured my mouse experience. I was so impressed by how the mouse made all of the desktop windowing gestures, dragging, and clicking so much more precise and usable that I was almost ready to call Android for PCs a decent effort so far. But what’s the point of opening all these apps and organizing them if I can’t go back a step? This isn’t iOS, where anything goes with the Back feature, and developers can do whatever they want, even skipping it entirely. (One day, you’ll read in my eulogy that I refused to use iOS because I hate the way it handles Back so much. I’m not being dramatic, just honest.) No, Android apps rely on Back as an integral interaction because most of them don’t include an on-screen arrow to take you back. They need the OS to handle it, and if I can’t do it with my mouse, how is that even viable?
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