I guess this has been said before but I want to reiterate it here.
The 3 button navigation is simpler, much faster than gestures and less prone to input errors than gessure navigation.
It’s easier to use the phone one handed when using 3 buttons especially considering the size of phones nowadays.
The only real downside to the 3 button bar is the space it takes away from the screen. I can’t deny you get better immersion due increased screen size and gestures being intuitive (for me at least.
With that said I understand that depending on the brand the feel of gestures and their quality can vary (like between a pixel phone and a xiaomi device), but in terms of efficiency (and maybe slightly improved battery life due to less animations) and simplicity the 3 button navigation is still miles ahead.
Gestures are faster and more intuitive. You don’t have to do hand gymnastics just to get to the recents apps screen or to go back. The gesture bar can be hidden and it will still work, unlike the buttons which you have to swipe up to bring back, and even when shown it doesn’t take up much screen real estate. Apple got it right when they brought gestures to the iPhone and I’m glad Google copied.
None of this makes any sense. How are invisible gestures more intuitive than a button? And aren’t gestures literally “hand gymnastics”? Gestures and any “hidden” input are decidedly user unfriendly precisely because they’re invisible. I don’t recall specifics but there have definitely been apps where a user gets stuck on a screen because the developer unexpectedly opted for a gesture instead of a visible widget.
Gestures are good for the screen real estate part but that’s kinda it, IMO. I stopped fighting the current and (mostly) adapted.
I would disagree if gestures being faster. Mostly because animations can’t be disabled with gestures.
If I hit the home button I am instantly on my home screen rather than waiting on the zoom and shrink animation. Same issue with recent apps.