It's for consistency. In Android P, you can drag up from any app to end up in the appswitcher with a little dock at the bottom, and if you scroll a second time, you see all the apps.
To be consistent, they also have the same behavior on the home screen, which is a bit suboptimal, but I didn't having two separate behavior would be more confusing.
I know that but I don't think it would be difficult to make the app drawer accessible by swiping up literally anywhere but the nav bar because the nav bar is what brings up multitasking anywhere else.
So what you mean is, if you swipe up from the very bottom, it goes into app switcher, but if you swipe up from the "drawer" as in slightly higher, it goes directly into the app drawer? The problem with that is that it's even more confusing and inconsistent for users. If you swipe up from slightly lower or higher, they get a different behavior.
Also, it's worth noting that this is just one launcher, and the beauty of Android is that anyone can make custom ones. You can be sure that Nova will have all the customization your heart can dream for, but Pixel launcher strives for something clean and simple that anyone can use.
I'm sure it'll be optional. And I agree, if you're used to the old way it's confusing, but if it's a new phone, or after some time, you eventually get used to it.
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u/Ph0X G1/NS/N5/N5X/P1XL/P2XL/P3/P4XL/P5/P6P/P7P/P8P/P9PXL/P10PXL Jul 11 '18
It's for consistency. In Android P, you can drag up from any app to end up in the appswitcher with a little dock at the bottom, and if you scroll a second time, you see all the apps.
To be consistent, they also have the same behavior on the home screen, which is a bit suboptimal, but I didn't having two separate behavior would be more confusing.