• Why is Moto G so hard to use?

    From micky@NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com to comp.mobile.android on Tue Feb 24 00:03:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    I thought all Android phones were largely similar, but I recently had
    the loan of a Moto G. I found it much harder to use than any previous android phone I've had, a mere 3 iirc, 2 Xiaomi and one Samsung.

    With those three phones there were 3 symbols at the bottom, a square, a
    circle, and a triangle pointing left. They were not in the same order
    bertween brands, but the functions were the same.

    ON the Moto G, they were not there. It's only been two weeks but I'm forgetting a bit. There was a way to get to the array of icons, but
    doing so was not like pressing the circle on the non-Moto phones. When
    you press the circle, it takes you to the same page from which you
    started the app you are in, at least if you are still in the app you
    most recently started from the array (and not from the squrae) and this
    reminds you of what app you have been in.

    Also, when using whatsapp, there seemed no way to go to another app
    without totally losing your place in whatsapp. I was trying to read a
    longggg chat and there was no square to tap to go to the array of
    recently used apps, and no square to tap to return to Whatsapp in the
    same state as when you left it. I learned I had to do all my work
    without leaving whatsapp, or I had to find which chat and my position in
    that chat each time I left and returned.

    Why would Motorola make things so difficult? Why would people buy
    motorola unless they don't know how much more useful Android can be on
    other phones. Both the Moto G and my current Xiami use Andrlid 11.

    I'm sure there are also other times when the absence of the square,
    circle and triangle will make things harder. What gives?
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From AJL@noemail@none.com to comp.mobile.android on Tue Feb 24 05:37:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    On 2/23/26 10:03 PM, micky wrote:
    I thought all Android phones were largely similar, but I recently had
    the loan of a Moto G. I found it much harder to use than any previous >android phone I've had, a mere 3 iirc, 2 Xiaomi and one Samsung.

    With those three phones there were 3 symbols at the bottom, a square, a >circle, and a triangle pointing left. They were not in the same order >bertween brands, but the functions were the same.

    ON the Moto G, they were not there. It's only been two weeks but I'm >forgetting a bit. There was a way to get to the array of icons, but
    doing so was not like pressing the circle on the non-Moto phones. When
    you press the circle, it takes you to the same page from which you
    started the app you are in, at least if you are still in the app you
    most recently started from the array (and not from the squrae) and this >reminds you of what app you have been in.

    Also, when using whatsapp, there seemed no way to go to another app
    without totally losing your place in whatsapp. I was trying to read a >longggg chat and there was no square to tap to go to the array of
    recently used apps, and no square to tap to return to Whatsapp in the
    same state as when you left it. I learned I had to do all my work
    without leaving whatsapp, or I had to find which chat and my position in
    that chat each time I left and returned.


    Why would Motorola make things so difficult? Why would people buy
    motorola unless they don't know how much more useful Android can be on
    other phones. Both the Moto G and my current Xiami use Andrlid 11.

    Ah, good old Motorola. I worked there as a tech for several years in the
    60s. But it was a government electronics division back then, no cell
    phones...

    I'm sure there are also other times when the absence of the square,
    circle and triangle will make things harder. What gives?

    On my Galaxy S10+ (Android 12) in: Setting>Display>Navagation Bar, I have my
    choice between Swipe Gestures and Buttons (the ones you want). Look around,
    yours may be the same or similiar...

    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.mobile.android on Tue Feb 24 10:24:25 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    On 2026-02-24 06:03, micky wrote:
    I thought all Android phones were largely similar, but I recently had
    the loan of a Moto G. I found it much harder to use than any previous android phone I've had, a mere 3 iirc, 2 Xiaomi and one Samsung.

    With those three phones there were 3 symbols at the bottom, a square, a circle, and a triangle pointing left. They were not in the same order bertween brands, but the functions were the same.

    ON the Moto G, they were not there. It's only been two weeks but I'm forgetting a bit. There was a way to get to the array of icons, but
    doing so was not like pressing the circle on the non-Moto phones. When
    you press the circle, it takes you to the same page from which you
    started the app you are in, at least if you are still in the app you
    most recently started from the array (and not from the squrae) and this reminds you of what app you have been in.

    Also, when using whatsapp, there seemed no way to go to another app
    without totally losing your place in whatsapp. I was trying to read a longggg chat and there was no square to tap to go to the array of
    recently used apps, and no square to tap to return to Whatsapp in the
    same state as when you left it. I learned I had to do all my work
    without leaving whatsapp, or I had to find which chat and my position in
    that chat each time I left and returned.

    Why would Motorola make things so difficult? Why would people buy
    motorola unless they don't know how much more useful Android can be on
    other phones. Both the Moto G and my current Xiami use Andrlid 11.

    I'm sure there are also other times when the absence of the square,
    circle and triangle will make things harder. What gives?

    I have three motorolas, my normal one is the G52. As your phone is a
    loan, it is quite possible that the previous owner intentionally removed
    the icons. It is an option you have in the initial tour when the phone
    is first powered up. The icons are replaced by gestures, and you have to
    know them. The gestures can be a bit different between models.

    For example, initially the gestures were applied to the finger print
    sensor in the front.

    In my phone, to switch from one app to another without closing it, is
    swipe from center bottom vertically to about 1/3 of the screen.

    The triangle to go back is swipe from right or left edge to the centre.

    To get the full list of apps is swipe up from one centimetre above the
    bottom edge.
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.
    ESEfc-Efc+, EUEfc-Efc|;
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Andy Burns@usenet@andyburns.uk to comp.mobile.android on Tue Feb 24 10:07:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    micky wrote:

    there were 3 symbols at the bottom, a square, a
    circle, and a triangle pointing left.

    The "Navigation Bar" with Home, Back and Recent buttons

    They were not in the same order
    bertween brands, but the functions were the same.
    ON the Moto G, they were not there.

    Maybe the Moto G defaults to "Gesture Navigation" where you swipe up/left/right from off the edge of the screen?

    I prefer it that way, it saves space, search for those phrases in
    settings, you can change it back if you like, but I'd say learning
    gestures is a good move.


    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Maria Sophia@mariasophia@comprehension.com to comp.mobile.android on Tue Feb 24 09:58:12 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    AJL wrote:
    Why would Motorola make things so difficult? Why would people buy
    motorola unless they don't know how much more useful Android can be on >>other phones. Both the Moto G and my current Xiami use Andrlid 11.

    Ah, good old Motorola. I worked there as a tech for several years in the
    60s. But it was a government electronics division back then, no cell
    phones...

    I helped the PowerPC team much later, as we've discussed, but as for the
    MotoG lineup, I had only one, years ago, which I got for $100 from Google.

    I hated it.

    It was that deal where you signed up for Google Fi (or something like
    that), and if you canceled, you got to keep the phone, and I *told* them up front what my plan was and they said it's fine to cancel & keep it.

    I don't remember why I hated it though, other than the battery was sealed (which, in those days, wasn't a thing yet since mainly only Apple did it).

    My next phone was a handful of LG Stylo 3+ phones for $139 at Costco.
    Those, the battery came out easily (and was a wonderful thing to do).

    Now almost every Android OEM followed Apple's sleazy sealed-battery tactics because they know that's what will kill every phone eventually.

    But I did like working with the PowerPC team in Phoenix (or Tempe?).
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From AJL@noemail@none.com to comp.mobile.android on Tue Feb 24 16:48:48 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    On 2/24/26 8:58 AM, Maria Sophia wrote:
    AJL wrote:
    Why would Motorola make things so difficult? Why would people buy >>>motorola unless they don't know how much more useful Android can be on >>>other phones. Both the Moto G and my current Xiami use Andrlid 11.

    Ah, good old Motorola. I worked there as a tech for several years in the
    60s. But it was a government electronics division back then, no cell
    phones...

    I helped the PowerPC team much later, as we've discussed, but as for the >MotoG lineup, I had only one, years ago, which I got for $100 from Google.

    I hated it.

    It was that deal where you signed up for Google Fi (or something like
    that), and if you canceled, you got to keep the phone, and I *told* them up >front what my plan was and they said it's fine to cancel & keep it.

    I don't remember why I hated it though, other than the battery was sealed >(which, in those days, wasn't a thing yet since mainly only Apple did it).

    My next phone was a handful of LG Stylo 3+ phones for $139 at Costco.
    Those, the battery came out easily (and was a wonderful thing to do).

    Now almost every Android OEM followed Apple's sleazy sealed-battery tactics >because they know that's what will kill every phone eventually.

    But I did like working with the PowerPC team in Phoenix (or Tempe?).

    Dunno. Motorola had 3 plants in the Phoenix metro area at the time. I worked
    at the Scottsdale plant. I had to have (gasp) secret clearance. Some of our
    side looking radar stuff had vacuum tubes. Remember those? And some of our
    other stuff ended up on the moon. The "motor" in Motorola comes from the
    company's car radio days. But those were before my time...

    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From David@wibble@btinternet.com to comp.mobile.android on Tue Feb 24 17:18:45 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:03:49 -0500, micky wrote:

    I thought all Android phones were largely similar, but I recently had
    the loan of a Moto G. I found it much harder to use than any previous android phone I've had, a mere 3 iirc, 2 Xiaomi and one Samsung.

    <snip>

    I'm sure there are also other times when the absence of the square,
    circle and triangle will make things harder. What gives?

    I found the same with the Google Pixel.
    I thought it would be similar to Samsungs (various) and my realme 6 Pro,
    but it was way different.

    So; has Samsung massively modified stock Android, or has Google departed
    from the way?

    Cheers


    Dave R
    --
    AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 10 x64

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From mummycullen@mummycullen@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (MummyChunk) to comp.mobile.android on Tue Feb 24 13:04:37 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    micky wrote:
    I thought all Android phones were largely similar, but I recently had
    the loan of a Moto G. I found it much harder to use than any previous android phone I've had, a mere 3 iirc, 2 Xiaomi and one Samsung.

    With those three phones there were 3 symbols at the bottom, a square, a circle, and a triangle pointing left. They were not in the same order bertween brands, but the functions were the same.

    ON the Moto G, they were not there. It's only been two weeks but I'm forgetting a bit. There was a way to get to the array of icons, but
    doing so was not like pressing the circle on the non-Moto phones. When
    you press the circle, it takes you to the same page from which you
    started the app you are in, at least if you are still in the app you
    most recently started from the array (and not from the squrae) and this reminds you of what app you have been in.

    Also, when using whatsapp, there seemed no way to go to another app
    without totally losing your place in whatsapp. I was trying to read a longggg chat and there was no square to tap to go to the array of
    recently used apps, and no square to tap to return to Whatsapp in the
    same state as when you left it. I learned I had to do all my work
    without leaving whatsapp, or I had to find which chat and my position in
    that chat each time I left and returned.

    Why would Motorola make things so difficult? Why would people buy
    motorola unless they don't know how much more useful Android can be on
    other phones. Both the Moto G and my current Xiami use Andrlid 11.

    I'm sure there are also other times when the absence of the square,
    circle and triangle will make things harder. What gives?



    Simple, because it is a MotoG

    Why would anyone buy these in 2026?


    This is a response to the post seen at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=701863448#701863448
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Maria Sophia@mariasophia@comprehension.com to comp.mobile.android on Tue Feb 24 17:09:56 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    MummyChunk wrote:
    Simple, because it is a MotoG

    I have to admit, at this juncture in Android phone development, the only
    brands I consider nowadays, unless it's dirt cheap or outright free, are
    a. Samsung
    b. Google

    The reason being that there is a ton of useful "stuff" out there for them.
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From micky@NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com to comp.mobile.android on Wed Feb 25 11:17:53 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    In comp.mobile.android, on Tue, 24 Feb 2026 10:24:25 +0100, "Carlos
    E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:

    On 2026-02-24 06:03, micky wrote:
    I thought all Android phones were largely similar, but I recently had
    the loan of a Moto G. I found it much harder to use than any previous
    android phone I've had, a mere 3 iirc, 2 Xiaomi and one Samsung.

    With those three phones there were 3 symbols at the bottom, a square, a
    circle, and a triangle pointing left. They were not in the same order
    bertween brands, but the functions were the same.

    ON the Moto G, they were not there. It's only been two weeks but I'm
    forgetting a bit. There was a way to get to the array of icons, but
    doing so was not like pressing the circle on the non-Moto phones. When
    you press the circle, it takes you to the same page from which you
    started the app you are in, at least if you are still in the app you
    most recently started from the array (and not from the squrae) and this
    reminds you of what app you have been in.

    Also, when using whatsapp, there seemed no way to go to another app
    without totally losing your place in whatsapp. I was trying to read a
    longggg chat and there was no square to tap to go to the array of
    recently used apps, and no square to tap to return to Whatsapp in the
    same state as when you left it. I learned I had to do all my work
    without leaving whatsapp, or I had to find which chat and my position in
    that chat each time I left and returned.

    Why would Motorola make things so difficult? Why would people buy
    motorola unless they don't know how much more useful Android can be on
    other phones. Both the Moto G and my current Xiami use Andrlid 11.

    I'm sure there are also other times when the absence of the square,
    circle and triangle will make things harder. What gives?

    I have three motorolas, my normal one is the G52. As your phone is a
    loan, it is quite possible that the previous owner intentionally removed
    the icons. It is an option you have in the initial tour when the phone
    is first powered up.

    I wonder if the owner really wanted this option. He's gone through
    several phones pretty quickly. It's a long story, referred to in other
    groups, but I'll say phones are no longer a topic I can talk about with
    him. He lent me the phone but didn't like that I looked at a lot that
    was on it, to try to protect him from scammers.

    The icons are replaced by gestures, and you have to
    know them. The gestures can be a bit different between models.

    I see. I haven't finished the replies yet and More than one of you has explained this to me. I wish I'd asked while I had the phone. (I don't
    expect to have it again.)

    For example, initially the gestures were applied to the finger print
    sensor in the front.

    In my phone, to switch from one app to another without closing it, is
    swipe from center bottom vertically to about 1/3 of the screen.

    The triangle to go back is swipe from right or left edge to the centre.

    To get the full list of apps is swipe up from one centimetre above the >bottom edge.

    This last one is the only one I found.

    I'm glad to see that the fooks at Motorola are not stupid, nor are the customers. I'm not willing in this case to call myself stupid. I sas
    in a hurry, and I'll blame that. .
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From micky@NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com to comp.mobile.android on Wed Feb 25 11:22:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    In comp.mobile.android, on Tue, 24 Feb 2026 10:07:42 +0000, Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

    micky wrote:

    there were 3 symbols at the bottom, a square, a
    circle, and a triangle pointing left.

    The "Navigation Bar" with Home, Back and Recent buttons

    Aha.

    They were not in the same order
    bertween brands, but the functions were the same.
    ON the Moto G, they were not there.

    Maybe the Moto G defaults to "Gesture Navigation" where you swipe >up/left/right from off the edge of the screen?

    Or he set it that way, I can't guess. Checked my Xiaomi phone now and I
    don't see it in settings, but it's 5 years old or more. I'm okay with
    using the naviagion bar.

    I prefer it that way, it saves space, search for those phrases in
    settings, you can change it back if you like, but I'd say learning
    gestures is a good move.

    Next time I'll know
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From QualityStreet@none@none.org to comp.mobile.android on Thu Feb 26 21:25:56 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

    Motorola is part of Lenovo these days. The company has
    little or nothing to do with the old Motorola.

    From the Motorola website:

    "All mobile phones are designed and manufactured by Motorola Mobility LLC,
    a wholly owned subsidiary of Lenovo."

    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2