One Button Nav on the Moto G5 is an exciting new way to interact with your phone

By Harish Jonnalagadda
published

One of the more interesting features in the Moto G5 and G5 Plus is a new Moto Action called One Button Nav. The feature made its debut on the 5.0-inch Lenovo Z2 Plus last year, and after seeing positive feedback from its user community, Motorola included it in the G5 and G5 Plus.

The feature eschews the on-screen navigation buttons, instead relying on the fingerprint sensor of the G5 and G5 Plus to navigate. A single tap on the sensor takes you to the home screen, a right-to-left swipe takes you back within an app's interface, and a left-to-right swipe reveals the multitasking pane.

A single-button interface makes navigation much more simple.

As with other Moto Actions, the goal with One Button Nav is to simplify the way you interact with your phone. Motorola claims that One Button Nav makes it much more convenient to use the G5 and G5 Plus one-handed, and that statement holds up in day-to-day usage. Having used the feature in the Z2 Plus (it was called U-Touch at the time), I immediately took to One Button Nav on the G5 Plus and haven't looked back since.

The feature certainly takes some getting used to (it took me three days), but once you're acclimated, it makes for a much better experience when compared to the on-screen nav keys. I primarily use it as it allows me to quickly go back in an app with a quick gesture across the fingerprint sensor instead of having to reach across the device to hit the back button. It sounds trivial, but it makes a lot of difference in real-world usage, particularly if you're clumsy and have a propensity to drop phones.

Interested in giving it a go? Here's how to enable One Button Nav on the G5 Plus:

  1. Open the Moto app from the app drawer.
  2. Select Actions.
  3. Select One button nav.

One Button Nav on the Moto G5

  1. Hit Show me how to see the feature in action.
  2. Keep tapping Next to proceed along.

One Button Nav on the Moto G5

  1. Select Turn it on to enable the feature.

One Button Nav on the Moto G5

If you decide that you don't like One Button Nav after using the feature, you can always disable it and switch back to the standard on-screen navigation keys.

Harish Jonnalagadda
Harish Jonnalagadda
Senior Editor - Asia

Harish Jonnalagadda is a Senior Editor overseeing Asia at Android Central. He leads the site's coverage of Chinese phone brands, contributing to reviews, features, and buying guides. He also writes about storage servers, audio products, and the semiconductor industry. Contact him on Twitter at @chunkynerd.

26 Comments
  • Thats an awesome looking phone
  • Moto rep was showing me that at Best Buy yesterday. Pretty darn cool feature. He was setting up a display at the store and let me play with the phone. He said preorders should start tomorrow. I may get a 64gb model to play with.
  • Let us know what you think if you do!
  • I have to say It seems Lenovo is going to keep up Motorola's tradition of developing software features that are actually useful and not gimmicky.
  • It's always a personal view/preference if something is a gimmick or not. For some it might be cool, for others it makes a small button/sensor too complicated. But as long as things can get turned off and don't confuse the user after the first setup it's fine. Features that some like and some hate are always fine as long as they're implemented well enough
  • Now, if they can keep up their tradition on update transparency.....
  • Yeah man, a lot of people are bummed out about that. My take is that Lenovo took a look at the overhead Google was spending on timely updates and broke out the axe. Why should they spend all that money when the vast, vast majority of the phone buying public thinks of software updates as more of a hinderance than a help.
  • seems great.
  • I wonder if they could have allocated a swipe up and down function.
  • So...kinda sorta-ish like a Palm Pre :-)
  • I was gonna say...it's reminiscent of webOS.
  • BlackBerry 10 swipe features once accustomed were / are the best. Nova gives me some options but BlackBerry 10, late to market, was years ahead thinking with touch screen interactions.
  • Blackberry 10 is one of the most fun mobile OSs to use thanks to the swipey navigation. I still use my Z10 for music/podcast while exercising. Still a joy to use. Shame the OS is dead.
  • Isn't this what Huawei does already in the new P10/P10+?
  • Yep. Lenovo did it first though.
  • That's a nice feature, wish I had it in my phone.
  • Very similar to Lenovo's home button on the P2. On the P2 a quick tap takes you back, a long tap takes you to the multitasking window and a press takes you to the home screen. I find that I rarely use the on screen buttons now.
  • That sounds great actually. I assume that'll be on the next Z too
  • That should free up some room on the screen as well. With a 5.2 in screen that will come in handy. I'm definitely considering one of these phones.
  • Yeah it doesn't sound bad at all. Very interesting.
  • Huawei Mediapad has this feature as well!
  • I wish I could do this on my 6P. I hate the image retention on my nav bar.
  • I use Fling navigation on my 6P's custom ROM, gesture based navigation on the nav bar. I love it, so much easier than having to press something specific, on a specific part of the screen. I would love if more phones implemented this onto a button on the front of the phone, saving precious screen real-estate. But, I can settle for using expanded desktop mode for now to hide my nav bar until I need it. :D
  • Brings back memories of WebOS
  • 1 button packed with features. It's like if Apple and LG had a illegitimate child....
  • Palm Pre & webOS had a gesture area beneath the screen. Did exactly what is described above. Tap = Home. Swipe left = back. Swipe right = Forward. Swipe up = Multitasking cards view. Swipe up and hold = Wave Launcher. Oh, how I loved this!