This has to be a clear sign that this isn't the right choice for Android. Does it work well on iOS? Yeah, it's awesome. But when the Assistant is so integrated into what Google are trying to achieve, its absence to core navigation just feels wrong. Plus, it breaks even further the similarity in navigation to ChromeOS, which now has Android apps all over it.

I'm sure that, if they copy iOS right, it will feel lovely to use. But I just wish they could have found a more 'Google' way of doing it. I never felt the on-screen buttons took up loads of room anyway. Couldn't we just have these same navigation gestures with the old buttons there as well? Or maybe just the pill we had only recently thrust upon us on its own? Then we could keep the familiar Assistant long-press.

I mean, that thin line at the bottom of the screen just feels like stealing, however much I like the stolen goods.