Swipe to Pick Up a Call: Android UI Blunder?

Think about the time when you got the first call on an Android phone. Do you remember touching the Green Pick Up button on the touchscreen and expecting the call to connect?

That’s our natural instinct – right? We press a button to dial a call. So we expect to press another button to receive a call or terminate a call.

Why on earth did anyone in Android Development/UI team decide that it’s better to swipe up/down/right/left to pick up a call???

I remember the first time I gave an Android phone to my grandparents. They were quite happy with the Nokia push button phone.

In spite of me trying to teach them how to locate the Call icon they were not able to ‘get it’. I mean, why hide such an important button among the million apps on the home screen? They expected to see the dial pad right after they switched on the screen.

Somehow I got them to dial outgoing calls. I thought they were learning it fast. Wasn’t I wrong!

I then made a call to their phone from mine. Obviously they pressed the green button on the screen to pick up. The phone wouldn’t connect.

They were 75+ at that time. Now, I myself find it hard to swipe to pick up a call sometimes, so you can image their plight when they were not able to swipe to pick up the call!

They tried for a few times and guess what… they asked me to replace the SIM card on their old and trusty Nokia phone.

Have you ever tried picking up a call on one hand on your Android mobile? Why not? Think about it. It’s nearly impossible to do that because of the silly UI designers who have still retained the biggest blunder of their ‘invention’ – swipe to pick up a call. I need not remind you that we could take a call on our Nokia push button phone easily with one hand.

So, I use this online website medium to request Android to change the swipe to press. I understand there might have been some concerns of accidental call pickups in the initial days. But with so many sensors nowadays, I think auto-pickup shouldn’t be an issue.

Android UI & Development teams – Please make this change and make your call icon a bit more prominent so that it’s easy for everyone to use your phone. Inclusivity is the requirement of the day.