Active Edge Revival: Patrick O'Rourke's Plea for Pixel Feature

The feature that Patrick O'Rourke, XDA's News Editor and Entertainment Segment Lead, misses the most about older Pixel smartphones is Active Edge. Introduced in 2017 with the Pixel 2, it allowed users to squeeze their phones to launch Google Assistant or perform other actions. Although it was borrowed from HTC's U11 and its Edge Sense feature, Active Edge offered limited functionality and could be customized through third-party apps.

O'Rourke notes that Active Edge was featured in every Pixel device up to the Pixel 4 XL but was left out of the Pixel 5 series. He recalls using it consistently with his Pixel 4 and finds it intuitive. However, he also experienced some inconsistency, with the feature sometimes randomly activating Google Assistant.

For Active Edge to make a return in future Pixel devices, O'Rourke suggests that it needs to be more accurate and customizable, allowing users to set any app or hardware feature to the squeeze gesture. This would make the feature more useful and result in Pixel owners using it.