Google confirms Nexus 5X and 6P 'double-twist' camera gesture canned

Keen followers of the new Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P smartphones may have spotted references to a ‘double twist’ camera launching feature lately. Qualcomm recently mentioned the feature in a blog post about the new phones, but it turns out that the feature was dropped.

Originally, the phone camera was supposed to have a launch shortcut that could be activated by twisting the device around twice using your wrist. The shortcut was originally to be powered by Qualcomm’s Context Core, which has since been renamed to the Android Sensor Hub. Google has confirmed that this feature didn’t actually end up making the cut into the final product, instead the company opted to use a double tap of the power key to quickly launch the camera, which certainly sounds more practical.

The feature to launch the camera via double-twist of the device was replaced by double tap of the power key. The name Context Core has been changed to Android Sensor Hub. – Qualcomm

[related_videos title=”A closer look:” align=”right” type=”custom” videos=”645660,645657″]

Google has not provided a detailed explanation about the decision, other than to say that it tried them both and opted for the power button option.

Perhaps it would have be nice of Google to offer users the option between the two? Fans of the double-twist feature will just have to hope that there’s a way to re-enable the feature, perhaps through a custom ROM.