I wish my Galaxy Z Fold 8 would copy this excellent Motorola feature

Published Sep 24, 2026, 8:30 AM EDT I've been covering Android and other mobile technology for close to ten years now, with a specific interest in phone accessories, e-readers, and what makes each individual phone different from another. I delight in looking at the phone market from as many angles as possible, and while my opinions may be odd, at times, they're always from the heart as much as the head. I have a background in the mobile accessories world, which explains my odd enthusiasm for cases and things that clip onto smartphones. I worked for Digital Trends from 2017 to 2025. It's been a long time since a phone was just a phone. You'd have to go back to when "telephone" meant the thing sitting on a table in the hallway, shackled by a long cord attached to the wall. That was a phone, and only a phone. But when free of the fetters of wires and cables, the phone was free. Free to play host to games, music, cameras, even the entire internet. Name an electronic feature, and the odds are your phone can do it. It's too much. There are too many features, too many "helpful" tools, and too much digging through menus and apps to use what I actually want. My Z Fold 8 is crammed full of them, and I barely know what half of them do. Which is why we need gesture controls, like Moto Actions, back in the mainstream. Too many features, not enough controls I barely know half of what my phone can do AI is having a moment right now, with dozens of AI-powered features being liberally poured into every device we own. The jury's out on whether these features are actually useful, and whether they'll survive to become core parts of our phones. But we all know one thing about this AI rollout: barely anybody can remember how many there actually are. Every other week, Papa Smartphone arrives with a new feature tucked under his arm, expecting us to cheer and applaud. But every time these new toys arrive, we glance at them and toss them into the pile of other features we don't use. That's not because they're not good and not useful ideas — it's because we've been conditioned to do so. Think about it: How often have you used a new feature once, and then forgotten about it? Or thought about using one, realize you can't remember which app or sub-menu it lives in, so you don't bother. We've been subjected to such a deluge of features that we don't use that I'm willing to bet most of us just tune out new AI features. I still remember how excited I got about Magic Eraser and Editor, but now, my eyes glaze over when Google or Samsung talk about new AI tricks. If this wasn't my job, I wouldn't bother learning about them. It all comes down to a simple fact for me: If a feature isn't willing to come to me, then why should I go looking for it? And that's where gesture controls come in. Why aren't other companies copying them? When I say "gesture controls," I'm not referring to the gesture navigation that replaced the control buttons on the bottom of your screen. I'm talking about controlling your phone through gestures. That's probably not the clearest description, and I'm sorry about that, but as far as I can find out, there isn't an agreed-upon name for these. Most people just know them as "Moto Actions." Moto Actions let you control your phone by waving it around like a madman. The most commonly remembered example is slashing your hand down twice in a karate chop action to turn on your flashlight, but that's far from the only option. You can twist your wrist twice to open the camera, swipe back and forth across the screen to open split-screen mode, and touch the screen with three fingers to take a screenshot. I haven't owned a device with Moto Actions, but I have used similar features on other smartphones. My Honor 8 took screenshots when you tapped the display twice with a knuckle, and I miss that feature. No more volume bars in your screenshots! Magnificent. If you've used Flip to Shhh on a Pixel, that's gesture control. The tech is already there; manufacturers just need to utilize it properly. They're great because when you use them, something about the motion settles into your mind. The novelty of swinging your phone like a sword to start your flashlight is something you remember, and that makes it more likely you'll use it again. Gesture controls could change the way we interact with AI I'd actually use them, for a start I'm not saying gesture controls should be added to every new software feature on our phones. That would be counter-productive. But I can see the benefit of adding gesture controls, and then tying some to AI. Imagine tapping your phone with three fingers to summon Gemini, or tapping twice and circling to start Circle to Search? That feels immediately more attractive than the current options. You could even have fun with it. Don't like the answer or image Gemini made for you? Shake your phone vigorously to make it do it again. Is this just me using the flavor of the month to try and persuade companies to start using gesture controls again? Yes, yes it is. Thank you for noticing. But the ideas speak for themselves. And it's time we started doing things with our phones other than talking into them. Gesture controls should be allowed to change how we use our devices again. They're too much fun not to.