The Android Q beta was opened up to a bunch of new devices back at Google I/O, and nearly two years after its release the Essential Phone was on that list. Today, barely an hour after Google released it for Pixel devices, the Essential Phone also picked up Android Q Beta 4.
Android Q Beta 4 is rolling out to Pixel devices today, and the first change everyone is presented with is the design tweaks done to the lock screen.
The first Android Q Beta finally delivered some limited theming capabilities to stock Android with options to switch up fonts and accent colors. In the Android Q Beta 4 release, Google has added a few more colors to choose from.
One of the absolute best additions to Android Pie back when it was in beta was the contextual rotation button. With the new gestures Google debuted in Android Q, that rotation button was killed off seemingly with no return, but in Android Q Beta 4, it has returned.
Android Q Beta 4 just dropped this afternoon. While the update will be heading out over traditional updates to those enrolled in the beta program, here’s how to skip the wait by sideloading the Android Q Beta 4 OTA on a Pixel 3, Pixel 2, or Pixel device.
At I/O 2019, Google announced a slew of changes to Android Q and unveiled the high-level tentpole features. Android Q Beta 4 today takes a notable step towards launch in Q3 with final APIs and Play Store publishing for developers.
Android Q is officially heading to OnePlus 5 and 5T devices with no solid ETA being touted by OnePlus.
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Back at Google I/O 2019, it was confirmed that the OnePlus 7 series would pick up support for the Android Q Beta program. Now, OnePlus has released the first Android Q beta version for both the OnePlus 7 and the OnePlus 7 Pro.
Now that Android Q is in the hands of far more users, thanks to Google bringing Beta 3 to over a dozen non-Pixel devices, a lot of folks are just getting acquainted with the new features we’ve covered in the first two betas. Unfortunately, Google also made some of the experimental features, hidden behind “feature flags,” like native screen recording support, harder to access. So here’s how to enable screen recording in Android Q Beta 3.
With the death of the headphone jack, Bluetooth accessories are only becoming more important. Now, we’re learning that Google is putting some heavy emphasis on these accessories in Android Q with a revamped Bluetooth menu and some new features for Fast Pair.
RCS is barely available, but even for those it’s been activated for, it can easily be broken. In the latest beta for Android Q, some Pixel users are finding that RCS is broken. Thankfully, there might be a simple fix.
Google introduced a new set of gestures in Android Q, and they’re pretty cool. Those who had a negative opinion of Google’s previous “pill” system have already given the company credit for this new system, but it’s not quite perfect. Here are a couple of quick tips for Android Q’s Fully Gestural Navigation.
In the second beta release of Android Q, Google debuted and put some emphasis on a new notification feature called Bubbles. Interestingly, though, Google has confirmed that Bubble’s won’t be a user-facing feature in Android Q, instead being in the developer options.
Today kicked off Google I/O 2019, the company’s annual developer conference and the initial keynote was stuffed to the brim with big news. Despite being under 2 hours long, Sundar Pichai and Co managed to pack a ton of big announcements into the day. If you missed what’s new, here’s everything the company announced.
Android Q was a big focus of Google I/O 2019’s opening keynote, but there has been a ton of other news that has come out of the rest of the conference. In case you missed anything, here are some assorted Android Q tidbits we’ve found throughout the week.
We’re halfway through the Android Q Beta phase, and with Beta 3 we’ve had some solid introductions but we’ve unpacked a few of the core additions and features to the latest update.
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Google I/O 2019 has delivered a ton of new Android developments, but in one of its sessions, Google confirmed an interesting detail about navigation. Going forward, Google will only support two versions of navigation – Android Q’s new Fully Gestural Navigation, and the classic three-button setup.
Android Q is still in beta right now, but Huawei is officially confirming a few of its devices for the upgrade. When the time comes, at least 8 of the company’s devices will be updated including the P30 and Mate 20 lineups.
We’re still finding neat little features in Android Q Beta 3 as the days roll by and one of those is the new Adaptive sleep mode which is showing for some users, but not all.
With the release of Android Q beta 3 yesterday we’ve seen yet another revision to gestural navigation on Android. The newest effort certainly shows promise, but it might take longtime Android users some time to get used to it.
If you are taking the plunge and installing the Android Q beta, you aren’t thrown into the deep end by starting out with the fully gestural navigation enabled, so if you are looking for the full Android Q experience you’ll need to enable it first.
Android TV wasn’t even mentioned in the Google I/O keynote this year, but that doesn’t mean we’re not getting news about the platform. In a further session, Google revealed some new numbers regarding Android TV, as well as details about the Q update.
One of my favorite additions to Android Q is the ability to change the accent color of the entire system. In the latest beta update, Gboard has started respecting the system accent color and dark theme in Android Q.
Wi-Fi is something we often ask about when visiting friends and relatives and fairly often, they have no idea. Connect and forget seems to be the train of thought for many, but Android Q is tackling that with some sharing tools. In Android Q beta 3, Google has made it easy to access Wi-Fi passwords stored on your device.
Dark mode is one of the biggest new features in Android Q, but as with any new feature, a lot of its success relies on developers. It seems Google is taking this into its own hands, though, as there’s a developer option in Android Q Beta 3 that forces all apps to use a dark mode theme, and it even works on Google Assistant.
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