While dark modes are en vogue, they do offer less eye-straining bonuses as well as potential battery life extensions. Google is slowly and steadily increasing its core apps to include proper dark themes, but it appears that has extended to the Pixel boot animation with Android Q Beta 5.
Another Pixel owner has apparently gotten their hands on the next beta for Android Q. With this latest build, we’re getting a quick look at how Google has optimized Assistant on Android Q, specifically with a new animation and hint for the gesture to activate it.
One clear focus for Google in Android Q has been protecting privacy and improving how the OS handles permissions. In a post for developers today, Google explains how Android Q handles capturing audio.
Android Q is expected to see two more betas before it publicly launches in Q3 2019. The last update arrived in early June, but an unreleased build of Android Q has now leaked with one key improvement to gestural navigation.
Android Q has a surprising number of additions hidden within, and one of the biggest is the new gesture navigation system. Today, a Googler has confirmed that in Android Q Beta 5, gesture nav will be tweaked again to better support app navigation drawers.
One of the neatest aspects of the Pixel line — and many other devices — is the excellent ‘Always-on display’ function. On Pixel devices, it’s called ‘Ambient display’, and Google is looking to improve the palm rejection of the feature.
Xiaomi has confirmed that it’s Android Q-based MIUI 11 will head to 11 devices by Q1 2020. [Now stands at 13 with the Pocophone F1 expected to get MIUI 11].
Huawei has already confirmed that Android Q will be heading to a handful of its smartphones, but that future is increasingly unclear for the time being. Today, though, an early build of EMUI 10 has leaked based on Android Q, showing what Huawei has in the works.
Android Q Beta 4 arrived last week and delivered a lot more changes than we anticipated, but it also caused installation problems for quite a few Pixel owners. Now, Google has posted updated versions of those images, and it’s also pushing out a new OTA.
If you’ve ever had to connect to a network with a crazy long password, you’ve probably thought there has to be a better way. The Wi-Fi Alliance has been working on a new, secure way to better hand over network credentials with “Wi-Fi Easy Connect,” and it’s supported by Android Q.
For a fourth beta out of many, Android Q’s latest release delivers a lot of new stuff. Just behind the scenes, Google has added on to the “Adaptive Sleep” feature that popped up in Android Q Beta 3, now calling its “Screen attention.”
Digital Wellbeing is Google’s take on the Time Well Spent movement that launched last fall on Android and other major services like YouTube. On the mobile OS, the App Timers feature will soon be easier to set from the Pixel Launcher, and now Android Q will do a better job warning about upcoming countdowns.
Among the other visual changes Android Q brings, there are some slight updates to icons and such throughout the system. One of these is the new WiFi icon in Android Q Beta 4, and there’s also a functional update with a new shortcut for network settings.
Google has made a ton of functional changes to Android Q, but there are also some visual updates as well. In Android Q Beta 4, Google trades the “slide-up” transition animation that’s been used for quite a while with a new “zoom” animation.
Google’s new Fully Gestural Navigation system is a massive departure from anything Android has had in the past, and that means the Q Betas are going to have a lot of tweaks and fixes before the final release. In Android Q Beta 4, Google makes some thoughtful tweaks to gestures when dealing with specific scenarios.
One handy feature Google brought to Android a few years ago was Screen Pinning. The feature made handing your phone over to another user a bit more comfortable since they couldn’t leave the app with the feature turned on. Now, with Android Q’s new gestures, Google has disabled Screen Pinning since it’s not (yet) compatible.
Android Q Beta 4 just dropped a few hours ago and it packs a ton of great changes within. However, this latest Android Q beta update is apparently failing for some Google Pixel owners upon installation.
Google debuted a radical overhaul to gestures in one of the most recent Android Q Beta releases, and its main issue has been how it messes up the hamburger menu in most apps. Now, with Android Q Beta 4, Google is showing how developers and users how apps should treat the back gesture.
While today’s Android Q Beta 4 update may not seem to have changed too much visually, it appears there may be a lot more going under the surface. The latest example of this is that “Smart Lock” may be getting rebranded to “Pixel Presence” on Google Pixel devices with Android Q.
Notifications have been a point of focus for Google in Android Q, and Beta 4 gives the settings interface an overhaul. Now, Android’s notification settings are not only more clearly organized, but there are also some new features including “Adaptive Notifications.”
One of the biggest new features Google is testing out in Android Q Beta 4 is “Bubbles” for notifications. While the functionality isn’t supposed to be user-facing in the final release, it’s now in preview in Android Q Beta 4.
Android Q Beta 4 today brings us closer to the official launch of Google’s next mobile operating system in Q3 2019. We’re enrolling in the Beta Program and sideloading the OTAs right now to explore all the tweaks and near final iterations of features, so stay tuned to our updating (reverse chronological) list below.
In the first Android Q Beta Google strangely and unexpected limited users to swiping notifications away in just a single direction. While a toggle was later added, Google has ditched the decision entirely and brought back the ability to swipe notifications away in either direction with Android Q Beta 4.
Google officially unveiled the Android Q Dark Theme at I/O 2019 last month. With Beta 4 today, Google is making several tweaks to the system and Pixel Launcher’s implementation that helps with legibility.
