Android Q Beta 6: Pixel Stand UI updated with tweaked ambient view

Kyle Bradshaw | Aug 7 2019 - 12:30 pm PT

Among the other various updates included with Android Q Beta 6, Google has also thrown in a minor update to the UI on the Pixel Stand, greatly simplifying the ambient experience.

Just as today’s Android Q Beta 6 updated included a newer version of the Google Camera app, it also updates the Pixel Stand app from v1.1.1, available in the Play Store, to v1.3.1, as spotted by Justin Duino. We were able to obtain pre-release copies of both of these updates from a leaked build of Android Q earlier this year.

Placing your Pixel 3 onto the Pixel Stand now reveals a much simpler ambient UI that only reveals the time, weather, charging status, and a small Assistant logo. Tapping the new Assistant logo opens up the same colorful interface that the Pixel Stand has always had.

Previously, in the Pixel Stand ambient view, you would also be treated to a sizeable pill with a suggested Assistant query or action, in a colorful UI. While gone for now, our APK Insight team has been tracking very similar UI from the Google app, currently called “Google Assistant Ambient Mode.”

One thing we’re not yet sure of is if the Google Assistant’s Ambient Mode has anything to do with the Pixel Stand. Using the leaked version of the Pixel Stand app, we were able to see notifications from the Google app asking if we’d like to return to Ambient Mode. These Ambient Mode notifications did nothing at the time, and have since disappeared.