Android 13 QPR2 Beta 1: Quick Settings gets a large clock, battery tweaks, and more

Abner Li | Dec 13 2022 - 1:45 pm PT

Besides the adjacent lava lamp effect, Google is making a number of tweaks to the full Quick Settings screen with Android 13 QPR2.

On initial swipe (where you just have four Quick Settings tiles) in Beta 1, the battery percentage in the top-right corner has been replaced by a time remaining estimate (in days and hours). Previously, the percentage would always appear there (regardless of whether you had “Show battery percentage in status bar” enabled).

Some people want the old approach back, but this new way does provide more tangible information that was previously only in Settings > Battery. One compromise could be keeping the percentage on initial swipe but showing the estimate with the full screen.

The percentage remains absent when you fully expand Quick Settings with that entire line of status icons now lower as Google now notes your carrier (or “No service”) just above. The battery estimate and carrier name appearing on one line would have been too wide.

On the other side of the screen, the biggest change is a much larger digital clock. On QPR1, the time on this page remained the same size as the status bar version. Now, it grows (with a nice animation) as you pull down the full shade. With the day/date below, it looks a lot like the lockscreen.

This larger clock is certainly very readable but to the point of distraction. This is just Beta 1, and Google will undoubtedly make more tweaks to Quick Settings over the course of the Android 13 QPR2 preview.