The past couple of releases of Android have seen the power menu become more of a utility with things like an emergency button. Now, in Android Q Beta 4, we were able to enable a new section in the Pixel’s gestures menu which points to Google Pay cards being added to the power menu.
So here we are on the last public developer preview build of Android Q before the full stable release, and it addresses a few complaints, issues and more to make it — expectedly — the most complete version of Android Q that we’ve seen thus far.
Android Q is quickly approaching its final release with the final beta version dropping earlier this week. For Pixels, that beta still didn’t include a new Easter egg, but it’s a different story on the Essential Phone. That Android Q beta release holds a new easter egg.
With Beta 6 yesterday, Google offered a near-final look at what navigation will feel like when Android Q launches in the coming weeks. Some users are still unhappy about the choices, with the Android team today publishing a “backstory” explaining gesture navigation.
Google has been taking a lot of feedback on gesture navigation from the brave folks who have been testing it in the Android Q Beta releases. With Android Q Beta 6, Google is making gestures just a little bit more seamless by hiding the navigation bar on the home screen.
Android Q Beta 6 brings us ever closer to the official launch of Google’s next mobile operating system this quarter. We’re enrolling in the Beta Program and sideloading the OTAs right now to explore all the tweaks and near final iterations of the UI and features, so stay tuned to our updating (reverse chronological) list below.
Android Q Beta 6 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 6 OTA on a Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, Pixel 2, or Pixel device.
Google today released the final preview of Android Q before it starts rolling out to consumer Pixel devices later this quarter. Android Q Beta 6 is the “release candidate for final testing” and makes more gesture tweaks.
Android’s beta programs always break a few things, and Niantic’s popular apps rarely work on the updated versions. Pokemon Go players have been asking about the game working on Android Q for quite some time, and we’re happy to report that it’s finally working.
Android Q Developer Preview 4 is now rolling out to OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro devices right now, right off the back of the third recent Q taster download.
Outside of the rare early release like we saw from OnePlus last week, security patches and Android Q Beta builds arrive on Google’s Pixel devices first, with other OEM devices following some time later. Almost a full month after the release of Android Q Beta 5, HMD Global is now rolling out an updated developer build to their Android One-powered Nokia 8.1, one of the best affordable Android phones on the market.
With the launch of Android Q Beta 5 earlier this month, Google also announced that it was planning a Reddit AMA for developers. That session with the Android engineering team is taking place next week on r/AndroidDev.
When Google rolled out Android Q beta to the first — and so far only — wave of non-Pixel phones, there were companies who were left out of the action. General Mobile, an OEM based out of Turkey, was among these, but they decided to take matters into their own hands by using an Android Q build from the developer community.
Ahead of World Emoji Day tomorrow, Google is sharing the complete set of new emoji launching with Android Q later this year. There are 65 in total, as well as 53 gender-inclusive designs detailed in May.
Aside from a slight hiccup on its release, Android Q Beta 5 has been a pretty stable build as we await the final beta in the next few weeks. However, some users have been concerned by notifications that apps are being given unlimited access to location data, but this is a deliberate test by Google ahead of Android Q’s final release.
We found a ton of new changes in Android Q Beta 5 yesterday, but there are still changes hiding behind the scenes. Today, we’ve spotted that Google is now using the Settings Panel feature to make it a bit easier to adjust settings on notification channels with Android Q.
Android Q Beta 5 rolled out to devices today via OTA updates on beta-enrolled Pixel phones. It seems an issue has cropped up for a number of users, and Google has subsequently announced that the OTA update rollout of Android Q Beta 5 has been temporarily stopped.
Google first added a handy autofill tool for passwords back in Oreo and it hasn’t been changed much in the time since. In the latest Android Q Beta 5 release, Google has slightly tweaked the look of autofill, and there might be some minor performance improvements too.
Leading up to Beta 5’s release this afternoon, one of the biggest changes we’ve been watching in Android Q as a whole has been the new gesture navigation. With Beta 5, it’s clear that gestures have been the biggest focus for Google, and that shows in the end product.
The two largest goals of Android Q are to bring gesture navigation to Android and make dark mode more prominent. One way that early Android Q betas let you make things easier on the eyes was to “force” apps into using dark mode, and now Beta 5 is bringing back the dark mode override.
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Gestures are the clear focus of Android Q Beta 5, and Google Assistant sees a lot of attention in this update as well. One subtle change Android Q makes is to show new instructive prompts when a user starts to open the Assistant either with a gesture or the Pixel’s Active Edge feature.
After four fairly eventful releases, Android Q Beta 5 primarily consists of smaller, iterative changes. One of these, instead of adding a new feature, actually turns an older feature off by default. As of Android Q Beta 5, notification snoozing has a new toggle in the Settings app that defaults to “off.”
The biggest annoyance from Google’s new Gesture Navigation in Android Q is the back gesture. While the motion itself makes sense, it breaks the app navigation drawers that are a staple of the platform. In Android Q Beta 5, “peeking” aims to help fix that problem with navigation drawers, but if you ask me, it’s not worth it.
Google’s latest version of gesture navigation is such a departure from anything that’s been in Android before that it’s actually broken a lot of the functionality in the operating system. One feature that was broken was Screen Pinning, and now after being disabled temporarily, the feature is back in Android Q Beta 5 with Gesture Navigation.
