The major theme of Android Q has been crafting dark themed experiences that are easier on the eye than blazing white light. The latest build of Android Q, Beta 5, dropped today and brings dark theme to a new, unexpected location, the Pixel 3 boot animation.
Android’s notification system has been pretty great for a long time now, but in Android Q, Google has been tweaking it even further. With the arrival of Android Q Beta 5, notifications now get a clear “silent” mode which splits them into a second section of the overall notification shade.
Android Q Beta 5 brings us even closer to the official launch of Google’s next mobile operating system in the coming months. 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.
When Android Q’s fully gestural navigation system first debuted, one of the things we didn’t know was how Google intended to have us launch Assistant. That later became clear, and now in Android Q Beta 5, Google is making it more obvious how to launch Assistant with a couple of gesture “handles.”
Android Q Beta 5 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 5 OTA on a Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, Pixel 2, or Pixel device.
With Android Q Beta 5 today, Google is very close to finalizing the next major version of its mobile operating system. This is the first “release candidate for testing” and makes several updates to gestural navigation.
Over the past couple of years, Google has made a lot of changes to permissions and APIs in Android for a variety of reasons. Back in Android Pie, the company started throttling apps that performed Wi-Fi scanning, but in Android Q, the company is slightly walking back that change.
One of the biggest improvements made to the Android Q Beta program is the “fully gestural navigation” method. It takes the half-baked Android Pie semi-gestures and adds a little of what makes the iOS gestures so fluid. But if you plan on using a third-party launcher in future, it appears that you won’t be able to use full gestures on 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.
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.
While the Android Q Beta 2 has already hit Pixel devices, the developer preview is now rolling out to OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T devices.
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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].
Following 9to5Google’s report that Project Soli could debut with the Google Pixel 4, possible uses for the radar chip have emerged. Android Q already features code that describes an “Aware” sensor responsible for gestures to control music.
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.
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.”
It’s amazing that we’ve already reached the fourth iteration of the Android Q Beta program. Beta 4 is now here and it brings with it a ton of updates, improvements and overall feature enhancements to really whet the appetite ahead of the next release.
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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.
Among the fine-grained changes made with Android Q Beta 4, Google has also enabled a fairly in-depth technical preview for developers to try out. The feature, called Dynamic System Updates, allows you to temporarily run a different version of Android on your device.
