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Nokia 8.1

Android Q Beta 5 now available for the Nokia 8.1 w/ July 2019 security patch

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.


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Android 10 cover

General Mobile attempted to pass off community build as official Android Q beta

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.


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Android Q Beta 5: Apps are granted full location access in deliberate test

Android Q Beta 3 - Top new features

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.


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Android Q Beta 5: Helpful prompts appear on Pixel when using Assistant gestures, ‘Active Edge’

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.


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Android Q Beta 5: Here’s how ‘peeking’ in app navigation drawers works

android q app drawer peeking

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.


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android q screen pinning gesture

Android Q Beta 5: Screen pinning now works with Gesture Navigation

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.


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