The second beta of Android 13 QPR2 is currently rolling out to select Pixel phones, adding new experimental features and even some emoji.
if you just watched Official Release Notes (opens in a new tab), you’d think it was nothing more than a patch for a UI glitch that “caused the home screen to become unresponsive.”But well-known Android expert Mashaal Rahman managed to break down the entire beta in a short amount of time long twitter thread (opens in a new tab)One feature in particular that has him and other Android watchers excited is the ability to create monochrome app icons on Pixel phones that reflect the Material You theme. This way, everything has a uniform look.
According to Rahman, the feature is disabled by default, so beta users will have to go into their phone’s settings and toggle ENABLE_FORCED_MONO_ICON (which is likely a placeholder name). When you turn it on, all apps that support the feature, including first-party and third-party apps like Netflix, will switch to a monochrome look. other reports (opens in a new tab) Declaring it is ultimately up to the app developer themselves to support the feature. This could put “Pixel owners in a weird place,” where the launcher icon is a mixture of monochrome and full-color.
more changes
The only notable new feature in the beta is a partial screen sharing menu for sharing or recording apps. It includes a new scrollable interface that sits at the top of the list of apps that appear to work with the screen-sharing tool.
As for the rest of the changes, they appear to be just updated versions of previously seen beta features. Rahman spotted a new shared library called “aoc_audio_stereo_spatializer” in the beta files, which he believes refers to “enabling spatial audio through the phone’s stereo speakers.”Spatial audio first in The first Android 13 QPR2 beta. Unfortunately, Google is still playing its cards hard since much of the basic information about how spatial audio works on Android is still unknown.
Back in beta is the ability to control smart home devices from the lock screen, as early as March 2022 (opens in a new tab). The change this time is that the beta will suggest you turn on this feature if “you try to switch a [smart home] Turn off the device from the lock screen a few times. “
As mentioned, you can download QPR2 Beta 2 from the Android Beta program if you own one of the following Pixel phones: Pixel 4a, pixel 5, 5aThis Radix 6 model, 6 Pro, 6aThis base 7 modeland Pixel 7 Pro. Note that it’s not perfect.There are multiple threads on Android Beta subreddit (opens in a new tab) About all the issues users are having after downloading QPE2 Beta 2, from icons not being monochrome to Google Messages not working properly.If you experience any of these issues, the company asks users to report bugs via feedback application (opens in a new tab).
While we have you, if you’re thinking about upgrading your phone, be sure to check out Two new Pixel 7 deals we find.