Android Q Beta: What’s new for the Google Pixel smartphones
Another year, another new Android release. The smartphone industry is constantly evolving, and this year in particular is gearing up to be one of the most exciting for enthusiasts. Android, being a core element of this ever-changing industry, also must adapt to new trends. This couldn’t be truer for Android Q, the newest version of the Android platform. Google finally pulled the trigger and released the very first Android Q beta build for the entire Pixel family of smartphones—the Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel, and Pixel XL.
At first glance, Android Q might seem like more of the same. After all, it’s nearly identical, UI-wise, to Android Pie. But it’s also bringing so many under-the-hood changes that we can’t help but be excited about it. You could say that Android Q is to Android Pie as Android Marshmallow was to Android Lollipop. A refinement-focused update that, instead of bringing unnecessary UI and UX changes, brings new features, improvements, and changes based on user feedback. Believe me: there’s a lot of stuff to be excited about on Android Q.
Today, we’re doing a deep dive on Android Q’s first publicly available beta to uncover all of the little things and features that Google’s latest OS will be including. This list does not include the features that Google officially shared in their blog post, nor will we talk about any of the new APIs and platform changes that affect developers. This post is all about what Google didn’t talk about it; the changes you have to flash the beta build to see for yourself. We also have a 17 minute video overview covering most, but not all, of the changes we’ve written about below.
th Android Q, an actual dark mode seems to be happening at long last. The Android Q beta includes a system-wide dark mode which themes the notification shade, the actual notifications, the Settings app, and the entire SystemUI, and turns most UI elements from white to dark gray and AMOLED black. Not only that, but it can also force this dark mode throughout the entire operating system, including user-downloaded apps regardless of whether they have a dark mode or not. Some apps will look awesome and some will look terrible: your mileage may vary.
While a setting to enable this dark theme was present in the leaked Android Q alpha build we uncovered a couple of months ago, it has since been removed. The reason is unknown, but we’re guessing it’s still in development and they’re hiding it away until it’s more polished. However, this dark mode is definitely still there. It can be enabled by turning on Battery Saver mode, but if you don’t feel like having Battery Saver always on and you have access to a computer (and minimal ADB skills while you’re in that, too), you can toggle it on and off by following this tutorial.
Theming
Android and theme engines have a funny story. Previously, the concept of system themes was reserved to OEM skins like EMUI and TouchWizand custom ROMs like CyanogenMod. It remained foreign to stock Android users. Then, with the advent of Layers and its successor, Substratum, theming stock Android became a real possibility: by leveraging built-in theming platforms like OMS and RRO, root users were able to theme many aspects of their UI/UX the way they wanted to. This became more accessible as Android Oreobaked OMS into AOSP and the Substratum developers released Andromeda, an add-on allowing non-root users to theme their stock systems.
Andromeda’s momentum was quickly cut off with the release of the March 2018 security patch, restricting the installation of overlays to system apps and thus ending rootless theming. A workaround was then found and Substratum theming is currently possible, but it’s definitely not practical for everyone. As of today, AOSP Android does not have a built-in full-fledged theming solution of any kind. This is not changing with Android Q, but at least they are opening the doors to more customization
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