Today Google decided to take wraps off today from its third Android P Beta. Actually, the Beta 3 is the fourth release of the upcoming Android flavor, that came earlier in March. The newest update doesn’t introduce new features, other than visual refreshments, and it should be the last release before Android P completion.
Among the new features introduced by Beta 3, there are:
- New ‘back’ button in the navigation bar
- New rotation lock button
- Tweaks to the Quick Settings panel
- Manual dark theme
- ‘App Actions’ now work on the first generation Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL
- Recent apps are now bigger when sliding through them
- Status bar icons are now smaller
- Call volume is now separate in the settings
- New icon for keyboard switcher
- New icon for Battery Saver when activated
- New icons in the Settings
- Always On Display now hides notifications too
- New “Bluetooth A2DP hardware offload” option in Developer Options
- New animation when opening presents
- New animation when switching to the last app
Since the Android P Beta 2 was released with finalized APIs, not much has been left to be done, except for fixing bugs and polishing some elements from the Material Design 2.0 interface. Furthermore, the Beta 3 is being delivered with Google’s July 2018 security patches. Currently, we can’t estimate when the company will start to ship the Android P version, and how it’ll be named, but considering previous releases, we can safely assume that the new flavor should arrive late in August.
Gizchina News of the week
Google already released the System Images for Pixel devices as well as for the Android Emulator. Curiously, the Essential Phone, which is subscribed to the Beta program as well, will be receiving the Beta 3 in the coming days. The formal list of smartphones that are eligible for Beta 3 is composed of Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Essential Phone. Of course, the Beta 3 availability should be expanded for other smartphones that are also part of P Beta program in the coming days, so stay tuned for more details about the last beta release of Android P.
