Android 17 Beta 2 Enhances Pixel Experience with New Features and Fixes
Google has swiftly released Android 17 Beta 2 for Pixel devices, marking a significant step in the operating system’s development. This update introduces a range of user experience enhancements, connectivity improvements, and critical bug fixes, underscoring Google’s commitment to refining the Android ecosystem.
User Experience & System UI Enhancements
Android 17 Beta 2 brings notable changes to the user interface and overall experience:
– Bubbles Feature: Users can now create bubbles for any application by long-pressing the app’s launcher icon. This functionality is particularly beneficial for multitasking, allowing users to keep conversations or tasks accessible. On larger screens, a new bubble bar in the taskbar organizes and anchors these bubbles, enhancing productivity. Developers are encouraged to adhere to multi-window guidelines to optimize this feature.
– EyeDropper API: A new system API enables applications to capture pixel colors from any part of the display without requiring screen capture permissions. This tool is invaluable for design and development applications, facilitating color selection and analysis directly from the screen.
– Contacts Picker: The introduction of the `ACTION_PICK_CONTACTS` intent provides a system-level picker that grants temporary, session-based access to specific contact fields. This approach enhances user privacy by reducing the need for applications to request full `READ_CONTACTS` permissions, thereby limiting unnecessary data access.
– Touchpad Pointer Capture: Captured touchpads now default to behaving like mice, reporting relative movement and gestures instead of raw finger coordinates. For applications requiring the previous behavior, the legacy absolute mode remains accessible via `POINTER_CAPTURE_MODE_ABSOLUTE`.
– Interactive Chooser: Applications can utilize `getInitialRestingBounds` on a `ChooserSession` to determine the final UI position of the Chooser. This capability allows for better layout adjustments, ensuring a more cohesive user interface.
Connectivity & Cross-Device Improvements
The update also focuses on enhancing connectivity and cross-device functionality:
– Cross-device Handoff: The new Handoff API enables state resumption across devices, such as transitioning from a phone to a tablet seamlessly. This feature, managed via `CompanionDeviceManager`, aims to provide a fluid user experience across multiple devices.
– Advanced Ranging:
– UWB DL-TDOA: Supports FiRA 4.0 standards for privacy-preserving indoor navigation, enhancing location accuracy and security.
– Proximity Detection: Implements Wi-Fi Alliance specifications for improved Wi-Fi-based ranging, facilitating more precise proximity detection between devices.
– Data Plan Enhancements: Applications can now query carrier-allocated downlink and uplink maximum rates for streaming purposes using `getStreamingAppMaxDownlinkKbps` and `getStreamingAppMaxUplinkKbps`. This information allows applications to optimize streaming quality based on available network resources.
Core Functionality, Privacy & Performance Upgrades
Android 17 Beta 2 introduces several core enhancements:
– Local Network Access: The new `ACCESS_LOCAL_NETWORK` permission, part of the `NEARBY_DEVICES` group, is designed to protect local area network (LAN) communication. This addition enhances security by controlling which applications can access devices on the same network.
– Time Zone Broadcast: A new intent, `ACTION_TIMEZONE_OFFSET_CHANGED`, triggers specifically on offset changes such as daylight saving time transitions. This feature ensures that applications can respond promptly to time zone changes, maintaining accurate time-related functionalities.
– NPU Management: Applications targeting Android 17 must declare the `FEATURE_NEURAL_PROCESSING_UNIT` hardware feature to directly access the Neural Processing Unit (NPU). This requirement ensures that applications utilizing machine learning and AI capabilities are optimized for devices equipped with NPUs.
– ICU 78: The update includes updated internationalization libraries supporting Unicode 17, enhancing text processing and rendering capabilities across different languages and scripts.
– SMS OTP Protection: To prevent hijacking, Android 17 delays programmatic access to One-Time Password (OTP) messages by three hours for most applications. Developers are encouraged to transition to the SMS Retriever or SMS User Consent APIs to access OTPs promptly and securely.
Bug Fixes in Beta 2
This release addresses several critical issues:
– Redundant Notifications Post-Update: A bug causing redundant notifications to appear following a system update has been fixed by improving the notification service logic to correctly clear stale alerts during the post-update initialization process.
– GPU Shader Compiler Optimization Bug: On the Pixel 6 Pro, a bug in the GPU shader compiler caused specific GLSL mathematical expressions to evaluate incorrectly as constants, resulting in visual rendering artifacts in applications. This issue has been resolved, ensuring accurate rendering.
Installation and Feedback
Android 17 Beta 2 system images are available for a wide range of Pixel devices, including:
– Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6a
– Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7a
– Pixel Tablet, Pixel Fold
– Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 8a
– Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel 9a
– Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL, Pixel 10 Pro Fold
Users can join the Android Beta Program to receive over-the-air updates. Feedback can be submitted through the Android Beta Feedback app available on Pixel devices, accessible from the app drawer or Quick Settings. Additionally, the Android Beta community is active on Reddit, providing a platform for discussions and support.
This accelerated release of Android 17 Beta 2 highlights Google’s dedication to enhancing the Android platform, offering users and developers a more refined and feature-rich experience.
