It is true that Android 14 did not have, at the opening event of Google I / O 2023, the presence that we have seen in previous years. This is understandable, since Google decided to focus on artificial intelligence, dedicating more than an hour and a half of an event of just over two hours and, of course, with a few minutes dedicated to reviewing the news related to devices, the Google Pixel 7a, the expected Google Pixel Fold and the very interesting Pixel Tablet. It was, as we had already anticipated, one of the most interesting Google I/O in recent years, but so many new features displaced Android 14 a bit from the spotlight.
Now, just because he didn’t appear under the spotlight doesn’t mean he wasn’t present. After all, although its media interest has a huge reach, Google I/O is an event for developers, and a good part of the developers interested in the Google ecosystem develop, of course, for Android, for what we expected, and We have not been wrong, news related to it. News that is summarized by saying the following: Android 14 Beta 2.
Let’s remember that Android 14 developer previews began to see the light of day in February, while Beta 1 debuted last April, so we’ve already had the chance to see the first news that will come from this operating system. . And now, with this new revision, which is now available to all interested users who have a compatible devicewe see the list of new features grow substantially.
But before getting into this, in the new features, a very interesting aspect is that, as we have seen before in other versions, Android 14 Beta 2 is not going to be exclusive to Pixel smartphones. Quite the contrary, as we can see on this page, Beta 2 is also available for devices from iQOO, Lenovo, Nothing, OnePlus, OPPO, realme, TECNO, vivo and Xiaomi, in addition to Google Pixel itself, clear. Google has undoubtedly expanded the scope of this phase of the testing process substantially.
Android 14 Beta 2: what’s new
The photographic section is one of Android’s strengths, especially for Google in the case of the Pixels, but also for many other manufacturers, who choose to mount incredibly advanced cameras. Thus, in this new beta version of Android 14 we find a very interesting function, which is the 10-bit HDR and Ultra HDR support. Also, also upgrade camera extensionsin order to allow applications to handle longer rendering times, which results in enhanced images using compute-intensive algorithms, such as low-light photography on compatible devices, and also improves support for direct-based zooming. on sensor.
Android 14 Beta 2 also improves the audio playback experience through wired headphones, since for the first time it will offer lossless sound over USB. The adoption of lossless formats is already quite widespread in streaming music services, as well as in digital music stores, so this novelty will undoubtedly be very well received by all users who value this quality of sound and prefer wired headphones since, according to what we can read in the Android developer blog, Google is already working with our OEM partners to enable this function in the devices later this year.
Health Connect, the health information repository, now becomes part of the operating system itself. Thus, its installation will be carried out directly with the operating system, and its updates will no longer be managed independently via Google Play, but in those of Android. This translates, in the first instance, into a very interesting novelty, and that is that its privacy controls become integrated with those of the system, thus providing a more uniform and centralized control, something key if we take into account the type of information that manages this app.
In addition, Health Connect begins to test, in this beta, support for training routes, which allows users to view, review and share the display of them on a map. A route is defined as a list of saved locations within a period of time, and your app can insert routes into exercise sessions, joining them together. To ensure that users have complete control over this sensitive data, only individual paths can be shared and it will be through other applications.
This is just the beginning for the Android health app. Hand in hand with Android 14 and Wear OS 4, which will arrive at the end of the year, Google has expanded the functions of the Health Connect API, in order to grow the ecosystem of developers who want the data collected and managed by their apps, services and devices, can be integrated into the Google app. This is something that Apple has polished quite well in iOS with Health, and that fortunately finds a replica in Android.
Another novelty that debuts in Android 14 Beta 2 will be especially welcomed by users who value their privacy and, by extension, the management of it that their device offers them. Users will now see a new section in the dialog displayed when an app is accessing the geolocation of the device, in which information will be displayed on whether it is going to share said information with third parties. Because, of course, it is not the same for an app to use said data locally, to upload it to the cloud, or to share it with third parties. With this expansion of the information provided, users will be able to make more informed decisions.
Additionally, Android will also issue a notification if, at any time, one of its apps modifies the use it makes of the data to start sharing it with third partiesthus preventing a policy change in this regard from going unnoticed (something quite common today), allowing us to revert the permissions granted to it if we do not want our data to be shared.
Another usability-security measure, which at first glance may seem trivial, but which is more important than it seems, is that from Android 14 Beta 2, Google’s operating system goes on to impose very tight limitations on full screen mode. As the company recalls, Android 11 enabled the possibility that any app could use full screen mode when the phone is locked.
However, experience has shown that there are very few, and easy to define, the cases in which the use of this mode makes sense, while it can be used with malicious intentions in many cases. To avoid this problem, Google has decided that, from now on, Full screen mode with the phone locked will only be available for apps that offer calling and video calling features, as well as user-configured alarms. It is important to clarify, yes, that this limitation will be imposed on the apps installed in the system once it has been updated to Android 14, but that the applications that were previously installed will maintain the possibility of using this notification mode.
Finally, among the most noteworthy novelties that come with this beta, we find a significant improvement in terms of predictive gesture navigation. Specifically, we find that the back gesture becomes smoother, in terms of its effect on the screen, as well as more intuitive, which reduces the learning curve to use this navigation system.
For the rest, and as we could already expect, Android 14 Beta 2 fixes a nice collection of bugs, mainly minors, present in the beta launched last month. This, and this is important, should remind us once again that we are still in the development phase where Google adds new features without focusing on performance and system stability. It will be from the beginning of June when more efforts will be concentrated on these points. Thus, our recommendation is that, if you want to try Android 14 Beta 2, do it on a device that you do not depend on in your day-to-day life, since the chances of failures are much higher than what is recommended for our device to use. common.
