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Android Google Programming

The First Developer Preview of Android 13 Has Arrived (techcrunch.com) 60

Posted by msmash from the moving-forward dept.
Google today announced the first developer release of Android 13. These very early releases, which are only meant for developers and aren't available through over-the-air updates, typically don't include too many user-facing changes. From a report: That's true this time as well, but even in this early release, the company is already showing off a few changes that will impact how you'll use your Android phone. Unlike with Android 12, Google plans to have two developer releases and then launch a beta in April, a month earlier than in 2021. The final release could come as early as August, based on Google's roadmap, whereas Android 12 launched in early October. All of this is happening while Android 12L, the Android release for large-screen devices, is still in development, too, though Google notes that it will bring some of those features to Android 13 as well. These include improved support for tablets, foldables and Android apps on Chromebooks. One of the most visible changes in Android 13 so far is that Google will bring the dynamic color feature of Material You, which by default takes its cues from your home screen image to all app icons. Developers will have to supply a monochromatic app icon for this to work, which many will hopefully do, because the current mix of themed and un-themed icons doesn't make for a great look. For now, this will only be available on Pixel devices, though, and Google says it will work with its partners to bring it to more devices. With this release, Google supports the Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6, Pixel 5a 5G, Pixel 5, Pixel 4a (5G), Pixel 4a, Pixel 4 XL, and Pixel 4.
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The First Developer Preview of Android 13 Has Arrived More

The First Developer Preview of Android 13 Has Arrived

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  • Moving to iPhone (Score:2, Interesting)

    by darkain ( 749283 )

    This just sealed the deal. My Pixel 3 not supported? Fuck being forced to buy a new phone every two fucking years for no real reason.

    Yeah, I know 3rd party ROMs exist, but that's an unsupported, unofficial, pain in the ass (which yes, I'm actively running them on some phones I manage)

    But for my personal daily driver? I just need shit that WORKS and is WELL SUPPORTED. And Android 12 fucked up so much of the UI, and now 13 not even supporting my hardware? Google doesn't want my money. Simple as that!

    • Re:Moving to iPhone (Score:5, Interesting)

      by omnichad ( 1198475 ) on Thursday February 10, 2022 @04:57PM (#62257055) Homepage

      By the time this comes out, the Pixel 3 will be 4 years old, not 2. If you bought a model that is mid-cycle, that's not their fault.

      I do agree that their support cycle is 2-3 years too short. But not annoyed enough that I would go to iPhone. My attack surface is relatively small - I'd rather run an out of date OS for a couple years as long as the apps I care about still run.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by kalpol ( 714519 )
        Not to mention that Lineage supports the Pixel really well, after the initial installing it's been no trouble at all. OTA updates monthly.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Z80a ( 971949 )

      Iphones does fault quite a bit on the WORKS department due apple asinine politics, such as basically all web browsers on the platform being a reskin of safari because they forbid code execution in the applications, and and not supporting formats such as webm on purpose.

    • You got one more release than I did, I have a Xiaomi 9T, it stopped at Android 11. Android support is fucking atrocious, can "almost" understand it from 3rd parties...almost...but a complete disgrace that even google only gives 3 years.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward
        that probably means you were better off than him. You didn't get the shitshow that is Android 12!

    • Re: Moving to iPhone (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Kelxin ( 3417093 ) on Thursday February 10, 2022 @05:03PM (#62257083)
      Honestly, at this point I'm kinda glad they're not pushing 13 to my pixel 3 after the problems that 12 brought. I'm considering wiping and rolling back to 11 actually.

    • being forced to buy a new phone

      Are you really forced though? I was under the impression that Google continued to support older versions of Android with security and API updates for quite awhile. Plenty of bargain-priced phones still ship with "outdated" versions of Android right from the box.

    • Get a phone with physical buttons and then you won't have to worry about painful upgrades. If I need to get work done, I make it a point to use hardware with real keys or buttons.

    • I just need shit that WORKS and is WELL SUPPORTED.

      Give me a break! Do you really need dynamic colors (or dynamic theming)? And even if you really had dynamic colors, will all your apps support it right away (except for the main ones)? Probably not.

      As long as you get your security updates, and those are updated through Google Play Services now, I see no reason to upgrade. The fact is. Both Android and iOS are pretty mature already. We're not going to see anything groundbreaking for a while.

      And Android 12 fucked up so much of the UI

      You've made my point. There was no reason to get Android 12 either.

      • Personally I am absolutely happy on 11 and would love not to upgrade my only android device to 12 or 13, however I need to do work which means having my work email and access to various work internal sites, Android 11 support will be removed sometime this year (they have already pre warned us).

        • Thankfully, I don't have that problem.

          Even if I could check my work email with my phone, I'm not going to do that. Once I'm off the clock, I'm off the clock.

          • It isn't about working off the clock. I have very flexible work arrangements, As long as I can be contacted and access work during work hours I can pretty much go or work from where I want throughout the day. No work on phone means I am confined to locations I can keep my laptop open.

    • > Yeah, I know 3rd party ROMs exist,

      those probably don't get security updates...

    • Fuck being forced to buy a new phone every two fucking years for no real reason.

      So I take it you're running Windows 11? I mean you seem to be hell bent on running the latest and greatest going so far as to buy new hardware for some software features that 99% of the world find completely irrelevant.

      I just got an upgrade to Android 12. I'm still trying to figure out what has actually changed. The phone and every application worked before. The phone and every application worked after. If my phone didn't support Android 12 I'd be non the wiser, non the sadder, and above all no one is "forc

    • Way ahead of you. DId the same once they told me my Pixel 3 was 'obsolete' even though it worked fine. I despise Apple but at least they still support equipment as far back as the iPhone 6.

  • Does it come with the trucker hat? (Score:3)

    by Z80a ( 971949 ) on Thursday February 10, 2022 @04:49PM (#62257023)

    I mean, it's android 13.

  • I only have one question (Score:3)

    by MeNeXT ( 200840 ) on Thursday February 10, 2022 @04:57PM (#62257057)

    will they fix the volume controls? As the names imply a ringtone is not the same as a notification. They perform to different services so can we have two volume controls? This can be a simple option in the settings.

    • Android 12 has that. Press volume up/down and there's a menu button that brings up all the individual volume controls - I count 4 total volume controls here.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by MeNeXT ( 200840 )

        Do you see a volume control for ringtones and another for notifications? Why do people respond without reading. Android 12 has only one control that combines ringtone and notifications in one volume control. There is no way to separate the two. Google merged the 2 a few years back and removed the option to control them independently. Why even bother giving them different names? Just call it ringtone.

        • You were asking for two volume controls. I have four. That said, I keep my ring/notification volume at zero - vibrate only, so I am unaffected by this.

          This is probably a dumb limitation but internally, a ringtone is likely treated as specialized type of notification in how it interacts with the OS.

          If this bothered me, I would probably use a custom notification tone with the volume normalized down to 50%. But there is apparently a third party app called Volume Butler which gives you this control.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by MeNeXT ( 200840 )

            Comprehension isn't your strong point. I was asking for 2 controls. One to control ringtones and one to control notifications. Your answer provided 3 that are irrelevant for the control of either ringtones or notifications. You might as well point me to my TV remote control as another option. /S

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Rhipf ( 525263 )

              Did you look into Volume Butler as suggested? One of the features of this app is "Separate Ringer and Notification volumes for devices with merged volumes" which sounds like what you were requesting.

        • My Android 12 device has volume controls for: "Ringtone", "Media", "Notifications", "System".
          Granted it's not AOSP. I have no idea what the state of AOSP is these days.

          • Re:I only have one question (Score:4, Funny)

            by DamnOregonian ( 963763 ) on Thursday February 10, 2022 @07:03PM (#62257397)
            Added note: I just fired up the Android emulator in the SDK.
            It's running Android 12 AOSP... and it is exactly as you described. Combined Ringtone + Notifications.

            That's fucking stupid.
            The device I referred to in my earlier post was a Samsung, so part of their UI modifications must be unfucking the volume controls.

            • The device I referred to in my earlier post was a Samsung, so part of their UI modifications must be unfucking the volume controls.

              Well that's no fun. I was about to post some insulting comment at the OP that they are clueless. How dare you point out that my Android is different than their Android :-)

              Agreed though, Samsung device here and I didn't have a clue what the OP was on about.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              Can confirm it's like that on a Pixel 5 running stock Android 12. I have

              Media volume
              Call volume
              Ring and notification volume
              Alarm volume

              I don't have an issue with that though, I can't really see why I'd want notifications my ring tone to be different volumes, in fact it would annoy me to have to change two separate settings. I guess someone must have a use case for it.

              • I can definitely see how people "wouldn't care" (And that the "normal" use case is probably those combined)
                My personal use-case is simply that I silence the ringer, but want the notification noises.

                I think the annoyance of having 2 options is probably obviated by having the hardware buttons do both, perhaps.
                Truth be told, I'm not actually sure what the hardware buttons are really setting on mine...

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Rhipf ( 525263 )

              It looks like only LG and Samsung have separated the ringtone and notification volumes. All other manufacturers keep the default Android setting of combining these two.

  • Doesn't Android support Restricted Profiles on tablets but not phones?
    I wouldn't mind that on my Pixel ...

  • Remember when a new OS version meant more than a slight change to what color schemes were used and what screen sizes were supported ?

    Google don't.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • To be fair, both Android and iOS reached a point long ago where they've included pretty much every feature consumers want and expect from a phone. But they're valiantly trying to avoid commoditization, which would tank their profits - so all they can do anymore is add garbage like new color schemes or Memoji and pretend it's earthshaking.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Merk42 ( 1906718 )
      Because surely this initial developer preview contains all the features of the final release at least 6 months away.

      • Because surely this initial developer preview contains all the features of the final release at least 6 months away.

        It should.

        A developer preview essentially says "this is what you can expect; get your apps ready". It helps developers figure out what sort of compatibility issues they might run into and should fix in an upcoming release, and what new APIs are available so they can plan what new features to add.

        The road between DP1 and RTM tends to be bug fixes and some minor QA tweaks (probably a security fix or two in there somewhere, too). To expect Google to add major features at this stage is to defeat half the purpos

  • Isn't "Material You" ultimate style over substance (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Thursday February 10, 2022 @05:54PM (#62257219)

    Material You, which by default takes its cues from your home screen image to all app icons. Developers will have to supply a monochromatic app icon for this to work

    I don't know about this one, I'm sure it will look great in screen shots but if you are trying to find an icon I think color cues are pretty helpful things to key off of.

    I guess more and more phones are oriented to users searching for, or being suggested apps instead of actually finding an icon on the Home Screen and pressing it... even so if I have a list of suggested apps color icons would seem to help me understand quicker if the apps It is suggesting have the one I want.

    • Isn't "Material You" ultimate style over substance...I'm sure it will look great in screen shots

      You have to admit that's an improvement though, Android screen shots that look great? What is the world coming to!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I can confirm this is a downgrade on Android 12. Google's app all have the monochrome icons and it is harder to find the one you want now. I kinda remember where they are on the screen, but it was much easier when e.g. GMail was red and Translate was blue.

  • Just so we are on the same page... Android's UI is crap. The support is also crap. The user's rights are also crap. The ecosystem is pretty-much as you might have guessed: crap. Yes, I have an Android phone. No, I don't have an iPhone. Yes, I want other alternatives.

    • Windows Phone just started getting good right as it was killed. Never jumped to it, but it could have made a spot for itself.

      • unfortunately it didn't matter how good the Windows Phone got it was destined for death without app support. If they had invested more early on in paying devs to include them as a first string target with ios and android it would have been an excellent alternative, instead they fucked it up thinking they just had to make the hardware and OS good and the apps would come. They missed a huge opportunity there.

        • They killed it before they had a decent app store ecosystem on the PC which was probably easily cross-compiled for phone.

  • What did they disable now (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I wonder what features they now disable unless you have location services on.

  • Have they figured out how to securely set the thing to PERMANENTLY use speakerphone?

    Because right now, they've crippled auto-speakerphone on all their other releases.

  • All the bugs in Android 12 have been fixed, then! That's really sterling work.

    Then he woke up and it had all been a dream...

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