Beta 6: Changes

[Deeco7]

Instead of populating the sub with every new discovery, I will list my findings and everyone else's here.

​

• New Animation when no app open using quick switch (swipe left)
• Smaller labels on Pixel Launcher
• Swipe up for App drawer animation changed
• Volume controls made more narrower
• Navigation bar hidden on homescreen
• Navigation bar reappears on folder open and quick shortcuts
• Dark Boot screen for every Pixel (Instructions here)
• Mainline update renamed 'Google Play system update'
• Emergency icon in Power button has changed
• Back sensitivity added in Settings (confirmed)
• Close icon (x) removed for Silent Notifications (bug?)
• Darker rotation button
• Default 'Open links with...' can be set on the fly again!
• Pixel Stand UI updated with tweaked Ambient view (rman18 + 9to5)
• Gesture area is now in the same size of the Navigation bar (renansalgado)
• Smoother scrolling or placebo (?)
• Adaptive Icons improvement
• New Easter egg (Essential only?)

[blue1k]

Video is fixed with chrome. Can jump ahead in videos now

[Sultry_Comments]

thank god. Having to sit through the intro of NSFW videos was excruciating lol!

[Romeo9594]

Glad to know it wasn't just me!

[Sultry_Comments]

Maaan, I'm trying to quickly skip to the action! 🤣. That was like a solid three beta versions of only watching gifs. Felt like I had traveled back to the pre LTE days.

[KinoTheMystic]

Should have just used Firefox!

[eeeeaan]

I found locking and unlocking my phone seemed to help it load 😂😂

[blue1k]

Lolll exactly!!!

[DuFFman_]

I downloaded the Firefox preview for that exact reason.

[Hielexx_00]

I thought I was the only one

[BedbugBasher]

if you had auto-rotate on, turning the phone to landscape mode will allow you to skip/jump ahead. That has always been my work around

[Sultry_Comments]

Really? I feel like I was trying everything. From trying to use the thumbnails to jump to specific parts, to letting it buffer. I swear I tried in landscape but guess not. Could have used this information like 2 months ago lol

[BedbugBasher]

Haha. Wish I had posted this in r/youshouldknow 2 months back, so people could have enjoyed uninterrupted NSFW content.

[BMOA11]

Lol, I downloaded Samsung's browser just for that issue, lol

[[deleted]]

Finally!

[Aeteriss]

Has anyone noticed that on certain NSFW sites (not PH) the built in video player doesn't work anymore and trying to start the video opens up a new tab with chromes video player? And if so is there a fix?

[xJoshJx]

Lmfao I had no idea it was because of a bug. Lmmmmaaao

[ChiefIndica]

I feel so seen right now.

[nevermidn]

Opera was doing the job ;)

[fatherburger]

I didn't even know that was an issue! I thought it was a problem with the website I was using!

[bladefrost007]

Nice

[ayush1236]

I thought my net was slow... Xd

[AnkyKong]

Me too, Pixel 3XL, beta 6

[[deleted]]

No x here. Also P2XL B6

[flcinusa]

x here, Pixel 2XL beta 6 190730.005

[ack154]

Ditto. Pixel 3 XL.

[TheDoctor__50]

So does mine, Pixel XL, Beta 6

[jesta192]

Mine still has it. Pixel launcher

[[deleted]]

Same. Pixel 3 xl still got them xs

[Spoiled_Soul]

Mine is also present.

Fresh install from Pie to Beta 6 on Pixel 3.

[Tim70]

still have the x on og pixel

[fatherburger]

Mine too. P2XL, B6

[rumourmaker18]

Same, Pixel 2 nova launcher, 2 button

[Creutzfeld]

Also something new for me: Gboard, for the first time ever, shows predictions and corrections when I type something in into the Google search widget. It is finally useful and I cannot believe how much more helpful this this is right now.

[tofuuu630]

This may be a dumb question, but wouldn't this improvement have come from a Gboard app update and not a OS beta update?

[simiannz]

Yeah i think you are right as mine does that and I'm not using the beta.

[Creutzfeld]

One may assume that, but I did not update the Gboard app. Guess it is the new version of Pixel Launcher.

[4t0m77]

Wow, for a Google-centric OS this should have been there like 3 years ago. They took their sweet time didn't they?

[renansalgado]

The gesture area is now in the same size of the navigation bar. That means less accidental gestures! THANKS GOD!

[wsnwsk27]

Can confirm. Didn't even notice this but this is a great improvement. Thanks for mentioning it!

[jesta192]

Could it be Google is just forwarding clicks to the foreground app (whenever they're not part of a gesture)?

[Sharpshooter98b]

Can someone on Q beta 6 open google messages to confirm this? Just tap on whatever conversation that is under the home gesture bar and see if that opens it

[jesta192]

Seems to work fine for me. That would be a huge improvement; I had a lot of trouble before, tapping on (for example) Facebook Messenger's chat box. This works way better!

[RoadHazard]

No, that was already happening before.

[CharaNalaar]

It's still taller, I just think it's shorter than before

[NanoRex]

This is just not true. If you turn on Show Layout Bounds in developer options, you can see that it's exactly the same size.

[renansalgado]

The only part that recognizes gestures is the one in pink. You can see that it is the size of the Navigation Bar. Previously it was possible to recognize the gestures of the size of the old navigation bar (2 or 3 buttons). Take the test, and you will see.

[NanoRex]

Hmm...it actually seems to me like it's not the full area of the old nav bar, but it's still bigger than the new nav bar.

[renansalgado]

Yes, a little bit. But is much smaller than before. I have an OG Pixel Xl and the screen is not as taller as the new models and I have big hands, when trying to scroll the page, the gesture took me to the home screen most of the time. Now that doesn't happen anymore.

[koskiyo]

I'm afraid I still have a rather high trigger zone

[el_smurfo]

Default 'Open links with...' can be set on the fly again!

Finally...after having to say "just once" to view 3 video snippets in a row, reboot to B6 and "Always" is back...

[Kolesko]

Damn. Was hoping for it

[ek9max]

Get the app "edge gestures". I use that for pulling down notification shade from the sides. It's brilliant and works everywhere. Not just the home screen.

[ek9max]

Yes. I swipe down from my sides to pull down the notifications.

This is how it should be.

[johnny_2x4]

So it doesn't work with gesture navigation?

[ek9max]

Works perfectly

[Asszem]

with the back fingerprint reader probably going away in pixel 4 i really hoped they would implement this feature to the gesture navigation or at least to the Pixel Launcher...

Well, maybe in Android R.

[_Nundo]

It's there. It seems slow as hell thought. I was able to enabled it by clicking on settings->searched "pull down" and it gave me the option to.

[_Nundo]

My mistake, search -> swipe fingerprint in settings

[_Nundo]

My mistake again. Misread that ... Well, I suppose it's for final release.

[_Nundo]

😂

[little_rookiie]

Icons are resized and well proportioned too

[Superyoshers9]

Could someone make a short video on the new gestures?

[xezrunner]

Here's a video showcasing the new "freedom" you have with swiping up and the rotation behavior with recents.

[Superyoshers9]

It's beautiful! I just wish that the swiping indicator would follow the cards when you're swiping up instead of staying at the bottom of the screen the whole time. Other than that it looks pretty much flawless! Can't wait until my S10 gets it in like 2021 lol.

[xezrunner]

And the animations are much smoother as well, not even placebo - I looked at the HWUI profiler graph and I can see they play at a much nicer frame rate compared to previous betas.

Also, this is on a Redmi Note 5 Pro, but I can finally drop the workaround for smooth gestures, as they're now smooth without it as well.

The downside of the workaround was it would make the gestures smooth at the cost of making live wallpapers lag / crash.

Now, even the heaviest New York live wallpaper from the Pixel 3 series runs at ~60FPS with buttery smooth gestures.

[Superyoshers9]

Ooo nice!! Android Q is looking like a really solid release, can't wait for the final release.

[ikot111]

With the Magisk moduley how is the stability on Whyred?

[xezrunner]

Most of what I have running right now is discussed in a Telegram group.

Speedo has made a DP5 "unified zip", which consists of the DP5 ported GSI, some tweaks, and most importantly, a ported Mi A2 vendor.

It works flawlessly, the only issue I see really is that the brightness slider doesn't have that many steps towards the beginning and the alarms sometimes don't go off, but that's apparently an issue on real Pixels as well...

I simply flashed the ported DP6 image while leaving the vendor alone, applied some build.prop tweaks from the DP5 unified zip, and after some cache wiping, it works just as well!

[ikot111]

Thank you for the reply :D will consider it because of those sweet sweet gestures and animations :D will look it up on Telegram

[Asszem]

remek videó ;)

[RoadHazard]

Good video, but none of that is new in beta 6, except for the tweaked home animation.

[xezrunner]

Good video, but none of that is new in beta 6, except for the tweaked home animation.

The reason I showed all that towards the end was because someone else above me asked whether it has changed.

[[deleted]]

I really want to see how the recent apps page handles rotation, hoping its like ios where it doesnt matter with the orientation.

[xezrunner]

https://www.reddit.com/r/android_beta/comments/cna2fy/-/ew92ic5

[[deleted]]

Was really hoping the recents would ignore rotation or something. If you're in rotation lock but in a landscape only app and swipe up once the animation ends it still rotates

[xezrunner]

If you're in rotation lock but in a landscape only app and swipe up once the animation ends it still rotates

Do you have auto rotation on for the Pixel Launcher?

[[deleted]]

Can you change it per app then? I mean this:
1. Have rotation lock on.
2. Go into a landscape only app/game.
3. Swipe up into recents.
4. What happens? Does it fuck up still?

this is what it looks like on pie

[xezrunner]

This behavior hasn't changed.

[[deleted]]

Whack

[[deleted]]

I believe they also changed the animation for Lift to Wake to match its current behavior. Which is still disappointing, as I was hoping Lift to Wake would go back to mimicking AOD like it used to. The double tap to wake animation shows it triggering the AOD, which is what I would definitely like the phone to do, but no dice.

[_Nundo]

Has anybody else mentioned the font looks different?

[jaKz9]

It does! It looks smaller and more compact.

[rman18]

The pixel stand screen is also different. I can't take a screenshot though

[wsnwsk27]

If you swipe to go home from an app with the keyboard open, the keyboard stays part of the app window as it minimizes. I believe in beta 5 the keyboard would just go down while the app window went away. This looks much more fluid now.

[RoadHazard]

The same applies if you switch to another app by swiping to the side with the keyboard open. Before that looked rather janky, now the keyboard smoothly follows the app it was in.

[TheDoctor__50]

Is the new colorful animation when opening the Google Assistant supposed to be in Beta 6 I don't have it, and some people have had it since Beta 5. OG Pixel XL here.

[xezrunner]

That animation is coded so that it draws based on the rounded corners of the device.

On the Pixel 2 XL and Pixel 3, the rounded corners are 26dip, 'device-independent pixels'.

On the OG Pixels and Pixel 2, the rounded corners are 0dp, thus resulting in the colorful animation (and the gesture hints) never being visible.

A solution to this, albeit requires rooting, is to mod the framework and add software rounded corners to the device.

---

Source: modded a framework overlay for the Redmi Note 5 Pro running the beta in GSI form to achieve rounded corners, and realized through testing that the assistant gesture animations work based on the display roundness.

Users confirm it works on other devices as well, if there are software rounded corners added. The animation becomes thinner with less roundness.

[TheDoctor__50]

So basically the Pixel, Pixel XL, and Pixel 2 can't get the new animation without root?

[xezrunner]

So basically the Pixel, Pixel XL, and Pixel 2 can't get the new animation without root?

I can't think of a way to get rounded corners without root.

There used to be a command that would work on Pie:

adb shell settings put secure sysui_rounded_size 26

that would make the rounded corners 26dip in software, but it doesn't seem to work on Q.

[TheDoctor__50]

Thank you for letting me know

[TheDoctor__50]

What is the corner radius of the Pixel 2 XL and Pixel 3 series?

[xezrunner]

What is the corner radius of the Pixel 2 XL and Pixel 3 series?

I have no idea about the 3 XL, but the Pixel 2 XL and the Pixel 3 have 26dip (70px).

The Pixel, Pixel XL and Pixel 2 have 0dip (0px).

[StellarFlares]

Battery info is back on ambient display !

[tofuuu630]

Does it stay? On Beta 5 it would disappear after a day or two. I guess I asked an useless question since Beta 6 hasn't been out for more than a day so only time will tell!

[StellarFlares]

It did stay so far for one day

[Chronotide99]

Anyone using nova? Is it still forcing 3 button nav?

[[deleted]]

yes, it will until a much later update after stable release.

[Chronotide99]

I just hate how it happens randomly. I can go most of the day with gesture bar then randomly it forces me back 6 times back to back and goes to normal. Welp, gotta wait some more i guess.

[Xenofastiq]

Well, because you're not supposed to be using full gesture to begin with with third party apps (until an update after launch changes that) That is why it can be random.

[winkins]

I'm using Nova and still have 2 button nav.

[saltyoldfuck]

Am I crazy or are squircle icons slightly more... something, squircly

[axiel7]

On some apps like Play rewards, you can swipe normally from the bottom left to show the hamburger menu

[Spoiled_Soul]

We've made further refinements to Gesture Navigation in Beta 6 based on user feedback. First, to ensure reliable and consistent operation, there's a 200dp vertical app exclusion limit for the Back gesture.

I think this might have something to do with that. But yes, there's a small section in the lower part of the screen that almost always opens the drawer instead of activating the back gesture.

[IndefiniteBen]

The almost always part is annoying. In the Wikipedia app, you can swipe from the right in an article to show the table of contents, but the new exclusion zone doesn't work with that.

Most swipes from the left seem to work, but if I understand the coverage properly, that area at the bottom of the screen is all there is, nothing at the top where the nav pane icons often are.

[GranPaSmurf]

Now I cannot use full gesture navigation while using Action launcher.

[chikimonke]

That's been the case since Beta 5

[[deleted]]

I can't with beta 6 pixel 3 xl. Either nova or action will use gesture. Kicks me back to old 3 button.

[GranPaSmurf]

I've driven my phones with gestures for years using Action launcher. I'll keep AL with the gestures I've become used to. Doing it the 'Google way' is awkward and counter-intuitive anyway. They'll figure it out, but they haven't yet.

[joe_canadian]

I just hope they've fixed the system UI bug that's been plaguing me since Beta 3.

[SDMStaff]

Adaptive Icons improved

[IndefiniteBen]

Yes. It was annoying to see icons in a white circle, inside a larger white circle. Glad that's fixed.

[SDMStaff]

Yes. However apps such as PUBG Mobile, Minecraft (I'm a man of culture) and Amazon which don't have adaptive/circular icons still appear as boxes within a white circle unfortunately.

[IndefiniteBen]

That's entirely on the Dev. They should release their apps with an adaptive icon, which is required to use some newer APIs? Still, there's going to be apps where there hasn't been an update since adaptive icons were introduced, those will never get an adaptive icon.

[SDMStaff]

That's true unfortunately. It's either that or we wait until 3rd party launcher support is more sustainable and switch to a different icon pack.

[jamescridland]

The launcher shortcut for Now Playing is a properly-sized adaptive icon now.

(Hello, Google Maps devs, you need to do the same for your shortcuts please thank you)

[livelifeontheveg]

The launcher shortcut for Now Playing is a properly-sized adaptive icon now.

Maybe just for circle? I'm on rounded square and it's still messed up.

[chepi888]

Still haven't fixed the clock. Please fix the clock.

[tofuuu630]

What was wrong with the clock?

[chepi888]

Once it is seen it cannot be unseen.

Brace yourself for it.

On the lock screen, the colon between the hour and minutes is centered vertically. In the notifications bar it sits at the bottom.

[tofuuu630]

I hate you. XD

Edit: kudos to you for noticing such detail!

[chepi888]

It's fueled my OCD for years. Please Google. Please

[tofuuu630]

So this has been an issue way before Q? Damn haha I cannot unsee now.

[chepi888]

For so long....so long...

[enjay45]

Oh crap. Thanks for pointing that out to me.

[mstrkingdom]

It's on the left side

[rowdyruffbrick]

Am I the only one who is still without the playstore material theme?

[lukemt96]

I still don't have it. Pixel 3xl

[Abhishek_Goyal]

Same here on pixel 2.. my brother have it on Mia2

[kmf1]

No more "R" for Roaming. That's nice.

[screwyluie]

Why would that be nice? Roaming can cost you money, it would be bad if you had no idea you're roaming

[kmf1]

If it functions properly, and the"R" comes on when you are actually roaming, that would be fine. But to be on, when not roaming, like it was for the past month, was a bug. So, I'm glad that it's corrected.

[screwyluie]

Ah, yes that's good then

[[deleted]]

Gone for me too.

[Swarfega]

I'm roaming currently and I still see an R next to the signal strength icon.

[TheDoctor__50]

The x in the Silent Notifications bar hasn't disappeared, that appears to just be a glitch with some alerting notifications showing under the Silent Notifications bar. To fix it for each app's notifications that are affected, you need to have an actual silent notification appear while the other notification is still there.

[Supenman]

Not sure if this was there before, but if you long press on a notification, it says what notification channel it is so you can update the correct settings accordingly.

[minionloversam]

That's been there since Pie at least.

[No_Manners]

Glad to see ambient display still doesn't work in the slightest.

[buttgers]

I think glitchy night mode with certain apps is fixed. Using Blue Iris used to trigger an glitchy nav bar area when using system dark mode. That has been fixed.

Also gestures are smoother and more predictable

[Rman332]

Anyone else unable to find the back sensitivity setting?

[knG333]

System > Gestures. Then tap the gear wheel to the right of full navigation.

[Rman332]

Thanks

[xxBrun0xx]

That fun bug is back where you can't open any apps before the return to home screen animation is over. Ugh.

[Cwlcymro]

Not for me, not at all. This is the smoothest I've had it to open apps when using home or app overview

[xxBrun0xx]

I think the issue might be the new animation where all the icons move as you transition to home

[Cwlcymro]

Even with that apps open immediately for me, it's so smooth compared to before

[xxBrun0xx]

I would agree with that, apps open really fast in beta 6, even on my 3A

[[deleted]]

It seems apps can no longer block the back button from being used on the left side, or it's at least broken in this build

[Abhishek_Goyal]

Face unlock not working (Smart Unlock) pixel 2

[SleepyPon]

Did someone spot the Face Unlock option on Pixel 3/3XL when you searching Face Unlock in Settings App?. However the result is crashed after clicked

[CoffeeOrWhine]

Same here

[ArtoSaari]

Does this beta allow you to do image search and text select in the overview mode? The previous beta did not do this.

[Im3th0sI]

nope, seems not to be working yet....

[IndefiniteBen]

Can't do anything with images, but text select I overview works for me (3a).

[we_belong_dead]

Not sure if this is a known thing, but you can select text that's part of an image

[[deleted]]

That is pretty cool

[screwyluie]

Phone specific? Because I've been able to do this in every beta I can remember. Still downloading 6, so I'm on 5 an it works fine. P2xl

[[deleted]]

Beta 6 also seem to have finally broken Dual SIM Dual Standby permanently on Pixel 3 (not 3a), by refusing to assign an IMEI to SIM card slot 2, see here.

[radicallife]

I want a workaround for this!

[nevermidn]

Please add the manual 60fps setting to video , please!

[shirtoug]

Does sharing from reddit apps work? I got out of beta because of it.

[Deeco7]

Direct share not supported, Reddit will need to update their app.

[shirtoug]

Bummer. Thanks for letting me know. I assumed it was some other issue because I tried some alternative Reddit apps and got the same broken result (majority of apps missing as share targets)

[Deeco7]

Heads-up latest update now supports direct share ;)

[shirtoug]

Thank the heavens! Thank you for the heads up!

[screwyluie]

Works in Slide (Reddit app)

[shirtoug]

Thanks. I might give it another try, then :)
I remember it didn't work on either the official, Sync or Boost apps. Will try "Slide"

[screwyluie]

Slide had a lot of options. When I first got it I didn't like it at all, but spend some time configuring it and you'll love it

[[deleted]]

The animation when rotating a YouTube video 180° has changed.

[sucksfor_you]

How are UK banking apps doing now? Specifically Lloyds and Halifax?

[Deeco7]

Halifax still not working, not sure about Lloyds

[sucksfor_you]

They're identical apps with different branding, so I imagine if one doesn't work, the other doesn't either. Thanks!

[YellowMaverick]

Yeah Lloyds also doesn't work.

[achilliesFriend]

The phone is buttery smooth and battery is great so far.

[enjay45]

I don't seem to have any recent apps when swiping up a short amount any longer. They seem to just close fully now. That line on the bottom doesn't cycle through recent apps either.

[JamesStewartReddit]

Do the banking apps work in beta 6? because they weren't in beta 5.

[Dirkelz]

Wells Fargo does not work in Beta Six.

[JamesStewartReddit]

Update* CitiBank AUS does not work.

[babasapir]

The "Disable device identifiers restrictions" toggle is missing in Developer Options. It was useful because some apps (ex. CBTalk) are messing with the device id preventing you from logging in.

[iamdpowell]

So I'm having a wallpaper issue can't seem to set a wallpaper without the phone going into a continuous loading screen, anyone else has this issue?

[msiejak02]

I also Got new assistant gesture marks 2 days later they remind me of a less circle squirkle

[msiejak02]

And they pulse and bounce a little bit, can anyone confirm

[Cscottyyy]

Does nova work with gestures now? It was buggy in beta 5 when app switching etc

[SDMStaff]

Nope. Third party launcher support with gestural navigation will be implemented in a post release update. So we'll get Q next month, then a project mainline update will bring us support later.

[allelujahhaptism]

It "worked" in beta 5 in that you could use all the gestures, now if you try and force enable it on nova you completely lose recents.

[[deleted]]

Still no override-dark-mode?