The most recent public preview of Android 13 has come with a lot of fresh adjustments, some tuning, and a few goodies. We’ve tested out Android 13 Beta 3 in order to determine the key features you should be aware of.
As Google continues to develop some of the existing features, new additions and significant functionalities will inevitably slow down as we move deeper into the Android 13 Beta period. Although Beta 3 offers the Platform Stability milestone, we weren’t anticipating major changes because this is a refining build rather than a complete rebuild. However, there is still a ton of fresh material presented here.
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FORMULA STABILITY Although not directly user-facing, this will have an impact on the majority of Pixel and Android owners in the months to come after Android 13 is released in a reliable manner. Platform Stability denotes the presence of completed system behaviors and APIs in Android 13 Beta 3. This effectively implies that developers of Android apps can begin final compatibility testing for apps, SDKs, and libraries. Additionally, in anticipation of the stable Android 13 release, additional apps will now be released on the Alpha and Beta channels.
Therefore, even though you might not notice anything at first, you might start to notice that more apps start to make use of some of the fundamental features that were previously added during the Android 13 Developer Preview and Beta phase.
WEB SEARCH IS BACK AND ADDED BY UNIVERSAL DEVICE SEARCH
The elimination of the global device search in the previous Android 13 Beta caused a lot of anger. The functionality of this is present and intact in Android 13 Beta 3. Not only that, but it also comes with some cool new features including the ability to search the web and your device’s storage for any of your searches.
You can rapidly search on a number of the pre-installed apps right from the Pixel Launcher search bar, among other useful modifications that may be helpful. You can enter a search term and select a specific quick action to search on Google, YouTube, Maps, the Play Store, or on-device settings. Compared to having to launch each of these apps separately and type a search term into a search box or field, this might undoubtedly save time.
for NEW FINGERPRINT REGISTRATION
In order to better support devices with in-display scanners, Android 13 Beta 3 has made a small adjustment to the fingerprint setup or enrolment UI. Currently, that is limited to only the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, but this move was probably made to make the biometric registration procedure for the next Pixel 6a and Pixel 7 series more smooth.
With Android 13, you receive more clear visual signals to assist you more accurately detect your finger and add the extremities or edges. Currently, Android 12 uses a text prompt and guidance brackets, which are really partially hidden while your finger is pressed on the screen.
Making this modification to Android 13’s fingerprint enrollment area could have significant advantages for the incoming Pixel 7 series as well as for people who are having issues with their current Pixel 6 series phone and assure faster unlock times when using the new unlock technique. Unfortunately, it’s still too early to say whether it will benefit individuals who now experience fingerprint-related problems with the Pixel 6 series.
NAVIGATION BAR WITH A LARGER GESTURE
The gesture navigation bar in Android 13 Beta 3 has been modified and is now much bolder and more noticeable than it was before, despite only being a minor cosmetic change. The navbar hasn’t actually seen any changes since Android 10 when it was first launched. As Google entirely concentrates on gestures with all new devices, the earlier three-button and two-button navigation techniques have been gradually pushed to the background.
The navigation “pill” has been updated and is now wider and thicker. Given that Apple has been a pioneer in gesture-based smartphone navigation since the release of the iPhone X, Google appears to be copying the iOS navigation bar.
Although this modification has no impact on usability, it will undoubtedly aid users who have switched from iOS or from another Android device that might use a different navigation mechanism to see more clearly.
SMALL MEDIA PLAYER CHANGES
Google keeps making adjustments to the Android media player because it is so fixated on it. With Android 13 Beta 3, the earlier changes that felt a little out of place have been removed. You’ll immediately note that the play/pause and skip/forward buttons on the lockscreen or notification shade media player are more compact and smaller than in Beta 2.
Will this alter once more in Beta 4 and next versions? It’s impossible to completely rule something out because there’s a possibility that it might happen. However, an Android preview wouldn’t be complete without paying close attention to the media player.
OTHER CHANGES AND USER INTERFACE TUNING
Although noticeable, certain further changes made to Android 13 Beta 3 won’t have an impact on how well a device works. The addition of more pill-shaped buttons to the Settings menu sections is an illustration of this. Without a doubt, this will increase visibility, but it has no additional functionality.
The At a Glance widget now has a Flashlight alert thanks to the June Pixel Feature Drop. For many users running the most recent stable version of Android 12, it is not live, though. The option appears to be active already for many Android 13 Beta 3 users (but not all), and it may be enabled or removed under the more detailed At a Glance settings.
Sadly, this update also deleted the Fast Pair option from the “Connection options” panel. Fortunately, it just allowed you to enable or stop local device scanning for the Google Fast Pair feature.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NEW FEATURE IN ANDROID 13 BETA 3? That was a detailed analysis of every new feature in Android 13 Beta 3. There is a lot of fresh information to unpack when combined with the developer previews. The best user-facing features, however, are all represented on this selection.
There’s a good chance that further minor adjustments and toggles will go unnoticed, and in the days and weeks to come, we’ll likely discover hidden choices. With the final stable release of Android 13, we’ll probably go into more detail about everything that has been introduced, including those features that need a little effort to become fully functional.
Which new feature or functionalities do you prefer? Please share your thoughts in the comments box below.
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