How to Download Android Q Beta 2 on Google Pixels

Android Q, Google releases the second beta for the Pixels. Android Q Beta 2 download and installation guide for Pixels. New Android Q Beta 2: here’s what changes

Android Q Beta 2 Download Installation

UPDATE 3 APRIL 2019

As anticipated by the rumors, Google recently released the second beta version of Android Q for all Pixels. Let’s see how to install this update and what new features have been introduced.

Which smartphones are compatible with Android Q Beta?

Here is the list of all the devices that can immediately test the beta of Android Q Beta:

• Google Pixel
• Google Pixel XL
• Google Pixel 2
• Google Pixel 2 XL
• Google Pixel 3
• Google Pixel 3 XL

I’m sorry, but at the moment there are no other smartphones supported.

Download Android Q Beta

Before even seeing the news of Android Q Beta, let’s see immediately how to download and install this update on compatible Pixels (see list just above).

The process is very simple: to receive the beta on your Pixel you must be registered in the public testing program.

If you don’t want to wait for the firmware to arrive via OTA, here is the image to download and install manually via custom recovery (obviously unlocked bootloader):

New Android Q Beta

Being a first beta release, Google has not released a complete changelog with all the new features introduced.

According to what emerged from the first testers, however, these should be the main changes of Android Q Beta: 

• introduction of greater capillarity in the privacy settings for access to the position by the app. In the future a very similar option should also come for granting access to personal files to apps
• vertical split screen mode, which is the first piece of support for folding devices with Android OS
• new panel for quick settings, coming from below with the intention of offering greater accessibility to options such as WiFi and Bluetooth activation
• also news for sharing information of third-party apps, which should help developers give users a more effective preview of their apps
• new shortcuts between one app and another, to speed up sharing operations and more
• New Dark Mode
• Improvements for Peer-to-Peer and internet connectivity: for developers, new possibilities open up to monitor the presence of new networks, also introducing support for WP3 and OWE standards and providing a random MAC address when the device connects to a wireless network different
• WiFi Performance Mode
• Dynamic Depth Formats for photos: it will allow to clearly improve the bokeh effect (out of focus) and to support 3D and AR photos
• New Audio and Video codecs
• Native MIDI APIs. In particular, support for the open source codec AV1 is introduced, which allows streaming of videos in high quality with lower bandwidth consumption. Also comes a native MIDI API, which allows you to communicate directly with a MIDI device via NDK
• Improvements for Vulkan Graphics, Neural Network APIs and more. Google has introduced several improvements to the ART runtime, to speed up application startup while reducing memory consumption. Android Q introduces experimental support to ANGLE, an OpenGL layer that runs on Vulkan: in this way apps and games that use OpenGLES can take advantage of the performance and stability of the Vulkan platform

There will be another five beta before the final version of Android Q

Are you curious to know when the stable and final version of Android Q will arrive?

At the moment we do not have certain and precise information, but to give us a timeline on the arrival times of the final version, as well as of the next beta versions, it is Google itself, which is keen to let us know how the development of Android Q will evolve in these months of refinements.

After the first beta of this evening, in mid-March, there will be:

• the second beta in early April
• a third beta in the first days of May
• a fourth beta during the first days of June
• between July and September there will be two more beta and the final version

As always, obviously the times are only referred to Google devices, while for all the others we must refer to the various manufacturers (Samsung, Motorola, LG, Huawei, Honor and all the others).

More or less nothing new, given that the timing of the beta and the final version of Android Q is reminiscent of Android P last year.

Conclusions

At the moment we don’t have many other news related to Android Q Beta.

We will update the article as soon as possible.

Android Q beta 2 available: foldable bubbles and smartphones for everyone!

Respecting the roadmap great, Google has just released the second beta of Android Q.

The news is there, even if it is mainly the progress of the works already glimpsed with the news of the first beta. Here is the complete list of changes:

• The Scoped Storage feature is active, which should provide an additional layer of privacy to users. However, it must be implemented by the various apps, so it all depends on the developers
• The notifications glimpsed in the previous beta are now active for everyone
• With the new SDK related to beta 2, it is possible to test the applications on specific emulators that simulate the behavior of folding devices
• Content sharing improvements
• Improved microphone management (to manage multiple microphones and directional audio recording)