Google has released a file Developer Preview 2 Android 14, (UPP2.230217.004) or the latest update before the April beta cycle. The first developer build was released somewhat surprisingly in the early part of February, and yesterday’s update — available via OTA for Pixels registered in the software — brings even more improvements and innovations to what’s already been seen. Let’s see what it is.
Flash for notifications
Let’s start with a very interesting and useful function, which presents a system that is able to compensate for the lack of a notification LED that has now disappeared. The solution Google envisioned is by no means new and draws quite a bit from those in other operating systems and software customizations of various Android manufacturers, but that doesn’t mean it’s ineffective.
In fact, it is about possibility Use an LED flash To indicate the presence of an incoming notification, but the functionality is not limited to this. In addition to the flash, in fact, The same can also be done with a smartphone screen; In this case, it is also possible to choose the color of the light emitted to indicate notifications.
As we can see, the user can also choose to activate only one of the two notification reporting systems, so Google offers maximum customization in this area.
Reconnects to the multimedia player
Google didn’t make any changes to the Android 14 media player with Developer Beta 1, but with the new update it has introduced some interesting changes. Novelties in terms of graphics and functionality. For example, the player animation changes when switching from Always On Display to Standard mode; This transition is now addressed by expanding the song playback tab on AOD which reveals controls and playback status once the screen is open.
Also new is the introduction of wave animations that run across the entire player once the play/pause button is touched, in order to indicate more clearly that an element of the interface has been interacted with. On the feature front, that is now possible Easily choose which nearby device you want to play audio on And the volume indicator indicates more accurately if the volume is muted on our smartphone.
Granular control of shared media
Android 14 matches what’s been on iOS for quite some time now and finally delivers one A new dialog that allows the user to specify which media a particular application can access. This will allow to eliminate the possibility that the application can freely look at all (and not only) photos in the gallery, since it will be possible to specify which ones it can see from time to time.
The return of predictive gestures has been improved
Introduced as an optional component in Android 13, predictive gestures are expanding in the latest developer preview update, by going to Integration into the settings menu with a new effect.
Indeed, it is now possible to see Transparent preview of the page you are returning to, so that you are clear which page you are returning to. This is a novelty that will certainly become very important when it is integrated at the system level in every application and we are happy to see that Google is working in this direction update after update. Below is a video showing them in action.
Other news
The update also brings with it Many other small innovations that we will list below. Obviously we look forward to seeing the transition to the beta program, since from then on it will start integrating features more and more in view of the final release of Android 14 in a stable version. Over the years, in fact, we have often seen that some functions in beta fail to make it to the final version, so we will have to wait a little longer for a complete picture of the news. In the meantime, here’s a list of the latest finds.
- Direct access to Gesture Navigation Mode via the Navigation Mode item under Settings -> Display or, alternatively, Settings -> System
- suppress i Task killers Which promises to speed up the use of Android. Google is preparing to restrict the APIs that allow these apps to function properly
- New entry Clock settings Under the Customize background and style menu
- New interface for Security Center
- New monochrome option for device customization
- New choice emoji wallpapers Which allows you to create wallpapers starting from a specific emoji
- new feature of Advanced memory protectiondesigned to reduce the risk of bugs and vulnerabilities that could compromise device security
- Quick link to add the battery status widget to the home screen
- New background app management allows foreground apps to have more control over the activities initiated by the background apps they interact with, to avoid unexpected shutdowns or slowdowns
- Regional Preferences menu that allows you to set units of measurement, first day of the week and preferred temperature scale separately, regardless of the region of residence
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