Yesterday evening, Google released the third Android 13 beta, which, according to the announcement, only achieves platform stability and is therefore of particular interest to developers. But contrary to our own announcement, there was also a whole range of changes and improvements in this release, which we are showing you as usual in a bundle and with screenshots. It’s all about the Pixel Launcher and its display.
More sizes for the battery widget
The battery widget is actually a pretty simple tool, but it’s being hailed as a major improvement or innovation by both Google and users. The latest update brings additional sizes for the widget, which you can see as an example in the screenshots above. There is the initially introduced list below one another, a new one next to each other, or also the individual representation.
Pixel launcher is adapted for tablets
The Pixel Launcher is currently only used on smartphones, but of course, it should also come on tablets with the Pixel Tablet. Preparations have now been made for this and it is now possible to switch the grid to the 6×5 landscape view. So six icons in a row and five below each other. Six abreast also applies to the fixed bar at the bottom, where the icons are placed significantly closer together to make room for the Google search bar.
Adjustments in the settings
The settings have also been modified with this release. As you can see from the screenshots, there is now a button in the familiar Pill Shaped shape and the Fast Pair entry has disappeared from the main listing.
New interface for fingerprint sensor setup
The fingerprint sensor setup interface has been redesigned. This should help Pixel 6 users, in particular, to solve the problems with the sensor or the slow or inaccurate recognition by showing the position of the finger more clearly.
Enlarged navigation bar
With the Android 13 Beta 3, the navigation bar at the bottom grows. The interaction area for the gestures has grown by a few pixels in height and the strip for marking the area has been increased in both width and height. Every pixel counts, especially in the interaction area, so it might be one of the most important improvements.
Pixel launcher web search
In the settings, you can now specify that the search bar in Pixel Launcher should receive suggestions from web searches. This makes sense because at least a web search can be started with it and most users will probably use the bar for searching the web and not for the local search on the smartphone.
That were all the new features in the third beta, which mainly focus on the Pixel Launcher – and thus the app level. A fourth beta and a fifth beta will follow, with the last possibly already being considered a release candidate, which will be followed a little later by the final version. The Android 13 Beta 3 should now be stable and bug-free enough for any interested Pixel user to try out via the beta program.