Android 12 Beta 5 has been announced and you might think that this latest beta version brings little news, but nothing could be further from the truth. View all the novelties of the fifth beta of Android 12 here.
Android 12 Beta 5
Google is ramping up the tension again and released a lot of novelties and teasers on Wednesday. First of all, there’s this nice teaser of the Google Pixel 6, which we see for the first time in moving images. In addition, Google has the fifth beta version of Android 12 released.
This is a so-called release candidate. That means that this version is almost ready. “We are asking all app and game developers to complete their final compatibility test and publish compatibility updates before the final release,” Google warns. Normally we don’t come across any major changes in the release candidate, but that is certainly not the case now.
Android 12 Material You widgets
The long-awaited Android 12 widgets in Material You design are finally here. Thanks to the new Material You in Android 12, you can change the interface’s appearance to match the colors of the wallpaper you’ve set. This gives you a more uniform whole. The appearance of the quick settings, notification bar, lock screen, and volume controls will change according to the wallpaper.
Google has also immediately addressed the clock and weather widget and added a new conversations widget. Unfortunately, we haven’t come across any of these widgets, except for the conversations widget, during the Android 12 betas. Thankfully, Beta 5 is now changing that, at least for the clock widget. Google Clock has been upgraded to version 7 and therefore the widget changes color as soon as you adjust the wallpaper.
There are a total of four widgets to choose from, four different shapes with an analog or digital clock or a world clock. They vary in size and you can make them bigger or smaller yourself. Nice detail, the clock widget takes over the color of the place where you placed the widget. If that spot is predominantly blue, the widget will take on that color. Press and hold the widget with your finger and drag it to different places on the home screen to see them act like a chameleon.
The Google Clock app itself has also received a minor Android 12 makeover with rounded edges and switches to match the new Material You.
Smarthome buttons are now in a more logical place
Android 11 introduced the ‘power menu’, the menu that you see when you long-press the power button. This menu takes up the entire screen and adds ‘Cards & Passes’ that allow you to quickly switch between your contactless payment cards. These buttons are not available here, but the so-called ‘Controls’ are. With these buttons you can, for example, very quickly switch on or off the smart lamps that you have linked to the Google Home app.
You can no longer find this menu in Android 12 via the on/off button, but via a tile in the quick settings and via a button at the bottom left of the lock screen.
Launch Android 12
The official launch of Android 12 will follow in the coming weeks. Presumably this will be on Tuesday, October 19, as seen in the Pixel 6 teaser. Android 12 will then be available for Google Pixel phones and the phones participating in the beta program. Then the other Android phones follow, and it’s up to the manufacturers to determine which they are and when the update will be rolled out.
Don’t have Android 12 on your phone? Then you can install these Android 12 clock and weather widgets on your device as an alternative. You can also preview the Easter Egg of Android 12 here and here you will find the new loading animation.
Install Android 12 Beta 5
The fifth beta version of Android 12 is now available for Pixel phones, and in this article we’ll show you how to get started with the new features. Do you already have the fourth Beta on your phone? Then you will receive this via an Over The Air (OTA) update. This year there are also phones from other manufacturers that can already enjoy Android 12 and an overview of these phones find you here.
All about Android 12
For more information about Android 12, you can always visit our dedicated Android 12 page. We update this page regularly with new rumours, news, videos, tips, availability and more so it’s useful to add the page to your favorites. This way you always have the latest Android 12 news at hand.
Also watch the extensive video with the new possibilities in Android 12. You can watch the video here on Instagram to look at. Here you will find all screenshots of Android 12 in a row.