Google Released The Third Beta Of Android 12 For Developers

I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention or not, but Android updates have pretty much stopped piquing users’ interest.

People have just started to realize that most of them do not see even monthly security patches, let alone new versions of the operating system, which even for flagship smartphones are released with a delay.

So when Google launched the beta test of Android 12, no one paid much attention to it. And in vain, because in terms of new features the update promises to be very interesting.

Google has already released the third test build of Android 12 called Developer Preview 3. As the name suggests, the update is intended only for developers.

Therefore, to install it for ordinary users will be if not impossible, then very, very difficult. However, this does not prevent us to get acquainted with the innovations that appeared in the current beta build.

New features in Android 12

The most iconic features of Android 12 appeared in the first and second builds, but the third one is also something to please:

• There’s a section with verified links that will always open in the app, not in the browser;
• Toast notifications at the bottom of the screen will have a color depending on the color mode of the smartphone;
• Total number of incoming notifications of each app appeared in the notification curtain;
• New context menu for setting and managing desktop widgets;
• Screenshot thumbnail can be closed by swiping both left and right;
• The screen brightness reduction feature is now called Extra Dim;
• There is an option to arrange applications on desktop in iOS style grid (with big gaps);
• There is an animation of applications launch, which makes them appear as if their icons on the desktop;
• It is now possible to customize the color accents of interface elements by choosing your favorite shade;
• There is a section in the screenshot editing menu with a choice of fonts;
• The context menu of applications, called by holding down an icon, now has a different look;
• The interface design of the menu items in the Settings app has changed.

Open a link in the app

As you can see, most of the innovations are of a purely cosmetic nature, but there are some very useful changes.

For example, the possibility to add to the memory of the smartphone links to specific Web services, which will always open only in the application, if such is installed.

Obviously, from the brief description, it is not very clear what this means, so I suggest that we elaborate on it a little more.

You are very likely to have encountered situations where clicking on a link causes a dialog box to open with an option to open it in a browser or in an application. Moreover, such requests usually always appear, even if you have previously selected something specific.

When will Android 12 be released?

But now users will have the ability to simply generate a list of URLs, clicking on which will always take them to the app.

For example, if you use the American and German Amazon sites, but you only want the American site to open in the app, you’ll have to add Amazon.com to the list, without putting Amazon.de there. All in all, I think the principle is clear.

Android 12 has been in preliminary testing for three months now.

However, in May, Google will hold a conference Google I/O, during which the update will be officially presented and will launch a public beta test.

Everyone will be able to take part in it, provided that the manufacturers of their smartphones will release an adapted version of the update.

Usually there are not many of them, but the top vendors usually participate in the program, offering to test the update at least the owners of flagship devices.