What New Does Android Q Developer Preview Boast Of?

Finally, the much awaited Android Q developer preview has landed to our hands. Though it’s the very first beta version of Android Q but we have curated a list of all the possible and interesting new changes in this version of the OS.

Themes & Accents

Although it took Google a long time to bring accent colors to Android OS, but it’s better late than never. Yes, Android Q finally supports a fine batch of accent colors and you can choose from default blue, purple, green, and black. All you have to do is head to the developer settings where you’ll find the “theming” option, here you can change the accent color from the dedicated section.

You can also choose your own preferred Headline/ Body font from the same “theming” section, which will allow you to choose across the device default font and Noto Serif / Source Sans Pro.

This time, the OS also allows you to change all your app icons from the device default or circle to teardrop, rounded rectangle, or squircle (rounded square).

Battery icon replaced on the always-on display

Google has replaced the position of the battery icon from the bottom-center to the upper-right corner on smartphones that support always-on display.

Battery lasting time in quick settings

Quick settings toggle menu in Android Q will now let you see the expected time your battery is going to last, indicating you to be ready with your charger at the mentioned time.

An improved Sharing menu
Android vendor, Google, has decided to bring some tweaks and improvements to the sharing menu in the OS. Now the share menu sports a different look than in previous Android versions, the whole menu now appears up much faster.

Notched and round-cornered screenshots

Unlike the previous iterations of Android, the newer version of the OS now gives way to the notches and rounded screen edges, now the screenshots include the cutouts too.

Swiping on notifications

Gone are the times when you could swipe notifications away to any edge. Similar to many custom UI skins, now Android Q too supports swiping actions on notifications. You can still clear off a notification by swiping it to the right, while a quick swipe to the left will bring up a context menu that could only appear with a half-swipe in previous Android versions. The context menu will offer options to ‘mute’ or ‘snooze’ a notification, and expanding the menu will provide options to either ‘block’, ‘show silently’, or ‘keep alerting’.

Bell icon adjacent to notification timestamps

At times, you might have wondered which of the many notifications made your phone to ring. This confusion will now be cleared up with Android Q, as now a little notification bell will appear next to the notification’s timestamp whenever your phone rings from a notification.

Wi-Fi sharing using QR code

Another feature that we have seen on many custom UI skins, Google has finally incorporated this to Android. Now you don’t need to punch in the Wi-Fi password, instead you can ask your friend to share the Wi-Fi network using QR code, just scan it and you’re good to go. No more hassle of typing in the wrong password.

Emergency toggle in power menu

Android Q will now offer you to quickly access the emergency dialer by long-pressing the power button. Just tap the new Emergency icon and there you go.

Tweaked Material Theme
Google has tweaked the wallpapers app, app info pages, and more in the new Material Theme for Android Q. Now you get what you see.

Desktop Mode

Following in the footsteps of a few smartphone manufacturers, Google, too, will now offer desktop mode on Android. You’ll get to see a desktop interface like your computer system when you connect your phone running Android Q is connected to an external display. However, you’ll need to dig deep into your phone settings to find this feature in the new build of Android.

Though many features are new and interesting but Google has always tweaked around with the features in the developer build as to bring or drop them in the final build of Android OS. We can expect Google to ditch a few features and bring in some new ones in the global release of Android Q.