Android 16 Beta now available on non-Pixel smartphones: Check out all the features
Google improves the experience with every beta stage and allows more people to test it before the launch. This update offers new information if you've been wondering what Android 16 will bring or if your phone qualifies.
There is much to explore, ranging from slight improvements to expanding device support. Everything you need to know about the new beta release, supported brands, and potential implications for your smartphone experience has been covered in this post.
Android 16 features
Camera and Media Features
With hybrid auto-exposure modes, third-party apps can manually adjust specific exposure parameters while letting the camera manage other aspects, including exposure time and AE or ISO and AE.
Fine Color Temperature and Tint Adjustments: It allows exact control over white balance settings.
Motion Photo Capture: Allows for delivering UltraHDR photographs and capturing motion photos using new intent actions.
Ultra HDR Image Support: Supports embedded gain maps in UltraHDR JPEG format and UltraHDR images in HEIC file format.
Professional Advanced Video (APV): For professional-level, high-quality video recording and post-production, Codec provides 10-bit encoding, YUV 422 colour sampling, and target bitrates of up to 2 Gbit/s.
Notification Features
Rich Ongoing Notifications: Shows real-time updates, including Uber's arrival time or aircraft boarding details.
Progress-Centric Notifications: Shows the start, progress tracking, segments, and user journey statuses of a rideshare pickup, food delivery dropoff, or distance.
Notification Cooldown: Minimizes alerts for up to two minutes and mutes notification sound to lessen distractions from sudden notification bursts.
Accessibility Features
By substituting a bigger contrasting region for high-contrast text, outline text makes text easier to read for users with lower contrast sensitivity.
Accessibility APIs communicate whether interactive elements, like menus and expandable lists, are expanded or collapsed.
UI elements can get their accessibility label from another element using multi-label relationships.
Security Features
Advanced Protection Mode: stops sideloading apps and activates Memory Tagging Extension (MTE) for apps to guard against memory safety issues.
Regardless of the target SDK version, intent redirection attack protection fortifies security against intent redirection attacks.
Wi-Fi Location Security: protects against Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks and supports strong security features in Wi-Fi location using AES-256-based encryption.
User Experience Features
Predictive back animations show consumers where the back button will take them in advance and support Three-button navigation.
Live updates provide a consistent user experience by assisting users in monitoring and accessing ongoing activity.
Desktop Window Mode allows you to use external display management tools in a desktop-like environment.
Display colours can be changed for a better viewing experience with adaptive display colours.
Smartphones with Android 16 Beta 4 update
Google quickly released the Android 16 beta for Pixel 6 and later models, and many OEMs are now doing the same, albeit primarily for high-end devices. OnePlus, Honor, Vivo, Xiaomi, and other brands are on the list:
OnePlus 13 (both OxygenOS and ColorOS)
Xiaomi 14T Pro, Xiaomi 15, Redmi K70 Ultra (HyperOS versions)
Vivo X200 Pro
iQOO 13
Honor Magic 7 Pro
Oppo Find X8
Realme GT 7 Pro
As you can see, most devices running the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite/MediaTek Dimensity 9000 series chipset are in the luxury category and receive the Android 16 beta functionality. The OS on these phones is compatible with the Android 16 beta version, and most are accessible worldwide, including in India.
Pixel phones are a convenient way to test the unannounced Android version if you don't have any handsets from these firms. It is important to note that the Android 16 beta is still unstable. Thus, it is not advised to install it on the principal device.
Must Read: Samsung One UI 7 to roll out in India? These smartphone launch timelines leaked, here is what you need to know
The ability to unlock your Pixel phone or any other Android 16 device with the screen off is one of the anticipated features of the operating system, which should speed up the procedure. Users can manually adjust the device's settings, and Google is unlikely to activate this option by default, which is the best course of action.
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