Recently, Google gifted an early Valentine’s Day surprise for the Android app developers. The tech giant released the first Android 13 Developer Preview, especially Pixel phones. The first look shows some minute details about the upcoming Android update.
The new Android 13 developer preview was quite surprising as many devices, including a few flagship smartphones, have yet to receive the Android 12L OS. Although it is currently available only for Pixel, developers can still try using the Android emulator.
Android 13 Developer Preview: What’s new?
Before we dive into the Android 13 OS, it is essential to note that this is just a preview of the Android version in the official build. There will be many additional changes to the OS, starting with the second developer preview launching next month.
According to Google’s timeline, the Android 13 beta one and beta two updates will be rolled out in April and May. After releasing two platform stability builds in June and July, the official Android 13 will be launched by August-end this year.
- February: Android 13 Developer Preview 1
- March: Android 13 Developer Preview 2
- April: Android 13 Beta 1
- May: Android 13 Beta 2
- June: Android 13 Platform Stability 1
- July: Android 13 Platform Stability 2
Experience Android 13 on Pixel Devices
Users can experience this Android 13 developer preview build on Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6, Pixel 5, Pixel 5a 5G, Pixel 4, 4a, and 4 XL. Unfortunately, due to incompatibility, Pixel 3 series users will not receive this Android version and security updates.
Talking about the Android 13 features, Google mentions it as the privacy and security-centric version. Besides, the developer preview shows a system data picker as an essential and enhanced way of securely sharing local and cloud-based data.
Moreover, the developer preview also sports improved theming options and security features. Besides, a new Wi-Fi permission feature allows you to connect any nearby Wi-Fi without giving location access. Isn’t it amazing!
Furthermore, the Android 13 developer preview also features a new camera obfuscator app, an image-sharing application. You can use this app to remove metadata from shared images. However, it is currently for Google internal use only.
It seems that Google will launch some surprising camera features for its Pixel series. Since Android 12 had the most significant design change in history, there won’t be many visual improvements in the Android 13 update.
‘Material You’ for Third-Party Applications
However, the most significant change comes in the newly launched Material You design. Starting from Android 13, M3, aka ‘Material You,’ will not be limited to just Google apps. The tech giant plans to launch it for many third-party applications.
This is undoubtedly excellent news for the users, as everyone can experience the themed icon functionality on Android apps. Furthermore, Google confirmed a collaboration with developers for globally expanding the features.
The Android 13 DP1 also includes new Quick Settings tiles, APIs, and developer tools. Since Android 10, Google stopped giving codenames for their operating system. But, this time, the company mentioned a new dessert name for its upcoming update. So, the latest Android 13 codename is Tiramisu.
Stay tuned for more information on Android 13!
