According to Google’s updated timeline, the beta’s will begin rolling out next month. There will be two betas, then two more betas with platform stability, and a final release around the end of the summer or early fall. Betas will come out in April, May, June and July of this year. A little interesting that the first beta is launching ahead of Google I/O. So it may not have many new features, as Google will want to save most of that for I/O in May.
What’s new?
Sadly, but expected, there’s not a whole lot new in this preview of Android 13. As we’ve seen in recent years, most of the big user-facing changes in new versions of Android come with the first couple of betas, usually around Google I/O. Here, we’re seeing quite a few changes for developers though. Google announces with this preview that Android 13 will introduce a new runtime permission for sending notifications from an app. So that apps targeting Android 13 now will need to request the notification permission from the user before posting notifications. This preview also includes improved Japanese text wrapping, improved line heights for non-Latin scripts, Text Conversion APIs, and Color vector fonts among other things. Android 13 is also adding in built-in support for Bluetooth LE Audio. So developers will get the new capabilities for free on compatible devices. Since this is still a preview, you’ll have to flash the image for it. The open beta will begin next month with Beta 1. Currently, Android 13 is available on the Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a (5G), Pixel 5, Pixel 5a 5G, Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. As expected, the Pixel 3 won’t be getting Android 13 officially.
