With the first beta of Android 13 running on our Pixel 6, we had the opportunity to scroll through several pages of settings in an attempt to find something new. There may not be a big list of big changes, but there are some nice little changes from the last preview (and Android 12) so far.
Here are some of the new Android 13 Beta 1 features we stumbled upon.
More material You colors!
The wallpaper theme we got in Android 12 is getting more options in Android 13. This first 13 beta 1 gives us even more colors to choose from after choosing a wallpaper. Above, you can see that you have at least two sets of “wallpaper” colors to choose from, but the “primary” colors are now also at least 4 pages deep. Your phone coloring options are almost limitless now.
Where did the search in the app drawer go?
13 beta vs 12
The app bar in Android 13 Beta 1 removed the on-device search functionality we’ve had since Android 12 and replaced it with the Google search bar. While searching Google is always an enjoyable pastime, the beauty of the app drawer search was that it allowed you to search your phone for settings, people, and whatever. Now it seems to be mostly limited to Google searches and apps.
I hope this is a temporary thing for the beta while they figure out how to get search back on the device? The Android 12 search they introduced is without a doubt one of my most used features.
Below is an example of how this definitely looks like a step backwards in terms of device discovery.
13 beta vs 12
The media player has squiggles.
Look at these cute squiggles. That’s all.
Do Not Disturb is back.
Google oddly renamed Do Not Disturb to Priority Mode in Developer Preview 2. They have since changed it back to Do Not Disturb for Beta 1. Who knows what Beta 2 will bring, but we hope that it will remain the same.
New popup window and clipboard editor
Now, when you copy something in Android 13, a small clipboard pop-up menu appears in the bottom left corner, similar to the menu you see after taking a screenshot. You can click on the little edit icon next to the copied item and edit what you copied, which is pretty cool.
We’ll try to update this post when we find more.