Google has opened a survey for beta testers of Android 12 QPR3 Beta 3 and Android 13 Beta 2.

This survey is relevant to owners of Pixel 4 and newer who have Android 12 QPR3 Beta 3 (S3B1.220420.005) or Android 13 Beta 2 (TPBB.220414.015). You can check the build number under Settings > About phone.

The survey should take no more than 5-10 minutes

🔗 Android 12 QPR3 Beta 3

🔗 Android 13 Beta 2

Material You on Android 12 awarded prestigious iF Gold Design Award

Material You was awarded a Gold iF badge along with Apple's AirPods Max, Galaxy Z Flip 3, iPhone 13 and many others. Taking one of the top spots in the Communication category in 2022.

"‘Material you’, Google’s new mobile operating system, allows a high level of flexibility and scalability while maintaining consistency across all product ecosystems. It successfully reflects a human mental model in its visual design language. This user-centered approach to digital design is a good example of how operating systems are becoming more responsive to users’ needs and preferences."

🔗 IFDesign | 9to5Google

Wear OS companion app gets Google Play Store beta

The Wear OS app now joins the previous apps that have opened beta programs. (and have not received any beta builds)

It's possible that the company is this way preparing the app to work with Wear OS 3.0, since the only watches currently with this version of the OS are the Galaxy Watch 4, which works through its own Galaxy Wearable app.

You can sign up on the app's Google Play page or through a direct link.

Yes, it will also remain in the "Joining Beta..." status.

🔗 9to5Google

YouTube Music for Wear OS rolls out ‘Recently Played’ tile

‘Recently Played’ Wear OS tile lets you quickly start listening to a previous album/song on your watch. It shows what you recently played with the album and artist name, as well as artwork in the background. Tapping will start playback, but “Browse” just opens the app.

If you're listening to something on YouTube Music at the moment, the tile will get rid of Browse, and tapping on it will open the app on the Now Playing page.

🔗 9to5Google

Redesigned Google TV app with Highlights news feed rolling out

As announced in March, Google TV is rolling out a redesign that adds a “Highlights” news feed and reorganizes other parts of the Android app.

“Highlights” will surface news, reviewers, and other articles from the web related to movies and shows you’re interested in. “Home” tab is now “For you”, and it occupies the second position in the bottom bar. The next tab is “Shop” and will become very important when the “Movies & TV” store disappears from Google Play starting this month. “Your Stuff" is a consolidated “Library” and “Watchlist” tabs.

Unfortunately, the app still doesn't have the Material You redesign that we saw in the March promo from Google.

🔗 9to5Google

Gboard will soon have a themed navbar on all devices.

For a long time, the color-coded navbar remained exclusive to Pixel and Oppo devices, but that will soon change. The latest beta version of the Gboard app, 11.8.02.446165824, includes the themed_nav_bar_all_devices flag.

On the image you can see a demo before and after enabling the flag on a Xiaomi device with Android 11. At the moment, this can only be done with Root access. Sooner or later Google should enable this flag on the server side or with the one of the next versions of Gboard.

Themed navbar will only work on devices with Android 10 and newer.

In cooperation with the Rboard Themes channel.

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Пост на Google News | Ru.

New banners in Google Chat will protect you from malicious invitation links

Google Chat will feature banners to warn of possible phishing and malicious messages coming from users with personal Google accounts. These warning banners, which are already available in Gmail and Google Drive, help protect users from cybercriminals by keeping your data safe.

This feature will start rolling out from today and will be available to everyone within two weeks.

🔗 Google Workspace Updates

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YouTube Music for Wear OS rolls out Wi-Fi and LTE streaming

Previously, to play any music on YouTube Music On Wear OS you had to download each song. Now you will be able to browse in the app and start playback immediately without a paired device.

A YouTube Music Premium (or YouTube Premium) subnoscription is still required for downloading and the new streaming support.

Available with YouTube Music for Wear OS ver 5.07.40.

🔗 9to5Google

New information about the Pixel Watch: co-processor, RAM, storage capacity and sensors

In addition to the old Exynos 9110 processor, 9to5Google's source reports that the Pixel Watch will have a co-processor offloading the main chip for various tasks.

The source also confirmed previous information about 32GB of storage. And about RAM, it says that the Pixel Watch has more of it than any smartwatch currently in existence. (Galaxy Watch 4 has 1.5 GB of RAM).

In addition, the source also confirmed information about the sensors, which are identical to those on the Fitbit Luxe and Charge 5, with a heart rate sensor and hardware that supports SpO2 (blood oxygen) and ECG (electrocardiogram) readings.

🔗 9to5Google

Pixel 6a unpacking video.

The above images are from Google Retail Training France. Twitter user Vaibhav shared in the comments YouTube video that is accessible only through a link.

This video only features the Pixel 6a. There is probably also a video of the Pixel Buds Pro.

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Пост на русскоязычном канале.

Android 13 will have native support for Braille displays

Previously, people connected their Android devices to braille displays using the BrailleBack app, which required a separate download from the Play Store, or used a virtual keyboard within Talkback instead of a physical device.

Now support for most Braille displays will appear by default with the new version of the Talkback 13 app, which will be available to test in Android 13 Beta 3. It will also suggest new shortcuts for navigating so it’s easier to scroll and move to the next character, word or line. There are also shortcuts for settings and for editing, like jumping to the end of documents or selecting, copying and pasting.

A refreshable braille display is an electro-mechanical device that creates braille patterns by raising rounded pins through holes in a flat surface. Braille-literate computer users use the braille display to touch-read braille dots representing text. With the display, you can also type out braille.

🔗 Google Blog

Gmail will have the ability to add alt-text, and Google Meet will have the ability to pin multiple video tiles

In honor of World Accessibility Awareness Day, Google revealed how it's making its products more accessible, and announced new features for Gmail and Google Meet.

- Gmail will add the ability to add alt-text (a short denoscription of an image that is read aloud by screen readers) directly to images. With this update, people using screen readers will know what's being sent to them. (Whether it's a GIF or a screenshot of an important graphic)

- The new Multi-pin feature in Google Meet will allow you to pin multiple video tiles at the same time. For example, a presenter screen and a sign language interpreter screen.

- Audio denoscriptions that verbally describe what is visually displayed on the screen will now be supported in all YouTube Originals English-language content published over the past year.

- Project Euphonia’s research now expanding to include four more languages: French, Hindi, Japanese and Spanish. ( Project Euphonia is a research initiative that works with community organizations and people with speech impairments to create more inclusive speech recognition models)

- The company is also adding native braille support to Android 13.

🔗 Google Blog