All The Changes Google Has Released In Android Q Beta 5

The fifth Beta version of Android Q brings us closer to the official launch of Google's next mobile OS which will take place in the coming months.

Google is closer and closer to the finalizing its Android Q through each beta release. A lot of new tent-pole tweaks, including gestural navigation and dark mode, were introduced at Google I/O 2019 along with the upcoming features which are updated and optimized for launching to consumers.

“Force Dark” mode

There will be a return of “Force Dark” mode setting, which means users will get the dark theme in more apps.

Active Edge feedback

In Android Q, Active Edge setup has been changed to support gesture navigation. In the previous beta versions, the kind of feedback users received was only a vibration as well as the strength slider which flashed briefly. In the 5th Beta version, there will be blue visual feedback radiating from two sides when users squeeze as well as test different levels of sensitivity on the customization page.

Mobile data tile with accent color

Notification snoozing off by default

Previously, users could manually turn off notification snoozing, now Android Q Beta 5 turns it off by default.

'Peeking' in-app navigation

'Squeeze to talk'

A new feature allows users to talk by squeezing the phone.

When Google Assistant is enabled through Active Edge, there will be a prompt saying “Squeeze to talk” appearing right above the navigation bar. The feature is subtle, only appears with slower squeezes.

Screen pinning supported by Gesture Navigation

Now, users can unpin an app simply by swiping up and hold on the phone screen.

Pixel Launcher Suggestions

There is a setting in which suggested applications in the “Recent” feature as well as at the top of All Applications List can be disabled. With "Overview selection", users can turn off Google Lens as well as OCR capabilities from the multitasking view; however, the Google Lens feature remains broken for now. The company has also removed the testing preference for "Share Event Database."

At a Glance bug

“At a Glance,” probably due to a bug, loses the separating line between date/day and current temperature/weather condition. However, it still appears in the widget version of Google App despite missing in the Pixel Launcher.

Silent Notifications

In Silent notifications, there are different shades for Silent and Alerting sections.

Assistant gesture hints

Previously, to launch the Assistant, users had to tap and hold the home button, which conflicts with the new gesture navigation. With the new method in Android Q Beta 5, users need a diagonal swipe from bottom-left or bottom-right corner of the display. And sometimes, white gesture "handles" show up, telling users where to swipe up.

Dark theme boot animation for Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL

In the latest Beta version of Android Q, Google has brought the dark theme to an unexpected place, the Pixel 3 boot animation.

Gesture navigation

This function has been renamed to “Gesture navigation” from “Fully gestural navigation” in Beta 5.