Android 12L Beta Now Available For Pixel Phones

[Deleted member 2609113]

https://9to5google.com/2021/12/08/android-12l-beta-1-launch/

https://youtu.be/FkZcIMyIT8w

 

[cbreze]

Put this on my 4a yesterday, been checking it out

 

[Deleted member 2609113]

Put this on my 4a yesterday, been checking it out

It will be interesting to read your opinion on this beta version.

 

[cbreze]

First of all it just showed up on my 4a and initially I thought it was just a feature update of some sort or the security update which it is as well. Surprised me as I wasn’t expecting it.
Anyone who wants to know what the new features are can simply watch the 9 to 5 google video as they explain it really well.
Since it’s larger purpose is to facilitate the larger screened devices I’ve noticed one bug for my 4a sized device and that is the Lock Screen clock sits to high on the screen and overlays some text a bit, but no biggie for me. Probably get fixed in a later beta. Another bug is sometimes when unlocking it takes a few seconds for the Home Screen to show, thought this might be launcher specific so tried the pixel launcher and same thing. Doesn’t do it all that often. Just this morning I noticed when I pulled down the notification shade it had a clear background so I could see the home screen clearly underneath. Was actually kind of cool, only did it once so far though so probably a bug.
I remained on the google beta platform so that’s the reason I received the update. I don’t regret putting it on. The next update is not till January and I’m looking forward to it. It was mentioned that the first beta only has a few of the new features so I’m looking forward to sticking with it and seeing what develops. The rest of the stuff the video shows I’ve been checking out and I’m giving it a thumbs up, cool beans.

 

[eric002]

Is it just me or is Android 12 L beta 1 much more responsive and reliable and smoother? Me and my Pixel 5 usable again. Android 12 was one of the major reasons why I want to try and iPhone 13 pro Max with iOS 15.1. I still do but finally split screen mode is improved and the apps before much better.

 

[cbreze]

Mine was a little herky jerky the first day which I attributed to being the first beta but after another day and a half with it and another reboot it is indeed quite smooth. Was kind of nervous at first putting it on the phone as it is supposed to be configured for larger screens but other than the Lock Screen clock doing a bit of overlapping I’d never had noticed. Thumbs up from me!

 

[eric002]

Mine was a little herky jerky the first day which I attributed to being the first beta but after another day and a half with it and another reboot it is indeed quite smooth. Was kind of nervous at first putting it on the phone as it is supposed to be configured for larger screens but other than the Lock Screen clock doing a bit of overlapping I’d never had noticed. Thumbs up from me!

Yeah I totally agree with you. At first when my phone auto downloaded the Android 12L beta program, I was like great another beta program. But so far it's more stable than regular Android 12 was which is really ironic! I guess that, I'm still looking to try it IOS 15 when I can upgrade my phone next year, but at least my phone is more usable and stable than it was an Android 12 if you know what I mean.

 

[cbreze]

Yeah I totally agree with you. At first when my phone auto downloaded the Android 12L beta program, I was like great another beta program. But so far it's more stable than regular Android 12 was which is really ironic! I guess that, I'm still looking to try it IOS 15 when I can upgrade my phone next year, but at least my phone is more usable and stable than it was an Android 12 if you know what I mean.

I thought iOS 15 was a big let down. I put the new iOS beta on my backup phone every year. When the widgets came out last year I had high hopes for customizations but Apple always seems to let their users down in my opinion. They really need to take some lessons from the Android widget developers.
I'll never understand why they insist on labeling all their icons and not giving us the option to remove the label. For example, "let's see now, where the heck is that Safari icon, oh there it is, dang! Sure glad I had it labeled I'd have never found it." LOL. Then there's the placement of the icons, can't put them where I want. I could go on and on. That's why I'm on Android and my iPhone is only my backup. I keep hoping one of these years they will allow some actual customizing but in the meantime I'll stick with pixel.

 

[eric002]

I thought iOS 15 was a big let down. I put the new iOS beta on my backup phone every year. When the widgets came out last year I had high hopes for customizations but Apple always seems to let their users down in my opinion. They really need to take some lessons from the Android widget developers.
I'll never understand why they insist on labeling all their icons and not giving us the option to remove the label. For example, "let's see now, where the heck is that Safari icon, oh there it is, dang! Sure glad I had it labeled I'd have never found it." LOL. Then there's the placement of the icons, can't put them where I want. I could go on and on. That's why I'm on Android and my iPhone is only my backup. I keep hoping one of these years they will allow some actual customizing but in the meantime I'll stick with pixel.

I hear you I agree with you to some extent. For me, on my iPad mini 4 with iOS 15.1, I honestly feel like the widgets look better than Android. For example, I don't know if it's just my phone with Android 12.0 Beta 1 or everyone's pixel, but My advance widget on my home screen doesn't function as a calendar anymore. Sure it'll show me upcoming appointments and weather, but if I click on it I just get the weather app. On my second home screen I have to use a regular Google calendar widget.. things like that.little housekeeping things bother me.. I understand why Google can't Force third party developers to customize your icons for their companies based on material you, but it's so inconsistent. And the problem is is the fact that when you have material you automating working, of course all of Google's apps look great and they match the theming beautifully. Yet Instagram and any other third-party app you use on your home screen looks normal. And that's why I just use the universal search feature on my phone constantly cuz I can search for apps faster, and I don't have to be bothered with normal looking third-party apps. Hahaha... See on my iPad, the way I have it set up is to the extreme right I have the app folders automatically categorized which is really nice. On my main screen I removed all icons so I just seen my nice wallpaper. An extreme left screen I have all my widgets separately organized which is really nice. I'm used to that way.

 

[eric002]

So I went to the developer settings and I turned my screen window transitions all the way down to 5. For developer settings. I then turned always on and being displayed back on. In Android 12 beta regular, all of these features were broken. Now, in the L beta, The features work as they should be working. I feel like this should have been what Google should have released the first time around! Not just that with the camera and the Google photos processing is much faster!

 

[eric002]

I will say that in Android 12L beta 1, a lot of the issues and annoyances I've been having with my phone have shockingly been fixed. For example, app stability/performance, split screen mode, Android auto still glitches a bit, bit it's gotten a little bit better. It's making me rethink a future purchase if an iPhone. Lol. For example, when I rapidly take portrait at an event, the camera now opens reliable, and actually takes all the pictures I needed it to take. On the regular Android 12 beta program, a lot of this stuff was just broken. Now, the whole vibrate mode icon in the status bar still pisses me off, bit iOS doesn't have that either.

 

[eric002]

Who here uses themes icons? The only problem is that it's ONLY Google's own apps of course.

 

[eric002]

Well, as you can see from my screenshots, I know it's technically considered beta from Google for the theme icons material you, but if you turn that option off, app icons on the home screen look much more consistent and better. Haha

 

[eric002]

Not sure if this question belongs in this form or not. However, one of my co-workers has a Pixel 5A he just bought. He loves it. I finally turned RCS chat services on. It's weird though we both have our RCS chat messaging on and Google messages, but whenever I message him, it toggles between SMS and chat as you can see in the screenshot. I'm not sure what's going on here.

 

[Grabber5.0]

Not sure if this question belongs in this form or not. However, one of my co-workers has a Pixel 5A he just bought. He loves it. I finally turned RCS chat services on. It's weird though we both have our RCS chat messaging on and Google messages, but whenever I message him, it toggles between SMS and chat as you can see in the screenshot. I'm not sure what's going on here.

Based on the screenshot, every message you send him is chat, but all his replies are texts. I think there are a few possibilities:
*RCS didn't fully enable (or was never entered) on his phone - check status in chat settings in messages app
*RCS on his phone hasn't recognized you as being RCS capable - not sure if there's a way to force that
*The conversation on his phone somehow got at to use SMS only for you. Check details from menu in conversation

 

[eric002]

Based on the screenshot, every message you send him is chat, but all his replies are texts. I think there are a few possibilities:
*RCS didn't fully enable (or was never entered) on his phone - check status in chat settings in messages app
*RCS on his phone hasn't recognized you as being RCS capable - not sure if there's a way to force that
*The conversation on his phone somehow got at to use SMS only for you. Check details from menu in conversation

I got you, I know that RCS on my phone and his phone isn't able. But right now it just says text message. EH, it is what it is I was just curious.

 

[eric002]

So, of course I did the Android 12 L beta 1 anonymous survey from Google and Google docs! Check out my comments! I think they're very fair, and honest.

 

[J Dubbs]

I got you, I know that RCS on my phone and his phone isn't able. But right now it just says text message. EH, it is what it is I was just curious.

Me and my wife had RCS enabled and was using it for months, when her phone started doing the same thing as your friends... a simple restart of both phones fixed the problem, and they've been working fine ever since. That was several months ago, and we turn our phones off every night because we have a landline. Honestly though, her phone was the only one that needed the actual reboot.

Also keep in mind Google's RCS can be very hit or miss... it still seems to have a ways to go before it can be considered reliable I really like it though... I hope they get the Google/Samsung collaboration working reliably on Sammy's phones, so I can use it on my Flip 3 like I do my pixel

 

[eric002]

Me and my wife had RCS enabled and was using it for months, when her phone started doing the same thing as your friends... a simple restart of both phones fixed the problem, and they've been working fine ever since. That was several months ago, and we turn our phones off every night because we have a landline. Honestly though, her phone was the only one that needed the actual reboot.

Also keep in mind Google's RCS can be very hit or miss... it still seems to have a ways to go before it can be considered reliable I really like it though... I hope they get the Google/Samsung collaboration working reliably on Sammy's phones, so I can use it on my Flip 3 like I do my pixel

Yeah, definitely how you want to hit or miss thing. I mean I use RCS between my brother-in-law and myself. He has a pixel 6 pro. My work buddy with his Pixel 5a, also doesn't care too much about RCS. Lol. The only real cool thing that I like about RCS chat messaging is the tapping indicators and it's pretty much it. Because most of the time when I send pictures and videos, it's through Google photos if you know what I mean. It's nice to have it enabled officially, but there still isn't too much of a real benefit from me to use RCS, even though SMS as a messaging platform is very old, it's still not going anywhere anytime soon. Thanks so much for the help though!

 

[cbreze]

Really liking this 12L update. The only bug that still bothers me although not that much is when unlocking the phone sometimes there's a long pause before the home screen shows up, about 10 seconds. Probably happens three or four times a day. Anyone else getting this? I'm using a 4A