Android P Beta overview: it’s all about the user experience

“The latest OS update from Google brings about subtle changes that go a long way towards improving user experience”

Gone are the days when mobile OS upgrades used to drastically change how we use our smartphones. Now, most of the annual iterations bring about under-the-hood improvements to the operating system. These statements, unfortunately, hold true for both iOS and Android. This trend becomes more evident with Google’s new mobile operating system, i.e. Android P. We’ve been using the beta version for last 15 days, which gives us a peek at the things to come with the final build of Google’s upcoming OS refresh.

For those who are unaware, this time around, Google has made the public beta for the latest version of Android available to more number of devices than ever. In total, there are 11 phones that are eligible to try out the early version of Android P. These handsets include the obvious suspects, i.e. the Google Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, and Pixel 2 XL, along with a bunch of others, including the OnePlus 6, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S, Nokia 7 Plus, Sony Xperia XZ2, Vivo X21, OPPO R15 Pro, and Essential PH‑1. We tried the new public beta on the first generation Pixel smartphone to get a better idea about the platform’s capability on ageing hardware. Now moving on to our experience, here is what you currently get with Android P Beta:

Fewer buttons, more gestures

Let’s start with the most visible and obvious change. The navigation buttons on the operating system have now been replaced with gesture-based actions, and a pill-shaped multi-purpose icon. Now, putting aside the Apple iPhone X interface similarities, the new gestures are actually fun to use and really smooth as well. Users get the option to bring up recent apps with a single swipe-up from the pill-shaped button at the bottom of the screen, and navigate through recent apps with a simple left or right swipe. Alternatively, you can simply swipe the pill-shaped icon towards the right, at which point it turns into a slider, and lets switch between recent apps. Using a long upward swipe from the bottom, you get to the app drawer.

Within apps, you get the bottom bar with the back button on the left, and the pill-shaped button in the middle. A simple tap on the middle button will take you to the homescreen, while the back button will take you to the previous screen. The UI feels clean, with the smooth navigation animations and gestures bringing along some much needed novelty to the platform. As most phone manufacturers are moving away from the bottom bezel-embedded fingerprint sensor/ home button, these gestures are going to be the way forward.

Adaptive battery and brightness

One of the most common issues face by users is related to the battery life on Android smartphones. To tackle this issue, Google has introduced two features that make use of machine intelligence to learn usage behaviour and optimise battery usage on Android P. Thankfully, these two features are already available on the beta build. Essentially, the Adaptive Battery feature limits battery usage by infrequently used apps. The phone automatically learns about these apps over time and once it does, it limits the available resources for these apps. Notably, as a result, the notifications might be delayed for some of these apps.

Moving on to the second feature, while adaptive brightness has been around for a really long time, this time the manual changes made by users will be taken into consideration by the OS, and once the behaviour is observed, the handset would be able to adjust screen brightness levels in a much more efficient manner. In our early impressions, the adaptive battery feature seems like an efficient addition to Android that does an excellent job of optimising the battery usage. On the other hand, adaptive brightness looks like a behind-the-scenes change that works towards improving user experience in a subtle manner.

Prevent ringing (as everybody doesn’t have an alert slider)

Another subtle addition that comes with Android P is the prevent ringing feature. This feature allows users to use a combination of keys as shortcut (power button + volume up) to prevent the phone from ringing. Users can choose to either have the phone on vibrate, mute, or do nothing when these keys are pressed together. For handsets that lack a physical alert slider, this feature might be a nice addition.

This feature is easy to use and as the Google Pixel does not have an alert slider, I found myself using this shortcut every now and then while attending meetings or family gatherings. The only downside is that while this combo can be used to switch ringing modes, pressing the same combination again doesn’t restore the handset back to the ringing mode. For that, you need to access the sound options.

Smarter notifications

If there is one aspect of Android that has been winning for some years as compared to iOS, it is app notifications. While iOS still displays individual app notifications on its notification panel, Android has been handling notifications significantly better by clubbing them together and providing more options. This time, Google has went a step ahead. Now, the handset asks you if you want it to continue showing you notifications from a particular app if you keep dismissing them frequently.

To be very honest, this small step feels futuristic, and makes you stop and wonder if your smartphone has been dumb all these years, prior to this update. Similarly, you can choose to keep receiving notifications of a particular type if you like them. Take notes, Apple.

Notches are here to stay

Whether you like Apple or not, the Cupertino-based company often ends up shaping the trends for Android smartphone manufacturers. With the introduction of the iPhone X last year, the company gave a bold new design path to the smartphone world, and phone makers seem to have grabbed it with both hands. After handsets like the Honor 10, OnePlus 6, and LG G7 ThinQ, it’s clear that the notch design is here to stay, and with Android P Beta, Google has given some interesting notch design options to handset makers.

These designs include the regular ones from Essential PH-1 and OnePlus 6, but there is another interesting option that puts the notch at the corner of the display. Some have speculated that next-generation Pixel phones could sport this design, but if I were to share my opinion, let’s hope not.

The Absentees

Unfortunately, there are several features that were promised by Google but have still not made it to the Android P Public Beta. The most notable absence is that of Dashboard. As part of Google’s Digital Well Being initiative, the search giant introduced a new feature called ‘Dashboard’ that essentially gives you a data representation of your phone usage. This feature will inform users about the amount of time spent on the handset, the number of times that it was unlocked, the apps that take up most of their time etc.

Considering that this information will likely shock many users, Google will also provide users with an App Timer feature that allows them to limit the amount of time spent on a particular app. This is to encourage users to decide and manage their own digital behaviour. Finally, the Wind Down feature turns the screen to greyscale at night to discourage folks from using their phones extensively at that time. This feature also turns on the Do Not Disturb mode to help users sleep better. These features, coming from a company that earns most of its revenues from users logging into its services for hours at a stretch, are not only surprising, but delightful as well.

Conclusion

The Android P Beta is one of the most crucial OS upgrades from Google. With support for more handsets in the initial phase itself, the company has made it clear that the Android P’s adoption rate will be much faster than earlier iterations of Android. As the California-based company seems hell-bent on correcting the shortcomings that have plagued its mobile platform for years, we can only feel that Apple needs to step-up its game as well. As far as Android P is concerned, the latest update from Google brings about seeingly small, but useful changes that would go a long way towards improving user experience.

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