Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile

You can now download the first Android 12L Beta on your Google Pixel

Michael Allison
By

Google announced on Wednesday the first beta release of Android 12L, the next feature drop for the recently released Android 12 operating system. Aimed primarily at tablets and larger-screened devices, Android 12L will focus on changing the Android experience from the much-critiqued blown-up-phone look to a discrete experience that takes the larger canvas of tablets into account.

What’s new?

Today’s beta release includes the refreshed interface for larger screens, including a column view for the notification shade and lock screen. A new multitasking dock is being introduced to allow faster access to split-screen and drag-and-drop, and Google’s now done work to allow every Android 12 app to work with split-screen mode regardless of whether developers have built for it.

Android 12L Notification Center.
Google

The big problem with big-screen Android

Unlike iOS, the Android experience on tablets and larger-screened devices has been abysmal. It’s a little understandable when one considers that Google shifted its tablet focus from Android to Chrome OS a few years ago. While Chrome OS currently has a decent tablet experience, one that the current Android 12L seems to want to replicate when looking at the dock and split-screen multitasking, the app experience for both has remained lacking.

Recommended Videos

With Android 12L, the company wants to encourage developers to think more carefully about building tablet and large-screened apps for Android. That’s a tall order, as one notes, the only tablet hardware available for Android 12L is the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro. You won’t be able to get today’s update on it either just yet. Right now, the Android 12L Developer Preview 1 build is available for that tablet, with the beta update coming later.

Related

When will my device get it?

Android 12L will hit regular phones, too, though expect more subtle changes than with tablets. The folks over at Esper have done a deep dive into everything that Google’s added into the first developer build of the update. In the meantime, Android 12L’s beta is available now for all 10 currently supported Google Pixels: The Pixel 3a, 3a XL, 4, 4XL, 4a, 4a, 5G, 5, 5a 5G, 6, and 6 Pro.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Michael Allison
Michael Allison
Mobile News Writer
A UK-based tech journalist for Digital Trends, helping keep track and make sense of the fast-paced world of tech with a…
Google Drive, Docs, and other apps are getting way better on Android tablets
new workspace updates for android tablets.

Google is bringing the desktop experience for its core Workspace apps to Android tablets, adding some much-needed productivity flair. The changes, which come in the wake of announcements made at I/O earlier this year, are targeted at improving the split-screen multitasking experience after laying down the foundations with Android 12L.

The first and most important change is the ability to drag and drop images from an app running in one window to another app running side by side in a second window. Google says the Chrome browser and Workspace apps like Sheets will support the drag-and-drop trick for Docs and spreadsheet cells, among other services.

Read more
Android 12L and Wear OS 3 show Google still isn’t serious about tablets and smartwatches
Onn Android Tablet on Table

Late last year, Google introduced Android 12L, its operating system optimized specifically for tablets and foldables. After years of neglect, Google showed it was finally taking the form factor seriously. The same went for Wear OS 3, with Google breathing new life into smartwatches. There's just one problem for both.

As of the time of writing, not one tablet, foldable, or smartwatch has been updated to either of these operating systems. Google has planned to overhaul how its smartwatch and tablet platforms work for the better, but the company's rollout has undermined its ambitious plans.
Google's lofty ambitions

Read more
You can finally move your WhatsApp chats from Android to iOS
WhatsApp and Telegram app icons.

Moving WhatsApp chats from Android to iOS has been a painful task for years. But not anymore, as Apple and WhatsApp have made the process a whole lot easier. Starting today, Apple is adding a feature that allows you to move chats between the two platforms. The feature is a part of Apple’s existing “Move to iOS” Android application. It’s worth noting that the feature is currently available for beta users only, so non-beta users might have to wait for a week or two as it's rolled out in phases.

This is a big move since 2 million people use WhatsApp and, until now, there wasn’t an official method to move conversations between Android and iOS. There have been third-party solutions here and there, but nothing officially backed by Apple or WhatsApp. With the feature becoming available, users will be able to move their chats swiftly from Android to iOS.

Read more