Android 13 is still about nine months away, but development appears to be in full swing at Google and an early glimpse at the next-gen smartphone OS has already popped up online. The folks over at XDA-Developers have gotten their hands on screenshots depicting a very early build of Android 13 from an unspecified source with access to it. Before we go into details, it is worth mentioning here that some of these features might get pushed, or never make it out of the test phase.
App language
First in line is an Android 13 feature called App Language. As the name makes it abundantly clear, it will allow users to specify the UI language on a per-app basis. The feature has been in development under the codename ‘Panlingual’ and will be accessible on this path: Settings > System > Languages & input > App Languages. Once an app has been selected, users will be taken to its App Language page where they can make the necessary linguistic adjustment.
Notification control tool
Next in line is a notification control tool that will help control the barrage of unnecessary notifications. With Android 13, Google appears to be testing a new “POST_NOTIFICATIONS” protocol that will make notifications an opt-in feature. What that means is just as with permissions for accessing camera and location, users will be able to specify if an app can send notifications.
Android 12 does allow users to enable or disable notifications on a per-app basis, but it is a hassle for users who aren’t too tech-savvy. Making apps seek notification permission from the get-go appears to be a useful tweak.
What else?
XDA-Developers’ report also highlights something called TARE, which stands for The Android Resource Economy. Not much is known about it, but it appears to be a system that will impose certain app activity restrictions when the battery level is low. There is also an option to let users retain the single line layout for the clock widget on the lock screen, irrespective of notifications.
Android 13 is also expected to add support for LC3 codec for audio playback as part of the Bluetooth LE Audio package. This was first spotted by Esper Senior Technical Editor Mishaal Rahman, who subsequently tweeted about it and mentioned that LC3 adoption will be ready by the time Android 13 is released. LC3 (Low Complexity Communications Codec) is touted to provide higher quality audio transmission at low bitrates.
