Slashdot Mirror


Google Launches Android Q Beta 1 (venturebeat.com)

Google said today it is rolling out the first beta version of Android Q, the newest version of its mobile operating system. The company will roll out a stable version of Android Q later this year. From a report: The first beta includes a preview SDK for developers with system images for the Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, and the official Android Emulator. This is the fourth year running that Google has released the first developer preview of the next Android version in March -- Android N (later named Android Nougat), Android O (Android Oreo), and Android P (Android Pie). For the past two years, Google did not use the Android Beta Program, which lets you get early Android builds via over-their-air updates on select devices.

That changes with Android Q -- Google is making the first preview available as a beta, not just as a developer preview. That signals that it is ready for early adopters to try, in addition to developers. As before, this preview version will be referred to as Android Q until Google picks a name starting with that letter.

33 comments

  1. Android Q, for the Qendalls. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wanted a mobile OS that rejects the fact-checking of the MSM and pushes retarded conspiracies directly into my feed. Q-Anondroid has the unfocused rage-baiting I crave.

    1. Re:Android Q, for the Qendalls. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why do you harass people like raymorris, APK, cdreimer, superkendall so much with complete nonsense? Are you so miserable you want to spread your misery to others? If your goal is to drive people away from slashdot it's probably doing so. I for one find your insane waste of your time annoying and a real turn off. I am sure I am not alone. Look at your stupidity I replied to now for instance. What is the point for you doing what I see you doing illustrated above by myself? I am curious.

    2. Re:Android Q, for the Qendalls. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ray Morris pushed nazi and denialist faggot propaganda and is a liar. Kendall pushed nazi and denialist faggot propaganda and is a liar. Creimer is the APK guy, I don't have anything to do with that.

      Propaganda gets met with an appropriate response: My rhetorical boot in their faggot asses. Don't like it? Stop lying. Stop pushing bullshit. Then I'll have nothing to say about it. Until then, you've been warned.

      Deal with it snowflake. You push propaganda, you get a nazi's due : The rope.

    3. Re:Android Q, for the Qendalls. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't see proof of what you said. How do I know it's fact? I don't. You are not believable. In fact, I think you are a nut.

  2. Re:Clickbait article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    My friend, a number of tech sites have just published this story. Google probably briefed them.

  3. Did they fix wireless scanning? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Pie restricts scans to a very small number, which negatively affects network scanners. It was allegedly done to preserve battery life, but surely there is a better way.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re: Did they fix wireless scanning? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hope they fixed the WiFi issue. I have a Nokia 7 plus, no problems on Oreo but Pie has been a little buggy:

      - disconnecting from WiFi shortly after connecting
      - sometimes shows pattern lock lines despite being disabled
      - auto rotate disabled but still flips between landscape and portrait

      I also seem to have worse battery life. Still, the thing I hate most is the damn clock being on the top left, going against all those years where the area has been exclusively for notifications, such as a new email or text, but now a stupid UX fix to accommodate another stupid UX feature, the infamous notch. At least give us an option, ffs.

  4. Beats the alternative by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Q-Anondroid has the unfocused rage-baiting I crave.

    Still better than the lgbtQ-Droid, which blanks the screen whenever you look at the phone with the message "DID YOU JUST ASSUME MY UNLOCK STATUS??"

    1. Re:Beats the alternative by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know the head Q-anon dude is a homo right? Not Milo, the other guy.

  5. Can Google add a better user environment? by ctilsie242 · · Score: 1

    I wish AOSP would have some boring, but needed stuff. A standardized busybox, access to the Linux firewall, root available, a way to backup/archive app data via ADB, so restoring a phone is easier, or you can just move your saved games off to save space and load them on later (or possibly to a different device.) As of now, data backups on Android are extremely hit or miss, it would be nice to have a standard of packing up an app's data and sending it off. Titanium Backup handles this admirably... but requires root to do so.

    1. Re: Can Google add a better user environment? by kiki60 · · Score: 1

      access to the Linux firewall, root available, a way to backup/archive app data via ADB, so restoring a phone is easier, or you can just move your saved games off to save space and load them on later (or possibly to a different device.) As of now, data backups on Android are extremely hit or miss, it would be nice to have a standard of pa https://xender.pro/ https://discord.software/ https://omegle.onl/

    2. Re:Can Google add a better user environment? by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      You can get that stuff on any rootable phone, so there are at least options. And there's Busybox Pro.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  6. Quiche? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most importantly, did they fix bluetooth serial yet?

  7. Did they turn off tracking? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If you opt out of location tracking on Android, Google still tracks you.

    I expect at some point that if you turn off tracking on an Android device, it'll mean what it says: "Turn off."

    For some reason Google is having trouble understanding that basic idea.

    1. Re:Did they turn off tracking? by johnsie · · Score: 1

      https://myacitivity.google.com... Wake up call for some people who think they aren't being tracked

  8. Re: Clickbait article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And trump launches wall beta one

  9. Backup: Just clone the data partition. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't do partial backups. You'll end up with incompatible parts and breakage on restore. Always do full backups.
    Since Android is mostly in a ROM, and cache can be cleared, that means you only have to backup your data partition(s).
    Any flashing tool can do that. I think adb can do it too. And TWRP and the likes surely can. (There's apps that can do it without booting into a special mode. But beware, as you should not backup live mounted partitions. Not even partiallyj)

    But about the rest: I think what you're looking for, is plain Linux/GNU. With an Android UI installed on top.
    In theory, that should be no problem, since Android already runs a standard Linux kernel. Which already has all the drivers you need. Just have it boot that kernel, install a full Linux user space, splice in the AOSP user-space stuff, and done. which should be fully automatable too.
    I guess in practice, the locked-down state that those devices come is is hurdle 1, and that the kernel maybe has some custom patches and those custom drivers that you don't have the source to, and so are forced to use the old compiled kernel binary, even with all its bugs, might be hurdle number 2.

    It's definitely doable though, and I really wonder why nobody has done/automated it yet.
    I know I could do it. I know Linux in and out. I only would have to read up on the AOSP internals. And frankly, I am already developing a better user space, and smartphones will become little PCs anyway in the next years, so with quantum dot LEDs on the horizon, and oil running out, there's no point in perfecting the oil lamp.

    1. Re:Backup: Just clone the data partition. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I guess in practice, the locked-down state that those devices come is is hurdle 1, and that the kernel maybe has some custom patches and those custom drivers that you don't have the source to, and so are forced to use the old compiled kernel binary, even with all its bugs, might be hurdle number 2.

      It's definitely doable though, and I really wonder why nobody has done/automated it yet.

      The blob is for the tiny little OS that runs the baseband radio (which can R/W all RAM and which is notoriously insecure). The lack of full GNU+Linux availability is largely due to carriers complaining / worrying that people will hack / attack the cell towers if they had access to the baseband radio firmware.

      Obligatory: Security through obscurity is no security at all...

    2. Re:Backup: Just clone the data partition. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      If you have root, you can install a Unix userland and use Xrdp and an RDP client to get a full graphical login on your Androids. Or you can get the light version with Busybox Pro, which I've been using for years now. But you really do have to stick with hardware which is at least rootable, if not fully unlockable. The latter is preferable, because it lets you run LineageOS on many devices. That way, you can keep getting some kind of updates after your vendor abandons your device, at least for a while.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:Backup: Just clone the data partition. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it's illegal in some countries.

  10. Q is for Quisp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Quisp should be the name.

    1. Re:Q is for Quisp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can quinoa be considered a desert?

  11. Enjoy the by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    extra big notch.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  12. Queef by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Short, starts w/Q, and reasonably follows Pi, yes?

  13. Tell me I'm reading this wrong by mrwireless · · Score: 1

    From the article:

    "Connectivity permissions, privacy, and security: For Bluetooth, cellular, and Wi-Fi, the FINE location permission will be required. Wi-Fi standard support, WP3 and OWE, will also be included to improve security for home and work networks as well as open/public networks."

    So does that mean that if an app needs Wi-Fi, then I will now have to give it fine location permissions? So any app that requires Wi-Fi can now also access GPS?

    1. Re:Tell me I'm reading this wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Up to where I know, internet access permission and WiFi permission are different things. What this change does is inform the user that by giving WiFi access you will necessarily allow the app to locate you with great precision

  14. Re: Clickbait article by johnsie · · Score: 1

    Everything on the World Wide Web is clickbait. That's kind of how it works.