Android 13 QPR2 Beta 1 has a snazzy new back navigation indicator
Android constantly evolves, making the operating system prettier and easier to use than what went before. The second quarterly platform release (QPR2) forAndroid 13is now in beta, and we are seeing a bunch ofnew tweaks and featureslike new media player animations, partial screen recording capability, and a new Material You theme called Monochromatic. The first beta also reveals visual changes for the back navigation gesture.
Esper senior editor Mishaal Rahman notes that swiping in from the edge of the screen to trigger the back navigation shows off a cool new visual indicator. A circular surround for the back arrow indicator themed to match predominant colors in your wallpaper is seen, thanks to dynamic theming. This new visual design isn’t accessible to everyone, though. If you’re running the beta, you’d have to dig up the hidden flag to be able to turn it on for yourself.
Make sure you don’t confuse this slight visual change with the predictive back gesture coming inAndroid 14, that’s alsoavailable on Android 13as an option for developers. Rahman speculates Google could combineAndroid 14’s predictive back navigationfeature with the new circular visual indicator we are seeing in Android 13 QPR2 Beta 1 to make for an overall fresh-feeling user experience.
You may not see this new back navigation indicator because of the challenges associated with enabling it. However, there are a lot of other cool bits to look forward to in the latest QPR Beta, like thefixed vulnerabilitieswith ARM Mali GPUs for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 series.
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