Android 13 QPR2 Beta 1 is trying to make the bad vibration motor on your old Pixel sound better
It might be the holiday season, but Google is showing no signs of slowing down. After unveiling itslatest Feature Drop for Pixelslast week, the company wasted no time in releasing a new beta.Our first look at March’s updaterolled out late last night to supported phones, and unlike the previous patch, it seems likeeverything new in Android 13 QPR2 Beta 1might focus on legacy Pixels and not just the company’s latest. In fact, with a new tweak to haptics, that rusty vibration motor in your current phone might get a new lease on life.
As spotted byEsper.io’s Mishaal Rahman, Google is bringing something called “adaptive alert vibration” to its phones. Initially, Rahman spotted the feature as a hidden string in the SettingsGoogle app for Pixels. The description describes a tool capable of reducing how strongly the vibration motor reacts to incoming alerts when the phone is both still and facing up. Think incoming messages or certain in-game alerts specifically while resting the device on a table — those kinds of things. Rather than hearing the rattle of your device against a glass or wood surface, Android would intelligently reduce its strength.
It sounds pretty good on its own, but Rahman later confirmed the feature was active on hisPixel 6a, suggesting Google intentions may be more specific than this description lets on. As he mentioned on Twitter in a follow-up tweet, this focus on older, cheaper hardware points to a quality-of-life improvement specifically designed for phones with lower-quality haptic engines. While the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro surprised us with excellent feedback, the A-series and even older flagships have suffered in this category. Hell, who can forget thePixel 5’s infamous hissing noise?
We may need to wait for the full update in March to see how this affects all supported Pixel phones — after all, it remains inaccessible on the Pixel 7 series in Beta 1. That said, it’s an intriguing change, one that could serve as an excellent upgrade for your existing hardware.
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