Category: Technology

There’s inflationary pressures and the cost of living going on everywhere, but one of the (relatively) bright spots for this has been the affordable TV prices – given that LCD prices continue to fall, and the possibility of very cheap TVs finally coming up this year means people trying to keep their budgets low. They may still be able to get a great new 4K TV within their price range if they need it.

However, that could turn against one part of the market, it seems. Report in Digitimes (Opens in a new tab) He says Chinese LCD manufacturers (which account for a large part of the market, though they certainly don’t have a monopoly) are looking to raise prices for 32-inch TV panels next year.

The best 32-inch TVs are popular not only in bedrooms and offices, but also students, young adults with small living spaces, and seniors who may also have limited space, but may not be comfortable with a larger screen either. Televisions that are geared towards the industry by most people these days.

In the case of both the young and the elderly, we’re talking about those who are most likely to have inflexible incomes — fixed pensions, or the generally inadequate wages so many teens and young adults receive these days.

So the potential price hike for these people’s most useful little TVs will come as a blow, just as they’re also being bitten by higher winter energy bills.

This means that anyone thinking about this type of TV in the future might want to look hard at the Black Friday TV deals (and the sales season around) this year, because if Digitimes’ report is correct, new models released in 2023 could start rising the prices.

TV deals likely won’t be limited to Black Friday, though – according to statistics from Adobe, the largest average TV discounts were found in early December last year, although the average discount on Black Friday itself was Almost very large. It just means that if you can’t find anything in Black Friday deals, it’s not the end; You may still find it soon after.

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It was announced that it would debut alongside the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro at a Google event in October 2022, where the Pixel Watch was shown.

It’s an important upgrade that could breathe new life into the operating system — if consumers and smartwatch makers embrace it.

Below you’ll find full details of everything Wear OS 3.5 has to offer, along with information on when, where, and how you can get it.

cut to chase

• What is this? The latest version of the Google smartwatch operating system
• When does it come out? Now – first for the Pixel watch, then for other wearables
• How much does it cost? It’s free

Wear OS 3 release date

Wear OS 3 was announced at the Google I/O Developers Conference in May 2021, and became available for the first time in August 2021.

At a Google event in October 2022, Wear OS 3.5 was announced alongside the Pixel Watch, showing off features from Fit Bit that enable far more fitness features than previously offered.

Compatibility with Wear OS 3

Although it has been available since 2021, there are currently very few smartwatches that actually run Wear OS 3. In fact, at the time of writing, you can only get it on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic and – very expensive – Montblanc pinnacle 3.

None of the previously available smartwatches received a Wear OS 3 update, but some will; With Fossil Gen 6, Michael Kors Gen 6, Skagen Falster Gen 6, Razer X Fossil Gen 6, TicWatch Pro 3, TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra and TicWatch E3 theoretically updated before the end of 2022.

Some of the current crop of best smartwatches may be updated as well, but no other devices have been confirmed yet.

We also expect to launch new smartwatches running Wear OS 3 before too long, including the Google Pixel Watch and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 line.

Note that to use a Wear OS 3 watch, you also need a compatible operating system on your phone. In theory, it works with both iOS and Android, but at the time of writing Montblanc Summit 3 only includes iOS support – the Galaxy Watch 4 line doesn’t work, and neither the Pixel Watch nor the Galaxy Watch 5 line is expected to.

Wear OS 3 ميزات features

There’s a lot to see in Wear OS 3.5, but it’s worth noting that not every feature will be available on every watch. Notably, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 line runs One UI Watch on top of Wear OS, which changes the look and some aspects of the user interface.

Below you’ll find a selection of Wear OS 3.5 stock features – functions you can expect to find in the Pixel Watch and any other Wear OS 3.5 wearable that isn’t widely customized, like Samsung’s current Galaxy Watch series, where you can expect to find more of difference.

Faster and Longer

Google has partnered with Samsung to create Wear OS 3.5 (Opens in a new tab), the result is a combination of Wear OS 2 and Samsung’s Tizen-based wearable operating system; With some new features that have been nicely dropped.

Key improvements that resulted from this collaboration include app load times up to 30% faster (than Wear OS 2) and improved battery life. This latest improvement makes doing things more viable like running your heart rate monitor all day or tracking your sleep without having to charge it first thing in the morning, every morning.

upgraded interface

Wear OS 3 is also bringing changes to the interface, with Google focusing on making the wearable device faster and easier to operate. Nobody wants to spend ages scrolling through menus on the relatively small watch screen, so there’s an emphasis on shortcuts and gesture controls; Along with being able to use Tiles (essentially, widgets) to customize your watch’s home screen display in more ways than before.

You’ll also have quick access to your Google Home smart home controls and be able to quickly switch between apps in use with the new task switcher.

Custom Overlay

Just as Android smartphone makers can add a custom interface on top of stock Android, smartwatch makers can now use a similar trick with Wear OS, so the platform won’t necessarily look or act the same on every smartwatch.

This should give buyers more options and more opportunities to find an interface and features they really like.

One UI Watch, found in the Galaxy Watch 4 line, is an early example of this; It offers a number of Samsung apps and services in addition to Google services, and it draws more similarities with Samsung’s smartphone interface design.

New and improved Google apps

Google took this opportunity to redesign and improve Google Assistant and Google Maps, as well as add support for more countries in Google Pay (soon to be replaced by the return of Google Wallet) and bring YouTube Music to your wrist.

Fitness Powered by Fitbit

Since Google now owns Fitbit, it’s no surprise that some of the company’s recent expertise has made it into Wear OS 3. This includes features like goal celebrations on the wrist and various tools to track your health progress throughout the day.

Accurate fitness tracking capabilities will depend on the hardware your smartwatch offers – but not all include GPS and heart rate monitors – hence less common features, such as ECGs and blood oxygen monitors.

The best third-party apps

Google is also pushing for better third-party app support in several ways. First, the company makes it easier for developers to create great apps in the first place; Using tools like the new Tiles API and a watch face design editor.

On top of that, Google also aims to reward developers for high-quality apps – and penalize low-effort ones – by adjusting the Play Store’s search ranking.

Google has guidelines for what good Wear OS apps should do, like making sure they’re formatted for square and circular screens, have clear, easy-to-read text, and make the app work without a smartphone or tablet.

All the smartwatch essentials you’d expect

Above, we’ve detailed the ways that Wear OS 3.5 deviates and improves on Wear OS 2, but it also retains all the core functions of the previous platform, such as notifications, timers, alarms, and more.

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The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) fears the proposed $7.3 billion merger of Viasat and Inmarsat could drive up prices for lower quality in-flight Wi-Fi.

Preliminary results of the investigation (Opens in a new tab) By the watchdog it was concluded that the deal would combine the largest suppliers in the market with a few other alternatives.

While several companies, including Starlink and OneWeb, target the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite aviation market, it will take time for these companies to become a significant player.

satellite connection

Given the difficulty of switching suppliers once equipment is installed, the CMA is concerned that the combined company will be able to effectively close a large portion of the market before a potential competitor can compete.

“This is an evolving market, but the combined companies are currently two major players – and it remains uncertain whether the next generation of satellite operators will be able to compete against them effectively,” said Colin Raftery, senior director at the CMA.

“Ultimately, airlines could face a worse deal because of this merger, which could have spillover effects on UK consumers as in-flight connectivity becomes more prevalent.”

Both parties now have five business days to submit proposals that will address the CMA’s concerns, after which the CMA will have the same amount of time to accept any offer or refer the case to a “Phase Two” investigation.

CEOs at both companies denied the merger was anti-competitive and said they hoped a phase two would allow the deal to go ahead.

“There is great interest all around, high performance, affordable prices [in-flight Wi-Fi]Mark Danberg, CEO of Viasat, said the CMA’s decision to go ahead with the phase two review was not expected. “We intend to work closely with the CMA to show that our transactions will benefit clients by improving efficiencies, reducing costs, and increasing IFC availability around the world – and reaching a satisfactory outcome in phase two.”

“There is no shortage of competition in satellite connectivity for the aviation sector,” added Rajiv Suri, CEO of Inmarsat. “Already strong players are offering in-flight connectivity and new LEO players – who already occupy more than half of globally available satellite broadband capacity – are targeting aviation aggressively and successfully. We expect competition to be strong in the coming years, and together Viasat and Inmarsat will be in a position to Good to invest in the technologies needed to meet the growing needs of aviation customers and compete with LEOs and others.”

Inmarsat and Viasat first announced plans to merge last November and hope to complete the deal by the middle of this year. Another UK-based satellite company, OneWeb, is also in the process of merging with a foreign company, Eutelsat.

All this from a well-known leaker on YouTube, Moore’s Law is dead (Opens in a new tab) (MLID), which claims first and foremost to have word from a number of sources about the amount of major GPU stock that will be on shelves next Wednesday (October 12). As always, apply liberal spice to what is essentially enlightened speculation here.

Anyway, the summary of sentiment conveyed is that there will be a lot of Lovelace flagships, at least with major (in the US) retailers, and even mid to smaller outlets will have a decent amount of stock within the first week. The RTX 4090 is clearly going to be a “very large” launch and compared to Ampere, Nvidia will have about four to five times the size of its primary GPUs. Yes, that much.

MLID also shared a word from the grapevine about the performance of the RTX 4090, gleaned from chats with reviewers, although the leaker obviously doesn’t go into any details. What he told us is that the RTX 4090 is generally about 80% faster than the RTX 3090, but in some scenarios it’s faster than that; This is raster rendering performance, which means standard graphics (non-rradiated). For ray tracing, expect bigger gains, in general speaking more than twice as fast as the RTX 3090.

The other major piece of positive spillover here is on the power front, with the RTX 4090 arguing being more stable, and less prone to the sometimes huge power spikes that high-end Ampere GPUs exhibit. The theory is that if left at default levels (without overclocking), the RTX 4090 will likely switch directly to a PC with an RTX 3090 Ti without problems, or indeed many RTX 3090 systems for that matter (take this with an extra spoonful of skepticism). , though).

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Analysis: Reason for some optimism (but what about stocks outside the US?)

All this is very exciting news for those who have enough money to buy an RTX 4090. Talking about much better performance per watt will go down well, while remembering this for Ampere. Let’s not kid ourselves that the RTX 4090 won’t be power-hungry, because we know for sure that it is, as a 450W TGP graphics card – before we consider what it might go up to when pressed (but that’s going to be lower peak amp power consumption, according to sources MLID).

The performance numbers shared confirm a previous leak, although they are a bit more positive. Previously, we heard that the RTX 4090 was about 80%, but not quite, faster than its predecessor. So it looks like the GPU will definitely be 80% faster, which, let’s face it, is still a huge gain, faster than that in some cases, and potentially close to double the performance, a feat Nvidia promised a drip – but only with some games. Of course, it is not unusual for a company to paint a new product in its most positive light; This is how marketing works.

As for stock levels, it is interesting to hear that there will theoretically be such a good amount of units available immediately. The RTX 4090 may not go on sale on the first day, apparently, that’s the incoming size, which is certainly unusual for GPU launches these days (the colossal cost of the flagship, of course, will limit the target audience).

Now, this is the US market, so other regions like Europe may not be the same, and MLID notes that as it usually is, it could be a week or so after launch before RTX 4090 stock arrives outside the US. MLID makes another point that because third-party RTX 4090 boards are so large and essentially chunky, the Founders Edition is more likely to fit into any given PC case which could mean there’s more demand for Nvidia’s own card – so it can be sold fast at First day.

We’ll see, but it’s certainly interesting that such a niche card – given the price of the RTX 4090 – will come out in such quantities, if of course that rumor is true. If true, all that remains is the kind of demand that Nvidia will attract in what has become a harsher consumer climate as the weeks go by.

Google has moved to clarify its approach to developing new technologies to replace third-party tracking cookies, an effort designed to inject a higher level of aggregate In the digital advertising series.

At a press event attended by Pro radar technologyMatt Britten, Google’s president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, answered questions about the course of the Privacy Sandbox project and criticisms from privacy advocates.

“Users want a private and secure web; we can see that in our search results. But if you want this whole thing to work, you need effective ads, because the web opt-in model doesn’t work for everyone.”

“It’s really about how we create a web that works for everyone. What we do is try to make sure that you can have high-performance, privacy-safe ads that work for the user and the advertiser — and we’re optimistic about that.”

FLoC, Themes and Android

Google first launched the Privacy Sandbox initiative in 2019, in recognition of the fact that the system underlying its lucrative advertising activity (powered by third-party cookies that track people across the web) creates opportunities for privacy violations.

Like any technology, cookies are neither good nor bad. “It’s just the way it’s used,” Britten said. “The reason we need to stay away from them is because they are increasingly being used in ways that irritate consumers.”

The goal is to develop a set of new systems and technologies that perform the same role as cookies, allowing advertisers to target Internet users who are most likely to interact with their products, but without compromising user privacy to the same degree.

So far, achieving this goal has proven to be as difficult as it sounds. first suggestion, flukewidely used by privacy advocates, who order rejected swift hand.

In January, Google announced that it would replace FLoC for a similar system called Threads, which provides a way to display ads based on general interest categories. The system relies on three weeks of browsing data, stored locally on the device, to put people into a variety of different groups, which in turn determine the types of ads a person will receive. Web users can opt out of any particular “topic” at any time via their sites internet browser.

despite of Continuing criticismTopics appears to be the system that Google will continue to pursue as it moves forward with plans to leave third-party cookies behind. Currently, Topics is in trial, along with a number of separate APIs developed under the Privacy Sandbox initiative.

Google too recently announced It will expand the Privacy Sandbox to Android, phasing out advertising ID (a tracking system similar to third-party cookies) in favor of alternatives that limit the sharing of user data with third parties and do not rely on cross-app tracking.

The deadline to eliminate cookies was recently Pay for retreat To the second half of 2024, to give industry stakeholders additional time to prepare, a similar date has been set for moving away from advertising ID on Android.

The free and open web

Google’s usual response to criticism of its efforts has been that targeted advertising is critical to keeping the web free and open. Without the ability to effectively target ads, a fee must be paid for content and services that are currently freely available to remain economically viable for the provider, the argument goes.

In response to questions from Pro radar technology About criticism from privacy advocates, some of whom are calling for regulators to ban targeted ads entirely, Britten followed suit, citing Numbers from IAB (Opens in a new tab) Which suggests that such a ban would wipe up to $39 billion from the publishing market.

“If you want a website at an affordable cost, advertisers need to reach users. If you don’t want to advertise, this is the world of ad blockers and companies developing technologies that allow people to block everything, but this is a sledgehammer that destroys the funding model for original content.”

“Objecting to relevant advertising is different from objecting to personal data being used in ways that people have not agreed to – and here we defend our approach very strongly. We try to give consumers the protection they want, as well as useful and relevant advertising.”

Britten, who worked in publishing before joining Google, acknowledged the potential for new monetization models that would allow publishers to fund their content without relying on targeted advertising. For example, under a system based on micropayments, users will pay small amounts for each piece of content they access, rather than expensive subscriptions that exclude people from the information market. But I pointed out that there are problems with this premise as well.

“Micro payments is something that hasn’t really worked on the web. The challenge for publishers out there is that they are currently monetizing the audience in aggregate, but if [stories are each earning a few cents per view]What is the incentive for journalists to work under the umbrella of publications? “You’ll end up with more news fragmentation,” Britten said.

When asked if Google would consider switching from targeted advertising to contextual advertising in the name of privacy, if a powerful new monetization model emerged, Brittin refused to be painted.

He said, “Let’s see if we get this technology.” Pro radar technology. “[In a few years’ time]I hope we see an open and affordable web, enjoyed by nearly everyone on the planet, and that we see companies able to grow more and more through privacy-safe advertising.”

It may only be the first week of October, but the scary season is in full swing on streaming services.

Conversations with a Killer: Jeffrey Dahmer tapes may be the most gruesome among newcomers this weekend, but Werewolf by Night, Hellraiser, The Midnight Club, and Luckiest Girl Alive all flaunt their fair share of gory thrills at Disney Plus, Hulu, and Netflix, on straight.

Below, we’ve rounded up seven of the biggest new movies and TV shows to stream on Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max, and more over the next few days.

Conversations with a Murderer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes (Netflix)

Despite all the shortcomings that have appeared recently, Netflix certainly knows how to generate interest in its content.

The streaming device’s most recent success, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, has been jump to popularity After a string of pre-release controversies — and just two weeks later, Netflix used the same pathological curiosity through Conversations with the Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes.

This three-part documentary series from director Joe Berlinger (highly evil, horrific and villainous) chronicles Dahmer’s heinous crimes through real-life footage and newly discovered interviews with his legal team. As with Monster, The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes isn’t likely to be a fun hour – but you already know it.

Now available to stream on Netflix.

Hillraiser (Hulu)

Lots of horror franchise reboots made their way to screens this year – Scream, victim And the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Among them – but one new horror movie We weren’t expecting to see live streaming in 2022 as a new Hellraiser experience.

This new adaptation of Clive Parker’s 1986 novel (which itself was turned into a 1987 film) is actually the eleventh installment in the Hellraiser franchise, but is intended to reboot Parker’s original story. The film revolves around a young woman who accidentally summons a group of sadistic supernatural beings, using an old puzzle box.

Hellraiser is currently broadcasting exclusively on Hulu in the US, but director David Bruckner has promised To share news about the international release of the movie (most likely on Disney Plus) “in the next week or so.”

Now available to stream on Hulu.

Werewolf in the Night (Disney Plus)

Who says Marvel has run out of creative power?

Werewolf by Night, a new one-off special from Disney Plus, is unlike anything the superhero studio has done before. Directed by composer-turned-filmmaker Michael Giacchino (the maestro behind the voices of ratatouille And the Batman), follows a secretive group of monster hunters who engage in a deadly competition for a powerful relic after the death of their leader, Bloodstone Ulysses.

Of course, there is much, much more to the story of Werewolf by Night, rest assured that it’s worth continuing for. in Our review From Special, we described the Marvel Project Bizarre Horror as “a satisfying, impressive, monster-packed play that explores the supernatural side of the MCU.”

Now available to stream on Disney Plus.

Midnight Club (Netflix)

Midnight Mass has grown into a critically and culturally beloved horror series after its release on Netflix this time last year, and creator Mike Flanagan hopes his latest project, The Midnight Club, with a similar title, will be well received.

The show, adapted from Christopher Pike’s 1994 novel of the same name, centers on seven terminally ill teens who, to pass time in their shared hospice, try to outdo each other with different scary stories.

in Our review, we said, “The Midnight Club isn’t meant to dazzle with twists and turns or insomnia-inducing fear. Its message has a more straightforward chemistry—the importance of storytelling in our yard.” By most accounts, Flanagan appears to have another winner on his hands. All ten episodes are available to stream now.

Now available to stream on Netflix.

Catherine Cold Birdie (Prime Video)

In refreshing contrast to her role as Ellie in the upcoming HBO The Last of Us TV ShowGame of Thrones graduate Bella Ramsey gets to show her comedy clips in the new Prime Video period movie, Catherine Called Birdy.

Based on Karen Cushman’s award-winning children’s novel of the same name, the film follows the adventures of Lady Catherine (Ramsay), a 13th-century duchess who resists her father’s attempts to marry her off to a wealthy suitor. Andrew Scott, Billy Piper, Russell Brand and Joe Alwyn also star in this comedy directed by Lena Dunham.

Critical reception for Catherine Called Birdy has been almost universally positive so far, with many reviewers calling it fun and medieval. Girls lovers, pay attention.

Now available to stream on Prime Video.

Luckiest Girl Alive (Netflix)

Netflix is ​​no stranger to dramas of black characters, and the latest movie, Luckiest Girl Alive, continues its fondness for dark and meandering storytelling.

An adaptation of the 2015 novel by Jessica Noll (who also serves as the film’s screenwriter), Luckiest Girl Alive follows a successful New York businesswoman (Mila Kunis) whose perfect life begins to unravel when a documentary filmmaker delves into her checkered past.

Critics were divided about the quality of the film, but in our own review, we said the Luckiest Girl Alive “stands out from the stark comparisons of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train thanks to its precise portrayal of trauma, survival and recovery, and the impressively precise driving performance of Mila Kunis.”

Now available to stream on Netflix.

Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman Butler Season 3 (HBO Max)

After adding The Origin of Batman’s Butler to its title, former Epix series Pennyworth is heading to HBO Max for its third season.

Continuing the early life adventures of a loyal relative of Caped Crusader (played here by Jack Bannon), the series’ latest outing will jump five years into the future to delve deeper into the origins of Martha Kane, Thomas Wayne, Bet Sykes, Lucius Fox, and the rest of Pennyworth’s main characters.

Given the continuing repercussions of Warner Bros. merger with Discovery IncPennyworth was in danger of being scrapped – but the series’ ties to the former studio’s biggest intellectual property (Batman) appears to have saved it from extinction.

Now available to stream on HBO Max.

The company admitted that criminals managed to exploit a loophole in the Binance Bridge and tried to get away with at least $100 million in cryptocurrency.

Binance Bridge is a multi-chain platform that allows cryptocurrency users to exchange tokens from one chain (for example, Ethereum), to another (for example, Binance Chain). Bridges are often riddled with flaws and thus are a prime target for cybercriminals. Some of the biggest cryptocurrency thefts came as a result of a bridge being exploited (think Ronin Bridge, Wormhole, Harmony, and others). In fact, blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis recently said that more than $2 billion has been stolen in bridge hacks, this year alone.

Create tokens out of thin air

In this particular case, the attacker did not steal anyone’s tokens, but rather discovered a flaw that allowed him to create additional tokens out of thin air. In a Reddit post published late last night, Binance representatives explained that someone abused a vulnerability on a cross-chain bridge, the BSC Token Hub, “which led to BNB’s surge.”

“We have asked all auditors to temporarily suspend BSC. The case is now contained. Your money is safe. We apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates accordingly,” the announcement read.

Binance has moved to pause the entire chain until the issue is resolved, while Tether has blacklisted the account.

However, the jury is still out on how much money was taken, and where it ended up. While Reddit’s participation in Binance claims between $100 million and $110 million, a DeFi developer under the pseudonym “foobar” claims the figure is closer to 2 million BNB — or $600 million.

The Reddit post concludes, “Thanks to the community and our internal and external security partners, an estimated $7 million has already been frozen.” While Binance’s speed in addressing the issue is commendable, it has raised the issue of blockchain decentralization among many crypto users.

Via: BleepingComputer (Opens in a new tab)

In a practice many experts describe as “killing a fly with a nuclear bomb,” many of the world’s largest technology companies have been found to destroy thousands of storage devices each year in order to stay bound by data protection rules.

according to financial times (FT), Amazon and Microsoft (two of the world’s largest data centers (Opens in a new tab) The operators would prefer) to destroy every single piece of data-carrying hardware that they no longer plan to actually use, rather than leaking the data by wiping the devices clean and selling them on the secondary market.

“If we let anyone [piece of data] An Amazon employee told the newspaper F, on condition of anonymity. Amazon declined to comment.

Is wiping a disk that dangerous?

It is not limited to data center operators only, although public sector organizations, various ministries, police departments, and many others, all choose the physical destruction of equipment, for the same reasons.

At the same time, shutting down data center equipment has turned into a full-blown industry, and the professionals working there are arguing against the practice.

Scanning endpoints, and selling them on secondary markets, has multiple benefits, and very few risks – if done correctly. Some of the materials used to create data volumes are difficult to obtain. On top of that, the revamped gear isn’t significantly less performing compared to the new gear, so it makes sense in terms of performance as well. It is clear – it is cheaper and “environmentally friendly”.

But experts should be brought in, otherwise the probability of a catastrophe is very high. A good example of malpractice came from Morgan Stanley, who was fined last month after hiring an inexperienced company to deal with a hard drive shutdown. Instead of properly wiping the disks, the contractor sold the hardware online — with the data still on it, prompting a painful reaction from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Morgan Stanley ended up paying $35 million to settle.

Tikradar Pro Contact Amazon and Microsoft for comment.

Via: Financial Times (Opens in a new tab)

Google’s Android 13 QPR1 program has launched the second beta of Android 13, focusing on improving and redesigning certain aspects of the operating system.

If you look at Official release notes (Opens in a new tab)There is very little information available. We know that only Pixel phones will get this beta. More specifically, the devices are Pixel 4a, 4a (5G), 5, 5a, 6, 6a, and Pixel 6 Pro. Notwithstanding, prominent Android expert Mishaal Rahman has disassembled everything he found in the beta version into a file Twitter theme (Opens in a new tab). It indicates specific changes made to the Settings app, the addition of new animations, and more battery usage information.

Changes and redesign

In the Settings app, Rahman discovers the new App Battery Usage page that gives users a brief overview of which apps are using the most power. The beta also reintroduces Battery Health, a feature first seen on Android 12, under Settings Services. This tool offers a more in-depth look at how your Pixel phone uses its battery. You will turn back like The last time the device was fully charged (Opens in a new tab), no matter how long ago, plus tips on how to extend battery life. Other reports show the battery health shown to users their device habits (Opens in a new tab).

New predictive back gesture support (Opens in a new tab) It was detected in the settings. This animation lets you peek at where you’re going before swiping on an app so people can decide if they want to stay or leave. Speaking of animation, a new image has been featured on the Google Telegram news channel of Pixel’s Biometric Authenticator (Opens in a new tab) . Now, a check mark will appear on the screen after the fingerprint reader of the phone has successfully read your fingerprint. Nothing significant, but a useful indicator.

The latest set of noteworthy changes revolve around the redesign of menus. For example, Clear Calling, a feature that reduces background noise during calls, has a new image and description, although it’s not available for use, according to Rahman. And the Security Center has been redesigned a bit, with tools like Google Security Checkup popping up.

Join the program

If you are interested in trying the trial version, you will first have to sign up for Beta program on Google (Opens in a new tab) (You are supposed to have an eligible phone). It may take up to 24 hours to receive the update. You can check if you have it by going to System updates in the Settings app. Google also asks for feedback, which you can provide either by submitting it directly via Settings or navigating a file The official subreddit for Android Beta (Opens in a new tab).

Given that this is a beta version, you will likely encounter performance issues. Be aware that going back to a more stable version of Android after trying the beta version will require you to erase your device from “all data saved locally,” according to Google. For this reason, it is best that you do not use your daily device.

This beta was released while Google unveiled the Pixel 7, so it mostly went unnoticed. If you are interested in learning more, we recommend checking out TechRadar’s latest hands-on experience with the Pixel 7.