Google has finally released the first beta version of Android 13 in line with the roadmap. After the two Developer Previews, the first arrived in February and the second arrived in March, the development of Android 13 enters a new phase. Unlike the Developer Preview release, this Beta 1 is easy to install on supported Google Pixel devices.
Android 13 Beta 1 Installation Information
To proceed with the installation, just go to the Android Beta Program page: scrolling down, your device (if compatible) will be shown.
Following the proposed instructions, it will be possible to join the beta program and therefore receive the OTA update for this Android 13 Beta 1, as well as for all subsequent versions. Recall that Google provides at least one beta version per month until July: after these, the stable version of the operating system will arrive.Android 13 Beta 1 is compatible with:
- Pixel 6
- Pixel 6 Pro
- Pixel 5
- Pixel 5a
- Pixel 4
- Pixel 4 XL
- Pixel 4a
- Pixel 4a (5G)
Android 13 beta 1 brings with it all the new features introduced with the two previous Developer Previews and shows steady progress in refining the functionality and stability of the operating system.
Further additions introduced with the first beta include new permissions related to access to media files, improvements to APIs for audio routing, and much more.
The Android 13 beta 1 brings again, an update focused on privacy and security, which are in addition, as already mentioned above, to all the other innovations already introduced with Developer Previews:
- Specific permissions for access to multimedia files
- The system will no longer ask for access to all types of multimedia files: thanks to the new set of permissions, requests can be limited to a specific type of multimedia files, for example only audio files, as shown in the following image.
- Better error reporting in Keystore and KeyMint
- For applications that generate (security) keys, Keystore and KeyMint provide more detailed and accurate error guidance.
- New APIs for audio routing
To help media apps identify how audio will be routed, new routing APIs have been added to the AudioManager class.- Using the new getAudioDevicesForAttributes() API it will be possible to retrieve the list of devices on which audio can be played.
- Through the getDirectProfilesForAttributes() API the system will understand if the audio stream can be played directly.
According to the roadmap released by Google itself, Android 13 will be officially released in Q3 2022, after two Developer Previews (steps already passed) and four betas (with the first beta released now). The next version of the operating system is expected to reach maturity in terms of stability only with the third beta, scheduled for June 2022: once stability is achieved, APIs (level 33, since Android 12L has level 32 APIs) for SDK and NDK and system behaviors related to apps will be finalized.
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