Are You Ready for These Amazing New Android 13 Features?

In case you missed it, Google recently released the Android 13 December Feature Drop for select Pixel devices. However, this was just a glimpse of all the new Android 13 features that will soon be dropping for Google’s phones.

After the December feature drop, Google released the Android 13 QPR2 Beta 1 (Quarterly Platform Release). The Beta is available for developers, and it gives us a glimpse of all the new features and changes that you can expect in the future updates of Android 13. And in short, without any doubt, all these new features will greatly enhance your Android experience improve.

All the upcoming new Android 13 features

UI adjustments

First, let’s talk about the visual changes that the new Beta brought to the table. And one of the most noticeable changes is found in the Quick Settings section.

As you can see, the digital clock is much larger than the current buildings. The date is also moved below the clock. The cellular service label, which appears next to the status bar icons of the current builds, is moved to the upper right corner. And it comes with a much larger font.

Google is known for customizing the “Play Now” widget. And again, the widget in the Android 13 QPR2 Beta 1 has been tweaked.

In the latest build, you’ll also see a misty overlay on the album art background. This animation only appears when you first open the media player. It doesn’t appear at other times, which leads us to believe that Google is still working on it.

There’s a neat, sort of fog-like effect that appears over the album art in the media player after a few seconds. pic.twitter.com/QSNqpQWmUR

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) December 13, 2022

Redesigned back gesture

A revamped backbar is one of the upcoming new Android 13 features. The thing is, Android’s back gesture has been pretty much the same since Android 10. And a redesigned back animation for the latest Android makes a lot of sense.

However, in the latest build, the new rollback is disabled by default. This makes us think that Google is still working on it. However, when activated, the back arrow is placed inside a circular blob, which stretches to match the movement of the gesture. See it in action:

Launch programs quickly

Another new feature that isn’t enabled by default is the ability to quickly launch apps from the search bar. It’s almost iOS, where you can quickly launch an app by pressing the Enter button on the keyboard. But for this to work, the app must be installed on your phone.

Basically, when you search for an installed app, there will be a highlight behind that app’s icon. After that highlight, you can press the Enter button to quickly launch the program. In other words, you don’t need to move your finger and tap on the app icon to launch it.

Desktop Mode (One of the best new Android 13 features?)

We’ve been waiting for a proper desktop mode on Android. And the new features of Android may deliver it to us soon. how so? Well, the one found in the latest Android 13 QPR2 Beta 1 looks like the best and most stable version of the feature yet.

When you activate the desktop mode, all the applications will open in free windows. You can drag them around the screen, just as you would the programs in a desktop environment. The desktop mode will also allow you to resize the window, maximize or minimize the apps, and use multiple apps in split screen mode.

That said, the feature still needs work. But when it’s finished, we expect it to work similarly to modern-day Windows and macOS. And as you can guess, this feature could debut with the Pixel tablet, which will launch next year.

Partial screen sharing

Along with the desktop mode, there is a partial screen sharing in the new Android 13 feature list. Basically, with this feature, users will be able to broadcast or record one specific application.

The feature will work similarly to sharing separate windows or tabs in conference calls. And when the feature drops, you can choose between recording one specific app or sharing the entire device screen.

Redesigned taskbar

It looks like a new taskbar is on the way for Android tablets. It will fully embrace the material you are designing. And instead of always being present at the bottom of the screen, it will have iPad-like gestures. This means you can swipe it up to bring it up. And like other new Android 13 features, this one is also disabled by default.

Grayscale Material You Theme

According to Mishaal Rahmanthe trusted Android expert, Google will add a monochromatic theme on Android 13. And according to 9to5Google, the theme will mainly have two colors. These are #333333 and #666666. These two are dark and light shades of gray.

As you might have guessed, the theme caters to users who are not a fan of Material You’s colorful theme.

Other new Android 13 features found in the QPR2 Beta 1

Along with all the other new features mentioned above, the QPR2 Beta 1 of Android 13 brings these features:

• Thicker padding for icons in the Pixel Launcher
• The ability to enable 1080p resolution on the Pixel 6 Pro
• An overhaul to the Battery Health settings
• Spatial audio will now be available again for the Pixel 6 series
• Separate ringtone volume for notification and ringtone sounds

Needless to say, the latest Android 13 build has tons of new and exciting features. We believe that most of these will make their way to the next stable build for Pixel devices. But which one do you want to see first? Let us know in the comments below!