Tag: Beta

Microsoft is one of the most consistent at updating their apps for Android with the company’s launcher, Microsoft Launcher being no exception.  The latest beta of the launcher is rolling out to testers and it shows that the Redmond company isn’t just updating their launcher, but listening to what users want in it.

The new beta build is version 4.7 for those keeping score and it brings an expansive change log with it.  First, you can now get a new daily background on your phone.  While you can do this today, it only can come from Bing daily wallpapers.  Now, based on user requests, you can set up your own custom set of wallpapers to be rotated daily on your device.  Oh, and those wallpapers can be set to be scroll-able.

For those who have the Chrome for Android beta app on their phones, a new update is rolling your way.  The third Chrome 65 based build has been released, bringing the version up to 65.0.3325.85.  It is the third consecutive week that the beta version of the browser has been updated for Android.

Unlike other beta programs in the Play Store, there is no sign up to get the Chrome beta for Android.  You can download it here and install it on your compatible devices.  Like all beta software however, its not recommended to run it as your daily browser or deploy it into production as there are likely still bugs to be found and there could be performance issues.

Google Reply, the app that adds the ability to use smart replies to a variety of messaging apps on your Android phone, has been released in beta by Google’s Area 120 team.  For those that aren’t familiar with Area 120, it is the experimental development area within Google.  For those who are familiar with Microsoft Garage from Microsoft, it is the same concept.

Google Reply adds smart replies to the notification shade for Android Messages, Facebook Messenger, Hangouts and Twitter Direct Messages.  But it also brings the ability to send auto replies for when you are driving or, later on, when you are exercising or sleeping.  It is a handy app indeed.

The beta version of the Google app for Android has a new update rolling out that brings a handy screenshot editing feature – but it only works within the Google app itself.  The new feature has arrived in version 7.21 for those keeping score at home and, given it is in beta, it will likely hit the stable channel for everyone over the course of the next couple of weeks.

The new screenshot editor allows you to take a screenshot of something in your Google app feed, search results, or pages viewed within Chrome custom tabs in the app.  Once you snap the screenshot, by pressing the Power+Volume Down button on virtually all Android phones, you will get a lower notification for you to edit or share the screenshot.

For those enrolled in the beta testing program for the Essential Phone, it is time to check for a system update.  The first beta of the company’s Android Oreo 8.1 build has been released and testers will be receiving the update via an OTA download.  As you may recall, Essential pulled the Oreo 8.0 build last month, citing issue with stability in the build, and decided to scrap it to move straight to 8.1.

The build has the February Android Security Update patch included and also has a fix for a common problem for users of the Essential Phone:  Slow scroll jitter.  Users have complained that the phone has a lot of jitter when slowly scrolling up or down a patch.  This beta has a fix for it and appears to be working well.  All in, the OTA update is just over 500MB in size so WiFi downloading is a must.

The Beta Channel for Chrome OS has a new update rolling out this morning that takes it onto the Chrome 65 train of the platform.  The new build is 65.0.3325.65 (Platform version: 10323.30.0) for those keeping score at home and if you are in the Beta Channel, type chrome://help in the omnibar of the browser to force the update.

This is the first build in the Beta Channel based on Chrome 65, following up on three different Chrome 64 builds over the last half of January through the beginning of this month.  Those with a keen eye will note that the build number is the same as the last Dev Channel build of the platform, which was released just yesterday.