Speaker 1: Google's just dropped the latest Android 15 public beta. I've loaded it up on a Pixel eight pro and uncovered some of the best new features to share with you. Hi, I'm Lexi. Welcome to your weekly dose of all things mobile. Make sure to subscribe for lots more. Let's dive in. The beta is now available on more than just Google pixels, nothing Lenovo honor oppo and one plus phones can try it out too, just to name a few. Now as always, proceed with caution when you are using a beta product and proceed at your own risk. So do your backups, et cetera, et [00:00:30] cetera. But you know all this already, right? One thing I will say right off the bat is there aren't any huge design changes here in Android 15, so don't expect an entirely new look. And overall it's pretty small. Updates that bring some features we've already seen on other Android devices to Android proper private space makes a special locked off area for apps of your choice that you can only access with authentication.
Speaker 1: So go to settings, security and privacy, and then private space and reenter your pin or fingerprint. [00:01:00] This is going to walk you through the process to set up the space and tie it to your Google account if you want to. And then you'll see down here on the screen it says that it has its own play store, so you'll be able to install apps easily. That's pretty interesting. Okay, let's set it up. It's going to take a few moments here to go through the steps and bring us to the Google account page. Notice that you can skip this step if you want. You can tap Got it, and then sign in with your Google account. You'll also be able to choose the existing screen lock. You have to set up [00:01:30] this private space or make a new one such as another pattern or another pin.
Speaker 1: Now it's set up. You can add any apps you want to this private space. And you'll see there's a section at the bottom of the app drawer where you can unlock it and then see all those apps you've added in. Also, all of the apps you put in the private space are going to be hidden from multitasking settings and notifications when your private space is locked. Now, this does look similar to what we've seen from other implementations of Android, such as Samsung Secure folder in one ui, [00:02:00] but it's now coming to all Android phones. Android 15 Now lets you choose what app you show when you go to screen record. When you swipe down and choose screen record from your quick settings, there's a dropdown menu, so you can choose to have the entire screen or just one app. So you'll choose single app, start recording and then choose which app from one that's already opened, or you can launch a new one.
Speaker 1: Now, astute observers will notice that this is already active on pixel phones running the latest Android [00:02:30] 14 build, but it will now come to all devices running Android 15, which is nice. The volume panel gets a paint job in Android 15, let me show you with a side by side Android 14 on the left and Android 15 on the right. So bring up media playback in your headphones or on the device itself, adjust the volume and then go into the expanded settings. And you'll see that the sliders look pretty different between Android versions from the small bars on 14 to the big chunky
Speaker 2: On the new [00:03:00] 15 beta. Android 15. Now lets you set whatever digital wallet you want as the default. So you can go to settings, default apps and wallet, and you no longer have to be tied into Google Wallet if you don't want to. On Android 14, you'll see the side-by-side here. There's no wallet option in the same settings menu. Something else new for apps is app pairs. Now this is only for foldables and tablets, but it should make things easier for multitasking on a big screen. And you'll also be able to pin the task bar. There's [00:03:30] now a toggle to turn on keyboard vibrations on and off by default, at least on the pixel on Android 14. This is turned on. So now on Android 15, you can go to settings, sound and Vibration, vibration and haptics. Scroll down to keyboard vibration and turn it off.
Speaker 2: Predictive back will now show you a little bit of a preview of what screen you are going back to when you hold the gesture. So let's see what that looks like. If I have something that I've clicked on, say from an email, if it caused [00:04:00] another app to open, if I want to go back, I'll hold and it pops up with a little preview so I know exactly where that back gesture is going to take me Some other behind the scene updates that I can't show you but are part of Android 15, include picture and picture updates, which should give you smoother transitions and changes to prevent malicious apps from operating behind the scenes. And of course, all these features are subject to change because this is just a beta. So I am expecting more things to roll [00:04:30] out as we get closer to the final implementation of Android 15 sometime in the fall. And if you've been brave enough to download the beta, let me know what you think, what else you discover, and your favorite features behind the scenes. Thanks so much for watching and I'll catch you next time.
