It’s got some slightly new looks for unlocking, navigating back, and more
Android 13 Beta 2 is yet another step on the way to an official launch later this year. Google continues to iron out all sorts of bugs while moving towards a final product, starting with some flashy animations to enhance the look and feel of this year’s update. Whether you’re unlocking your phone or navigating back through menus, everything looks just a little different in Android 13.
All of these are fairly subtle changes, so don’t be surprised if you don’t notice them right away — even if you’ve been using Beta 2 since it launched at Google I/O. Unlocking your phone, for example, now pulls apps in from the center of the screen. On Android 12, your home screen layout opens from the bottom of the screen, while Android 13 Beta 2 pulls your page in from the middle of the screen. The pulse coming from the in-display fingerprint sensor on the Pixel 6 also seems harsher than on the same phone running Android 12, though it’s subtle enough to blend right into your wallpaper.
A quick dive into the settings menu reveals a new animation for when navigating between pages. On Android 12, the text simply zooms out, replaced with another page on top of it when swiping backward. Android 13 enhances this, pushing and pulling pages left and right as you navigate through menus. In my opinion, it’s a little more noticeable than the unlock animation — once you see it, it’s an excellent enhancement.
There are a few other noticeable changes here, including a sluggish feel to the notification tray expansion animation when swiping down from the top of the screen. Overall, though, these are pretty minor tweaks — certainly nothing easy to notice without two phones sitting next to each other. If you want to check them out for yourself, installing the Android 13 beta on your Pixel is super simple, only requiring a few minutes of your time.
Read Next
About The Author
