If you’re a Pixel owner, you’ve got to love the rate at which Google is pushing out updates. Of course, some people complain about these updates causing fragmentation, but you shouldn’t really feel that unless you’re someone who’s juggling a bunch of devices at once from different brands.
With that said, those who are on the beta branch of Android on their supported Pixel devices should now have access to Android 17 QPR 2 Beta 1. This is Google’s latest update for Android 17, bringing a wealth of new bug fixes that should provide a more reliable and stable experience.
What’s new in Android 17 QPR 2 Beta 1?
We’re huge fans of Android 17, and with every new release, it’s just going to keep getting better and better. And that’s just what’s available to the public at this point. With the beta, Google makes small refinements here and there to ensure that the public release will be smooth.
Of course, that’s not always the case, and there are times when bugs and issues slip through the numerous betas. Although Google has already listed in detail all the fixes available in QPR 2 Beta 1, we have copied the list verbatim so you can see it here.
- Bluetooth re-pairing fails silently following a remote bond loss. (Issue #412524057)
- Media player controls briefly flashed on the lock screen upon waking the device despite the app’s notifications being disabled. (Issue #484607701)
- A system crash causing Pixel devices to unexpectedly reboot when invoking Gemini. (Issue #505750489)
- Initiating a drag-and-drop gesture with multiple fingers caused the source application to stop receiving subsequent touch events. (Issue #516836306)
- Notifications randomly became invisible in the notification shade until a system restart. (Issue #526139207, Issue #522657034)
- ML-DSA key generation fails with an exception when using the “NONE” string digest instead of the class constant. (Issue #525612735)
- An issue in AccessibilityNodeInfo.toString() where window bounds were incorrectly logged using screen bounds, which caused misleading accessibility debugging data. (Issue #520428442)
- Window-level UI blur effects failed to render and the “Allow window-level blurs” developer toggle reset after rebooting. (Issue #527376569)
Some of the major changes include: notifications that randomly became invisible, Gemini causing system crashes, Bluetooth re-pairing failures, and more. If you’re interested in giving this beta a try, you can always enroll your compatible device to the Android Beta Program.
One thing that’s important to note about this beta is that the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are not supported. If you have the Pixel 6a, you’ll be able to download this beta. If you have Pixel 7 or newer, those devices will be eligible as well.
While software is a huge part of the Pixel experience, new hardware is also something to look forward to. Google’s next hardware event is set to take place on August 12. Google has teased some images and a new feature, but we hope that whatever it will introduce will blow Android fans away.
