Android 17 Beta 1: What’s New – SMARTmania.cz

• Google released the first beta version of Android 17
• Contains a few minor visual changes and a few developer requests
• The main one is the necessary preparation of applications for larger screens

Google took their time with the first preview of Android 17. While the first taste of Android 16 was released last year in November, the first build of Android 17 was released only today, i.e. after a year and a quarter. This time, however, it is not a developer preview, but a public beta version that owners of supported Google Pixel devices can install today. What’s new in the first beta of Android 17?

Android 17: preparing for big screens

Google does not particularly brag about user news in Android 17, as the first builds are mainly intended for application developers. Thanks to new tools and APIs, they can prepare their applications for upcoming versions of Android, especially to support larger screens.

Google is trying to make Android a fully scalable system, and the same is required of developers – they will no longer be able to lock their applications to a specific size and orientation, but will have to prepare support for large screens. The reasons are quite simple – on the one hand, Google wants to strengthen the position of Android on tablets and foldable devices, but mainly it wants to prepare the ground for an offshoot of Android for computers.

Google continues to label new versions of Android with “sweet” names, albeit only internally. You can read from the dropdown of quick settings switches that Android 17 is called Cinnamon Bun, i.e. cinnamon bun.

Visual changes

Android 17 also brings visual changes to the system interface, although only owners of Google Pixel devices will probably notice them, as phones from other brands often use their own graphic superstructures. The editors of the 9to5mac server, which is already testing the latest Android, noticed the following changes (vlevo Android 16, right Android 17):

• New settings icon in volume changer

• More compact Settings menu

• New animation when launching the Gemini AI assistant with a corner gesture

• A darker indicator of the use of location services

• Modified search widget with more customization options

More news

Android 17 should also bring performance improvements, especially stricter rules for notifications, which should have a positive effect on lower memory consumption. We can also expect new professional media tools, more consistent audio output across applications or smoother switching between camera modes.

Release schedule

According to the published schedule, it seems that Google only plans to release two beta versions, the second one should arrive sometime in March. After that, stability tuning will follow, which will result in the release of a sharp version, probably sometime in June.

Supported devices

The beta version of Android 17 can already be downloaded today by the owners of the following devices:

• Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro a Pixel 6a
• Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro a Pixel 7a
• Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 8a, Pixel Tablet a Pixel Fold
• Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, Pixel 9 Pro Fold a Pixel 9a
• Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL a Pixel 10 Pro Fold

Devices can be easily added to the beta program via this websitethe beta version should then be offered as an OTA download.