Android Q Beta 3 with Dark Theme unveiled: Eligible smartphones, how to download, and new features

Technology giant Google has finally given us some solid details about its Android Q, which will be released at version 10 of the operating system this year. The company has said that Android now runs on over 2.5 billion active smartphones that are made by over 180 device makers. The technology giant also announced that Android Q Beta 3 is now available for 21 smartphones from 13 companies. Here are all the details of the new mobile operating system that you should know about:

Android Q Beta 3: Is your device eligible

Google has announced that Android Q Beta 3 will be coming to 21 smartphones from 13 brands including all Pixel smartphones, Asus ZenFone 5Z, Essential Phone, Huawei Mate 20 Pro, Sony Xperia XZ3, Tecno Spark 3 Pro, Vivo X27, Vivo Nex A, Vivo Nex S, LG G8 ThinQ, Nokia 8.1, OnePlus 6T Oppo Reno, Realme 3 Pro, Xiaomi Mi 9, and the 5G variant of Xiaomi Mi Mix 3.

Android Q Beta 3: How to download

To download the latest Android Q Beta 3 on your smartphone, you can head to android.com/beta. If you have a Pixel smartphone, you need to enrol your handset on the Android Beta programme to receive an OTA update with the new Android Q Beta build.

Android Q Beta 3 features

Among the most talked about features of Android Q Beta 3 is the Dark Theme, which reduces the eye strain for users and at the same time, enhance the battery life. If you want to activate the system-wide dark theme, you can head to Settings and then go to Display to do it. It can also be activated via Quick Settings and Battery Saver. With this, not only the system UI turn dark, but the supporting apps too. In case developers don’t want to build their own dark themes, they can go for a new Force Dark feature that enables the operating system to create a dark version of the app.

The new version of Android also comes with a number of new privacy features including Activity Controls, Location History, and Ad Settings. It also lets users decide when giving apps access to their location. Another feature called Scoped Storage gives users more control over their apps that can access files on external storage of their device like a microSD card.

Users will also be able to block unwanted apps from launching in the background and Google has also added that in order to prevent tracking, Android Q Beta 3 will be limiting access to “non-resettable device identifiers”. With Android Q Beta 3, the devices will also get support for TLS 1.3. Smart Reply and Actions have also been integrated into the Notifications framework, and app developers will be able to supply their own replies and actions.

Other than this, there is a new navigation mode that can run via gestures and completely eliminates the navigation bar area. So, buttons like Back, Home, and Recents can be accessed via edge swipes and not physical buttons.

Android Q features that will be available later

An interesting feature coming to Android Q beta 3 is Live Captions, that is a complete on-device captioning tool for audio messages, videos, podcasts and more. While this will be useful for those who watch videos on mute, it will be very beneficial for those who have difficulty hearing.

Coming to Focus Mode, it is a new feature that will come to both Android 9.0 Pie and Android Q this fall. The feature is a part of Digital Wellbeing initiative and it lets users mute apps that they find distracting.

Android Q will also come with Family Link parental controls that will be found in the Settings of the handset. This will let parents set time limits on certain apps and add a bonus time too.

Another feature that will come to Android Q is Project Mainline, which according to Google, will be a “new approach to keeping Android users secure and their devices up-to-date with important code changes, direct from Google Play.”