After the first Android 12 developer preview was fairly stable, the second seems to be right along the same line. It’s an exciting time to see what Google has in store for this year’s big launch. Take this as your annual warning, though, that developer previews are not for the faint of heart as early builds of Android 12 aren’t particularly stable and are sure to have issues and bugs in tow. Here are the issues we’re keeping an eye on.
In the first Android 12 developer preview, the biggest issue we saw was with biometrics. We’d had a lot of trouble with a Pixel 4a and a Pixel 5 using biometrics, and the issue goes beyond just recognition. In my case, biometric prompts for apps such as password managers have been broken at times, and I also had several hours where the fingerprint sensor just wasn’t listening for input at all. Damien reported that his Pixel 5 was having similar issues, and re-registering his fingerprint only seemed to make things less reliable.
With the second developer preview, it seems that most of these issues have been resolved. We haven’t noted any major issues with our Pixel 4a or Pixel 5 this time around.
As with everything on this list, your results may vary greatly, but it seems something wonky is going on with biometrics at the moment. Notably, we haven’t flashed the developer preview on a Pixel 4/XL yet, so we can’t speak to how face unlock is performing.
A tale as old as time. If you install the Android 12 developer preview, prepare to see apps crash. This one seems more varied from person to person than ever, but we’ve definitely seen reports of people having trouble with apps as common as Twitter crashing on the developer preview.
Notably, on developer preview 2, things don’t seem to be much worse. We had some cases of apps crashing upon the first boot, but after a manual reboot things were working well.
This is less of a usability problem and more of an irritating bug in Android 12. Someone working behind the scenes forgot that all of Google’s 2020 Pixels have hole punch camera cutouts in the top left corner, and as a result, the power menu just doesn’t compensate for it.
If you trigger the power menu, the now-more-useful emergency button will be cut out by hole punch. Obviously, that’s something we expect Google to fix before the final rollout.
This bug has not been fixed in Android 12 developer preview 2.
In developer preview 2, shockingly, Google Pay is already working. Usually, Google waits a while to enable this on the beta builds, not even allowing it on the developer previews. It’s great to see this arrive so early, but again, don’t install this on your daily driver yet.
Looking back to previous developer previews, Android 12’s first release is remarkably stable, to be honest. However, it’s just a good rule of thumb to avoid running these early builds on your primary smartphone. If you’ve got an older Pixel sitting around that you don’t rely on daily, then sure, go ahead and give it a shot. But this is called a developer preview for a reason, and while the first developer preview is remarkably stable, subsequent releases likely won’t be. That’s the pattern we’ve seen in the past couple of years, too. The first developer preview was shockingly usable, but later releases caused awful bugs.
We’ll continue to update this article with other bugs that seem widespread as the developer previews and betas drop over the coming months.
What’s new in Android 12:
- Android 12 DP1: Magnification feature now offers a useful floating window
- Android 12 DP1: You can now enable or disable specific app quick settings media controls
- Android 12 DP1: Notifications redesigned w/ bigger icons, dedicated snooze button
- Android 12 DP1: Markup tool now lets you add emoji and text to screenshots
- Android 12 DP1: Nearby Share can now send WiFi passwords to your guests
- Android 12 DP1: Settings app gets revamp w/ new search bar
- Android 12 DP1: Lockscreen and notification shade media player gets minor UI redesign
- Android 12 DP1: Scrolling screenshots are here, but disabled for now
- Android 12 DP1: Pixel 5 readies ‘Double tap’ gesture, doesn’t work yet
- Android 12 DP1: Privacy toggles can block camera and microphone with a tap
- Android 12 DP1: Pixel Launcher gains new 4×5 grid option
- Android 12 DP1: Notifications to gain ‘Automatic’ option for whether or not to alert
- Android 12 DP1: ‘Display cutout’ menu now lets you hide Pixel 5, 4a hole punch
- Android 12 DP1: Dark theme on Pixel is no longer AMOLED black
- Android 12 DP1: ‘Reduce Bright Colors’ button quickly tones down screen brightness
- Android 12 DP1: Magnification feature now offers a useful floating window
- Android 12 DP1: You can now edit any image with the Markup tool meant for screenshots
- Android 12 DP1: Navigation gestures now work instantly in fullscreen apps
- Android 12 DP1: Lockscreen readies redesign w/ larger clock
- Android 12 DP1: Here’s a look at One-handed mode in action [Video]
- Android 12 DP2: Dark theme on Pixel gets even lighter
- Android 12 DP2: One-handed mode is live and appears to be fully working
- Android 12 DP2: Widgets list redesign and tweaks to lockscreen PIN, pattern entry
- Android 12 DP2: Picture-in-picture rework brings new gestures, stashing
- Android 12 DP2: WiFi sharing is now always in light mode
- Android 12 DP2: New device search bar in the works for Pixel Launcher, possibly others
- Android 12 DP2: ‘Game dashboard’ to add quick access to recording, YouTube streaming, more
- Android 12 DP2: People Space widget takes shape, reminds you to talk to your friends and family
- Android 12 DP2: Google Pay surprisingly already works
- Android 12 DP2: Swiping down on the bottom edge opens notification shade
- Android 12 DP2: Media player UI now uses system accent color
Author: Ben Schoon
Source: 9TO5Google