Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
Ever since I flashed Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on my HTC Desire Z, I’ve been interested by making an attempt the newest and — supposedly — best model of Android as quickly as attainable. When Google began publicly testing official Android developer previews and betas, I rapidly signed up and it’s grow to be a yearly custom for me. New developer preview? On my secondary cellphone! Out of developer preview and into beta? On my major cellphone! That’s how I ended up with the Android 14 beta on my Pixel 7 Pro and all the bugs made me remorse it ever since.
How has your Android 14 beta expertise been?
555 votes
Before I carry on, I do know we’re speaking a few beta and beta software program is bug-ridden by definition — testing is essential to get to the steady launch. I additionally know that bugs are hit-and-miss. I don’t recall seeing any notable challenge with any earlier beta I’ve flashed on my Pixel telephones in the final 5 years no less than. That’s extraordinarily fortunate, however betas are alleged to be considerably extra steady than early developer previews. I assume all of my karma ran out, although, and I bought saddled with a large number of annoyances and bugs from day one with the Android 14 beta.
Betas are alleged to be buggy, but when any of those points are dealbreakers, it’s best to keep away.
So think about this a public service announcement, in case you’re considering of becoming a member of the beta. If any of the points beneath are dealbreakers for you, you would possibly wish to keep away.
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
My greatest challenge with the Android 14 beta is the reducing audio playback bug. It’s so frequent that I can’t hearken to music or podcasts anymore as a result of the complete expertise is past irritating. When the show is off, audio might proceed taking part in for a couple of minutes usually then it begins getting uneven each second or couple of seconds, at a random rhythm. Even if I may get used to it, the unpredictability of it is painful.
Audio playback is uneven and cuts off randomly and regularly when the show is off.
This occurs with each the loudspeaker and with Bluetooth earbuds, with Now Playing enabled or disabled (for some folks, disabling Now Playing fixes it, however not for me), and with Spotify and PocketCasts and YouTube or another audio (even WhatsApp voice notes). Sometimes it begins the second I begin listening to one thing, generally it offers me a couple of minutes of respite then it will get triggered. The solely option to keep away from it? Keep the show on.
The video above reveals it in motion. I uploaded a barely longer model to Google Drive in the event you like torturing your ears for almost two minutes in 4K. When I flip off the show, music playback will get unbearably uneven, then resumes usually once I unlock the cellphone. The starting of the video additionally reveals a random bug the place playback randomly skips a second once I unlock the cellphone; I’d say that occurs one out of thrice.
The newest Android 14 beta 2.1, which is supposed to repair some audio-related bugs, hasn’t fastened any of this. I’d say each points appear to happen extra not often since I up to date, however they do nonetheless happen.
Frequent freezes and app crashes, points with charging, and digital camera slowness are a few of the different bugs I’ve seen.
Another drawback I’m going through is with charging my Pixel 7 Pro. Every day, I get up to a notification saying there was a problem with the charging accent (it’s a documented bug) though my cellphone is absolutely charged. I’m utilizing the identical charger and cable as earlier than, however the notification is maintaining me on edge, questioning if it’s only a fallacious discover or if there’s actually one thing off with my Pixel’s charging.
In the six months I’ve had the Pixel 7 Pro, I don’t recollect it utterly freezing, ever. I’ve been blessed with a really steady expertise. But in the final couple of weeks, this has occurred no less than 4 occasions. This is the unhealthy freezing too; the place you may’t even pressure a reboot by long-pressing the energy button for ten seconds. Nothing works and also you simply have to attend for it to crash and reboot on its personal. Beta 2.1 was launched yesterday and it’s supposed to scale back these, so I assume we’ll see.
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority