Saturday, November 9, 2024

Android 15 Beta: Pixel Battery widget gets more Dynamic Color

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In addition to the other battery-related changes in Android 15 Beta 4, Google has tweaked the Pixel widget to leverage more Dynamic Color. 

The design of the Pixel Battery widget — in its various sizes — is unchanged on Android 15, but your phone, which is always the first device in the list, now uses a different color than the other percentage bars below or to the right of it.

This helps you quickly distinguish the most important item in the widget. (Meanwhile, Google should really create a more modern phone icon that doesn’t have thick top and bottom bezels.)

Beta 3.1 vs. 4

Of course, the bigger change in Android 15 Beta 4 is how Settings > System > Device diagnostics > Component health > Battery status lets you see Cycle count. The “Part History” section also shows Manufacturing date and First usage date, while original capacity percentage is new and what’s most important.

That information was previously only available on the Pixel 8a (and newer devices). In fact, on the mid-ranger, it has a more prominent placement in Settings > About phone > Battery information. As of Beta 4, the three-step access is not available on our Pixel 8 or Tablet.

Pixel 8a vs. 8

More on Android 15:

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