Android 16 Beta 2 Is Here, We’re Halfway There

Google has launched the very first Android 16 beta towards the end of January. The company has now started pushing out Android 16 Beta 2 for Pixel phones, around 3 weeks after the initial release was issued.

Android 16 Beta 2 is now available, if you’re a part of the Android Beta program

If you still don’t have a beta build on your phone, and you’d like to have it, you can join the Android Beta program now. Just note that you’ll need to factory reset your device if you decide to return to the stable build. Android 16 Beta 2 is now available for the Google Pixel 6, 6a, 6 Pro, 7, 7a, 7 Pro, Fold, Tablet, 8, 8a, 8 Pro, 9, 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL, and 9 Pro Fold.

Before we get down to the details regarding the update itself, do note that we’re halfway there. This is the second out of four beta releases that Google is planning. The final build will arrive in April, and the stable one will follow soon after. As we exclusively said, Android 16 will officially launch on June 3.

Now, in regards to changes. This build adds “new support for professional camera experiences, graphical effects, extends our performance framework, and continues the evolution of features related to privacy, security, and background tasks”.

New hybrid auto-exposure modes have been added to Camera2

Android 16 Beta 2 adds new hybrid auto-exposure modes to Camera2. That will allow you to manually control specific aspects of exposure, while also letting the auto-exposure (AE) algorithm handle the rest.

So, to be more accurate, you can control ISO + AE, and exposure time + AE. Needless to say, this definitely brings more flexibility to the table.

The update also adds camera support for fine color temperature and tint adjustments. Those of you who use professional video recording applications will surely appreciate this. Google is also issuing some updates to motion photo capture intent actions.

Google opted to improve UltraHDR too

The company has decided to improve UltraHDR too. It added support for UltraHDR images in the HEIC file format. They will get ImageFormat type HEIC_ULTRAHDR and will contain an embedded gainmap similar to the existing UltraHDR JPEG format. Google is also working on AVIF support for UltraHDR.

Android is also getting custom graphical effects with AGSL. RuntimeColorFIlter and RuntimeXfermode have been added, which allow you to “author complex effects like Threshold, Sepia, and Hue Separation” and then apply them to draw calls.

Google is also moving away from edge-to-edge opt-out, which was an option thus far. With this build, Google is also transitioning to granular permissions under android.permissions.health, which is used by Health Connect.

Some other changes were listed by Google, though they’re mostly technical ones, which is unsurprising. You can check out the entire press release if you want.