Android 16 Beta 2 Is Here With Enhanced Camera And Media Features
Contents
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Android 16 Beta 2 is now available for Pixel phones.
- The update brings support for camera enhancements like hybrid auto-exposure, precise color temperature adjustments, and tint adjustments.
- It also brings support for Ultra HDR in HEIC format and more parameters for Ultra HDR.
With Android 16, Google is releasing Android platform updates on a different timeline than before. The next major release of Android is confirmed to launch in Q2 2025, and we’ve already received a few Developer Previews and Betas. Today, Google is releasing Android 16 Beta 2 for supported Pixel smartphones, so go grab that update OTA if you are an app developer or an enthusiast.
Android 16 Beta 2: Announced changes
With Android 16 Beta 2, Google has announced the following changes:
Camera updates: Hybrid auto-exposure
With Android 16 Beta 2, Google is adding new hybrid auto-exposure modes to the Camera2 API. This will allow third-party apps to manually control specific aspects of exposure while letting the auto-exposure (AE) algorithm handle the rest. With that, apps can allow users to control ISO and AE or exposure time and AE, providing greater flexibility compared to the current approach, where you either have full manual control or rely entirely on auto-exposure.
Camera updates: Precise color temperature and tint adjustments
Android 16 is also adding camera support for fine color temperature and tint adjustments to better support professional video recording apps.
Media updates: Motion photo capture
Android 16 is also adding a standard Intent action for capturing and displaying Motion Photos.
Media updates: Ultra HDR image enhancements
Android 16 adds support for Ultra HDR images in the HEIC file format, in addition to the existing JPEG format. Google says it is also working on AVIF support for Ultra HDR.
Android 16 also adds additional parameters to Ultra HDR, including the ability to get and set the colorspace in which gain map math should be applied and support for HDR-encoded base images with SDR gain maps.
Measurement system customization
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
Android’s upcoming settings for changing your region and preferred measurement system.
As we predicted, with Android 16, users can customize their measurement system in System > Languages & region. For instance, “0.5 inch” in English (US) will be “12,7mm” for a user who has set their phone to English (Denmark) or who has set their phone in English (United States) with the metric system as the measurement system preference.
Mandating edge-to-edge apps
With Android 15, Google revealed that apps would display content edge-to-edge by default. However, to help developers with the transition, Google added an API to allow apps to opt out of this change.
With Android 16, this transitionary API has been deprecated. Apps that target the latest Android version will have to display app content edge-to-edge, and there’s no longer any means for apps to opt out.
Standardized picture and audio quality framework for TVs
Android 16 offers a set of standardized APIs for access to audio and picture profiles and hardware-related settings on TVs. This allows streaming apps to query profiles and apply them to media dynamically. For example:
- Movies mastered with a wider dynamic range require greater color accuracy to see subtle details in shadows and adjust to ambient light, so a profile that prefers color accuracy over brightness may be appropriate.
- Live sporting events are often mastered with a narrow dynamic range but are usually watched in daylight, so a profile that preferences brightness over color accuracy can give better results.
- Fully interactive content wants minimal processing to reduce latency and wants higher frame rates, which is why many TVs ship with a game profile.
The API allows apps to switch between these profiles, thus letting users enjoy the benefits of tuning supported TVs to match the content.
How to install Android 16 Beta 2
As the name implies, this build of Android 16 is still very much a beta release. It likely still contains bugs and issues that need to be ironed out over the coming months. So, installing this Android 16 Beta 2 update on your daily driver is not advisable.
If you are okay with the risks of a non-functional phone and data loss, you can enroll your Pixel device in the Android Beta program on Google’s website. Once enrolled, you will receive an OTA update on your device that you can install as usual to reboot into the new update. Users already in the Android Beta program will automatically be offered an OTA update to Beta 2.
Note that downgrading your device back to Android 15 will likely lead to a factory reset, so ensure that you have backed up all your important data before you sign up for the program and install the update.
Have you installed Android 16 Beta 2 on your device? How do you like it? What is your favorite feature, and what change do you dislike the most? Let us know in the comments below!
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