Android 16 Beta 2 update brings out important upgrades; offers camera adjustment, privacy and more features
Google has rolled out the Android 16 Beta 2 update for developers and testers across the globe. This second Android 16 public beta is available for eligible Pixel devices. It brings a bunch of upgrades and this includes media and camera enhancements, improved privacy and better compatibility. The company is likely to launch the stable Android 16 version to eligible Pixel smartphones in the second quarter of 2025.
Users of Pixel 6 and newer smartphones, Pixel Tablet and Android Emulator get this new beta. The persons who are enrolled in Android Beta Program will get the update as an OTA download.
What will be the improved features that the Android 16 beta 2 will offer?
Colour Adjustments, Hybrid Auto-Exposure
The developers will have a new hybrid auto-exposure mode that offers access to auto-exposure adjustments. This allows adjustments to exposure time as well as ISO. Both the changes are part of Camera2 API and are likely to improve the experience of pro users in Android smartphones.
Similarly, the professional video recording apps offer camera support for fine colour temperature and tint adjustments. Currently, the white balance settings offer controls through CONTROL_AWB_MODE. The specific mode contains options limited to a preset list, like Incandescent, Cloudy, and Twilight. On the Android 16, the COLOR_CORRECTION_MODE_CCT enables the use of COLOR_CORRECTION_COLOR_TEMPERATURE and COLOR_CORRECTION_COLOR_TINT. This will enable precise adjustments of white balance based on correlated colour temperature.
The smartphones that run on Android 16 will introduce support for UltraHDR images with HEIC encoding as well as new parameters from the ISO 21496-1 draft standard.
Privacy, Health features, Streaming apps
The Android 16 OS will offer new protections against intent redirection attacks that can enable a maliciously crafted app to gain access to private files on the device. Similarly, the Developers can no longer opt out of edge-to-edge display mode. This means that their apps will need to offer content to the edges of the screen for a better immersive look.
On the other hand, the Android 16 will ask apps to request permissions to read data from Health Connect, instead of BODY_SENSORS permissions.
Google has also improved accessibility improvements to accessibility services like TalkBack. Android 16’s new ‘MediaQuality package’ exposes a set of standardised APIs for access to audio and picture profiles and hardware-related settings. This means that streaming apps on Android 16 will be able to adjust video quality based on the device capabilities.
As the public Beta 2 is out now, Google will be introducing two more beta updates in coming months. Android 16 will be entering platform stability in March and the final release is expected to be in Q2.
