Android 14 QPR 1 Beta 1

Android 14 QPR 1 Beta 1

Ahead of the Pixel 8 series launch, Google has launched Android 14 QPR1 Beta 1. Available for Pixel 5a and newer devices, the latest version of Android brings several new features. Here’s a quick look at the 3 most useful features introduced with Android 14 QPR1 Beta 1.

Battery cycle count

The new battery cycle count option available on Android 14 QPR1 Beta 1 allows users to see information about the device battery like its manufacturing date and count of charge cycles it has gone through. Google also notes that “due to quality inspections before shipping, the cycle count may not be zero on first use.”

The new option can be found by launching the Settings app and heading over to the ‘About phone’ section, where you will see a new ‘Battery information section.’ It is still unclear if Google plans to expand the functionality to non-Pixel devices.

Repair mode

It looks like Google has taken a page from Samsung’s book and introduced a new ‘Repair mode’ for Pixel devices. Similar to the South Korean manufacturer’s ‘Maintenance Mode’, this can come in handy if you want to keep your photos, videos and other sensitive data safe when handing over your device for repairs.

According to a recent report by 9to5Google, strings of code mentioning a ‘secure environment’ were found on Android 14 QPR1 Beta 1, hinting that the feature might be similar to Samsung’s implementation. However, Pixel’s ‘repair mode’ requires a companion, which is currently unavailable.

Continue using apps on fold

While this may be a Pixel Fold exclusive feature, the ability to move apps from the huge inner display to the outer display was missing on the device for some reason until Android 14 QPR1.

The new option can be found by opening the ‘Settings’ app on Pixel Fold, heading over to the ‘Display’ section and tapping on ‘Lock display’. Here, you will find three options – ‘always’, ‘never’, and ‘only games, videos and more.’

By default, the ‘only games, videos and more’ option is chosen and works flawlessly with video apps like YouTube and Google TV, which seamlessly transfer the content to the outer display. As the name suggests, ‘always’ will transfer all apps to the outer screen whereas ‘never’ will prevent apps from popping up on the small display.

Google has also introduced an option that lets you control the aspect ratio of an app with options like ‘Full screen’, ‘Half screen’ and ’16:9′. This is useful for apps that aren’t optimised for large screens like the one on Pixel Fold.