Google is rolling out Android Q Beta 5 to Pixel phones today

We must be very close to the official release of Android 10 Q and as such Google have today rolled out Beta 5 to Pixel devices bringing many mores features and bug fixes.

In the new update Google have included a lot of work on their new gestures which have had issues since their release. Google state that their gestural navigation “lets apps use the full screen for content while minimising the visible system chrome and navigation – which is particularly important on today’s edge-to-edge screens”.

Not only have they introduced a new gesture where a swipe in and up from either lower corner will bring up Google Assistant and as such have indicators in these areas to show these. With Beta 5 there is also a new ‘peek’ gesture where a users taps on the edge of the display and then swipes to open the navigation drawer.

Unfortunately the new gestures no longer work with custom launchers with Google having turned them off due to too many issues with stability. Google have said that:

we’re continuing to work on issues, particularly with stability and Recents. Starting in Beta 6, we’ll switch users to 3-button navigation when they are using a custom launcher by default. We’ll address the remaining issues in a post-launch update allowing all users to switch to gestural navigation.

This is most likely due to many of the new gesture changes being inside the system launcher. You would expect Google would want to fix that quickly before the official release given the sheer amount of downloads of customer launchers and the fact they have already stated they would not before final release is a concern. Hopefully it is not a difficult fix.

There are also some final changes to API 29 allowing developers to test their apps easily and accurately. The A{I includes features to test Dark Mode, support for gestural navigation, foldable optimisation, a better biometric authentication method along with new and better codecs and networking APIs.

The Beta 5 brings with it the July security patch with all downloads available online or through OTA in the official beta program for Pixel devices. It is unclear when other phones will see this Beta.