Android 14 Beta 1 arrives for Google Pixel smartphones

Google is now offering early adopters the chance to download Android 14 before its public release. To recap, Google introduced Developer Preview builds in February, which laid the groundwork for developers to update their apps and services to this year's Android OS upgrade. Incidentally, Android 14 Developer Preview 2 also contained references to the Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet ahead of the pair's anticipated I/O 2023 announcement.

As always, Google has kept its new version of Android a Pixel smartphone exclusive for the time being. Specifically, Android 14 Beta 1 is available for the Pixel 4a (5G) onwards; the Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL and Pixel 4a have now received their allotted three Android OS upgrades, unlike their 5G sibling. Android 14 will mark the end of the line for the Pixel 4a (5G), Pixel 5 and the Pixel 5a, though.

Android 14 Beta 1 will ship with various bugs. Hence, we would not recommend installing it on smartphones that you use daily. Also, Beta 1 does not contain Android 14's full feature set. Instead, Google will likely reserve these for this year's I/O 2023 conference, which begins on May 10. The inaugural beta build does feature a few minor changes though, such as the option of displaying a transparent navigation bar. Google has removed a few changes that it included in the most recent Developer Preview too, an overview of which 9to5Google has provided. Currently, Google expects to start shipping Android 14 at the start of autumn.

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