Android 11 Beta 2 released with all sorts of fun bugs
Today Google released Android 11 Beta 2 for a limited number of smartphones. Users can download the app with the full public Beta release system or with the Android Flash Tool. Users can also run the Android 11 Beta 2 on their desktop machine using the Android Emulator inside Android Studio – or with a GSI (generic system image) on supported Treble-compliant devices – so many ways to make it weird!
While normally we might list the things Android 11 Beta 2 could do, what it might bring to the yard, how your phone could be radical beyond it's current level of non-futuristic – today we're going to do something a little different. Today we're going to give you a bit of a warning. This Android 11 Beta 2 isn't significantly more volatile than any other previous release, but it's important to remember that the word "Beta" means something.
In the past few years, "public beta" releases have become something of a game to users that aren't exactly developers, but aren't exactly ready to deal with the issues that can – and very well might – crop up when a Beta goes wrong. A Beta such as this isn't made JUST to give users an early look at features for their phone – it's made for you to trade your time and effort to Google for said glimpse.
If you're using Android 11 Beta 2, Google has a feedback system for users where you'll find three different sorts of categories. There you'll find Platform feedback and issues, App Compatibility, and Third-Party SKDs. There's also a full Developer Preview Issue Tracker you can browse for issues that've cropped up before you arrived.
One example of an issue that's popped up already is in the switch between 60Hz and 90Hz image refresh rate on the Google Pixel 4. According to one user, the refresh flips endlessly between 60 and 90Hz, as shown with the system refresh rate overlay – 60, 90, 60, 90, 60, forever!
That's a good example of a reason why you might want to avoid using a Beta software download here if you're not ready to send feedback to Google, or handle issues that are significantly more likely to crop up now than they normally would.
As it is with all Beta releases like this, you should NOT load the software if you have just ONE smartphone. If you're using your "primary" smartphone for this – stop, and turn back! While it could go fine, the risks do, indeed, outweigh the benefits. Especially if you're getting the dreaded "screen flickering in apps", or "clean the top of your phone", or "Bluetooth keeps stopping." And so on and so forth. If you're still ready to roll and load Android 11 Beta 2, by all means, let us know how it goes!