Yesterday’s release of Android 13 QPR2 Beta 3 not only exterminated some bugs as we pointed out yesterday, but it also added some new features including one that gives Pixel users the ability to get a better look at what the impact of a new wallpaper selection will be to their phone. Choosing the wallpaper for your handset might not seem like a big deal, but there are many, like this writer, who gives this choice a great deal of thought. Others probably either don’t care about it or aren’t aware that the wallpaper on their phone can be changed.
For phone enthusiasts, putting time and effort into setting up their device includes personalizing the one tool that they carry around with them all day and all night. And since you can always use a photo as wallpaper, customizing your home screen is only limited by your artistic capabilities.
Google is testing a screen-wide preview for Pixel wallpaper
Pixel users have a big selection of stock wallpaper to choose from and during some quarterly feature drops, Google has disseminated special wallpaper options. For example, the last feature drop in December included wallpaper created by artist Morgan Harper Nichols that focused on how those with disabilities view the world. Nichols is autistic which helps to give her this perspective.
Pixel users have a large number of wallpapers to choose from. Going to Settings > Wallpaper & style >Change wallpaper gives Pixel users the ability to pick wallpaper from the following categories:
- My photos
- Bloom
- Live Bloom
- Living Universe
- Motif
- Community Lens
- Curated Culture
- For Fun
- Textures
- Life
- Earth
- Art
- Cityscapes (my favorite)
- Live wallpapers
After you choose the wallpaper you want, you get to see a preview of how your home screen and lock screen will look with the new backdrop. But the preview image is improved with the latest beta version. With Android 13 QPR2 Beta 3, the wallpaper preview takes up the entire display which gives the Pixel user a more accurate representation of what the home screen will look like.
A new lock screen shortcut has been implemented: Do Not Disturb mode.
The lock screen shortcut feature itself is still not available, however.
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) February 1, 2023
The improved feature was discovered by Esper’s Mishaal Rahman who included examples of the old UI and the new UI in a tweet. In a second tweet, Rahman shared a screenshot of what the revamped Wallpaper & style app looks like although he says that it is unfinished. The stable version of Android 13 QPR2 should be released next month and by then Google could be done revising the app.
