HONOR Announces Android 17 Beta 3 Update for Developers for its HONOR Magic8 Pro 5G (Global) Device
We have recently covered the news regarding OnePlus and OPPO both announcing the Android 17 Beta 3 update for the OnePlus 15 and OPPO Find X9 Pro devices. And now, the Chinese smartphone brand – HONOR has also announced the Android 17 Beta 3 update for developers for its HONOR Magic8 Pro global device.
Read more about what is included in this Beta 3 update below.
Bubbles Now Available System-wide
With Android 17 Beta 3, developers can now optimise applications to run on the floating window platform called Bubble. This allows apps to be minimised into a floating icon which can be recalled from anywhere on the screen, enabling a more seamless multitasking experience.
Professional Photography with RAW14
This Android 17 Beta 3 also introduces native support for the RAW14 image format (single-channel 14-bit-per-pixel format) to complement the AiMAGE camera system on the Honor Magic 8 Pro 5G device and allows applications to process densely packed uncompressed image data. Adding more to this, the Third-party camera and editing applications will now be able to take advantage of the smartphone’s advanced computational photography capabilities and camera sensors for capturing and processing images with improved clarity, dynamic range, and colour accuracy.
Enhanced UI Customisation and Media Experiences
Developers can now modify the grid view aspect ratio within the Photo Picker, including formats such as 1:1 square and 9:16 portrait layouts, and users can choose to hide app labels to create a cleaner home screen interface.
Streamlined System Controls and Screen Recording
The Quick Settings menu gets a separate Wi-Fi and mobile data tiles, allowing users to quickly toggle connections independently. Speaking more about this, the update also introduces a redesigned pill-shaped screen recording menu, giving users the option to either record the full screen or a specific application.
Expanded Dark Theme
Via this update, more granular controls are provided for the Expanded Dark Theme. This would mean that even while the system forces the unsupported apps to be opened into dark mode, users will now have access to per-app controls that allow them to disable forced dark mode for selected applications where readability or display issues may occur.
Next-generation Privacy and Security
The location button only allows precise location access for the current session, thus reducing unnecessary background refresh or tracking. The local network access is also blocked by default and allows read-only dynamic code loading to help prevent injection attacks. To further improve the security, the update adopts Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) through a new hybrid APK signature scheme.
As this is a beta build, which is meant for developers and advanced users only, it is advisable for users not to install it on their primary device, as it contains bugs or could potentially brick the device.
Stay tuned for more such updates.
