Google released the first beta (the second developer preview) at I/O earlier this week, which took away some minor features that were found in the first preview, and also earlier versions of Android. One feature, however, is coming back in a future beta. That’s according to the VP of Engineering for Android, Dave Burke. A user shared on Twitter that the “Clear All” button in the Recents menu had disappeared in this latest Android P Beta. But Burke showed a screenshot of it being available, and teased “Coming to a Beta near you soon”. Burke did not say if it would be in the next beta, or one later on this Summer, as we get closer to the stable release in Q3.
Android P got its first beta build this week, and now those with the Pixel or Pixel 2 are able to install the beta onto their smartphone. Additionally, this year, Google is allowing a number of other manufacturers to install Android P through the beta program. Which includes Essential, OnePlus, OPPO, Vivo, Nokia, Sony and Xiaomi. So there are plenty of more devices out there that can run the beta now. It’s still a work in progress for Google, but this allows the company to get feedback on some of its features and really see what’s working and what’s not working. Some of the minor changes in this build may not be there when Android P becomes stable around August – as have been the case for the last two years.
The latest version of Android still has a bit more baking to do, seeing as it doesn’t have a version number nor an actual name just yet. So Google is not done with Android P just yet. There’s still plenty of work to be done here. And while this “Clear All” button may seem minor, there are users that want to use it on their smartphone, and that is the reason why these betas exist, so that Google can get feedback like this, and incorporate it into its future builds of the newest version of Android. The next beta should be coming in about a month or so.