Sony has now revealed that its Sony Xperia XZ2 variants will be getting the Android P Beta 2 software update over the coming days and weeks. For those who might be interested in checking it out, there will be two ways to get it. Those who have already installed the first Android P Beta will see an OTA arrive automatically while those who haven’t will need to install the new firmware from the associated Android P Beta site. Needless to say, this is effectively a developer preview of the next version of Android, which is slated for release sometime later this year – likely alongside the next Google Pixel handsets. So it won’t necessarily be the most stable version of the OS since its meant to garner user feedback in order to implement appropriate changes and isn’t meant for everybody. Getting it installed is easy enough, however, and it does bring several changes to the overall Android experience on Sony’s flagship range of devices.
The differences predominantly take the form of bug fixes. Probably the most glaring problem Sony fixed in software to version PDP-PKQ1.180513.001-10128 is that the microphone should no longer randomly stop working. However, it also implemented fixes for wireless chargers not being recognized, volume adjustments not registering during phone calls, and exFAT SD cards not being recognized. The device’s Nightlight mode should also now work regardless of whether the user has “sunset to sunrise” settings enabled and GPS should now work on all Sony Xperia ZX2 handsets. Moreover, “4G+” should no longer cause the modem to crash and tethering won’t render the OS unstable or unusable. That’s alongside all of the great future features included with the beta software.
With that out of the way, there are a couple of known new issues with the update that it’s worth being aware of. For starters, the camera is not on par with the original software for the Xperia XZ2 – namely, Android Oreo. On the Bluetooth side of things, meanwhile, LDAC profile needs to be disabled because it isn’t working properly and there’s an issue with intermittent cutout during phone calls made over Bluetooth. Files also can’t be transferred or new folders created on an inserted SD card. Finally, a SIM pin needs to be input when entering or exiting Airplane Mode.