The latest version of Android Q has now undone one of its more unusual “features.”
The second beta release of Android Q was made available earlier today and one of the more interesting additions related to the look of screenshots.
While screenshots themselves are nothing new to Android, what made Q’s take on screen capturing a little different was that it seemed to take account of the notches. Not only that, but it also captured rounded corners as well.
It essentially was capturing the screen completely and as it is including its design. While this does presumably lead to more accurate-looking representations of the screen, it was also opening the door to a lack of standardization across different devices as the screenshots were drawing on the more individual design elements of each device.
For example, a screenshot taken on the new Pixel 3 would have looked very different to one taken with the Pixel 3 XL. So this is not only an issue between different devices from different brands, but equally one that’s noticeable with different devices from the same smartphone series.
In either case, that’s no longer a concern as the latest version of Android Q has reversed this change and restored screenshots to their original look.
Although not officially commented on yet by Google, the removal of the feature would seem to indicate this might not have been a feature at all. Instead, it seems ever more likely now that it was just a bug with the new update and one Google and the Android team have since patched.
Whether this is good news or not will likely depend on what an individual thought of the newer style. On the one hand it did add a more fun element to what is otherwise a mundane proceeding, although from the other side many thought it was far too ugly for images that many Android device owners generate every day.
This was even more true when it came to the likes of the Pixel 3 XL which by notch standards contains a very large notch and this in turn impacted even more on the screenshot – as seen in the main image above.
Of course, as is the case with anything related to a preview version of Android, nothing is ever set in stone and guaranteed. These are very early previews of what will become the next commercial version of Android and Google has a habit of making changes between versions – as is exactly the case here with Beta 2 and Beta 1.
If, for example, this was originally an intended feature, but was not removed as it is currently not quite working as the team intended, then it could easily be the case the unusual-looking screenshots make a return again in another later preview.
In the meantime, those who do own a compatible device can now downloaded the latest beta version to see what else has changed and take advantage of those important fixes and improvements – while at the same time resetting the screenshot feature back to pre-Android Q days.