Android Q Beta 4 has now rolled out to eligible devices. The new Dynamic System Updates feature in Android Q’s fourth beta release (now with screenshots) brings Google’s Project Treble undertaking to life by allowing smartphone users to download Generic System Images (or GSIs) to their handsets temporarily without downloading a buggy beta OS version that must then be rolled back.
The Generic System Images (or GSIs) are available for download in Q’s fourth beta, letting you try out the new OS version in as little as fifteen minutes. You can see the screenshots for GSIs below.
Keep in mind that downloading these GSIs is temporary in nature, meaning that you won’t have to download the new OS (as a buggy version), then roll it back if it’s too unstable for you or you don’t think it’s ready for primetime just yet.
Also, the experience in Dynamic System Updates is that of AOSP, Android Open Source Project. What this means is that you won’t find all the Google changes to Android such as Google Docs, Gmail, major system update features, and so on.
AOSP is essentially “barebones” Android, and Google’s Android, as many smartphone users know it, is something of a tailored experience in the same way that Samsung’s One UI is an Android skin or overlay of its own.
Few people realize that pure vanilla Android is really AOSP instead of Google’s own take on Android.
Dynamic System Updates are available for smartphone users in general, though Google has in mind Android app developers who need to test a new OS on their phones without breaking the functionality of a current OS version in the process.
Dynamic System Updates is the realization of Project Treble. Project Treble, unveiled with Android 8.0 Oreo, is Google’s undertaking to solve the Android fragmentation problem that exists across Android’s various OEMs.
Android flourishes as a unique platform where users can choose from a number of device manufacturers such as Samsung, LG, Motorola, Sony, HTC, and so on.
Those who’ve often wanted fast Google updates in the past were told to “buy a Google device,” whether it was a Nexus or a current Pixel phone.
Buying from other OEMs like Samsung in the past meant that fast updates were out of the question.
With Project Treble, Google has created something of a modular Android base that is able to take the common Android code and separate it from device-specific code so that manufacturers can push Android versions to devices faster without all the complex holdups that can occur between device manufacturer and carrier.
In addition to Dynamic System Updates, Android Q has also brought new features such as battery time remaining in your notification shade, a system-wide dark mode, Vulkan’s ANGLE technology that brings better mobile gaming graphics to all Android devices, emergency calls by way of the power settings menu, and more.
Even as a number of eligible devices are enjoying Android Q, Beta 4, including the new Google Pixel 3a due to the June 2019 security patch it received this week, Huawei devices are left out of the party.
Due to Trump’s Huawei Ban and the addition of Huawei to the US’s Entity List on May 15th, every American entity has been banned from dealing with Huawei unless given clearance by the Federal Government.
It was just four days later when Android owner Google decided to part ways with Huawei, revoking the OEM’s Android license and thus crippling Huawei’s already-small chances of making further inroads into the American market.
Google not only removed Huawei from Android by revoking its license but also removed its flagships from Android.com, Google’s own site to showcase the very best of its platform.
Additionally, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro was dropped from Google’s Android Q Beta Program.
Huawei’s Mate 20 Pro and other existing devices will be denied Android Q provided that the Trump Ban remains in effect beyond August 19th.
The Federal Government has given Huawei a three-month reprieve to continue updating devices with system patches and Android updates (including its own EMUI 9.0 update Huawei just sent to seven phones), but that reprieve will reach its end sooner rather than later.
