The Android team has successfully launched the Android 11 Beta despite the cancellation of the online event. Google said it wasn’t the time then to celebrate because of the George Floyd issue. The new OS version was leaked before the official launch, postponed, and then finally released last week. A number of OEMs like OnePlus, Xiaomi, and POCO have quickly announced they will be rolling out the said update for some of their phones like the OnePlus 8, Mi 10, and the POCO F2 Pro.
Android 11 Beta 1.5 is now available with build number RPB1.200504.020. This brings emulator support x86 (32/64-bit), June 2020 security patch level, and Google Play services (20.21.17). The new version also updates the API from 29 to 30. Those on Developer Preview 4 is also upgraded to API 30.
Beta 1.5 is only a minor update to the Android 11 Beta 1 that rolled out last week. A number of fixes have been made including those issues with Google Pay contactless payments. Pixel 3 and 3a can finally activate the pSim service after reset. Issues on gesture navigation in switching apps will no longer reboot or crash with the update.
The Bluetooth connectivity is said to have also enforced privileged permission for RemoveBond incorrectly. Pairing-unpairing and bond reset flows could be affected but the devs have fixed the issue.
Android 11 with Android Auto also receives some updates. Audio routing on Android Auto projection has some issues as well. There may be instances that audio is placed from the device speaker and not the car speakers. This particular issue is fixed but with the upcoming Android Auto 5.4 version.
This minor update may still present performance or stability issues. Remember that it still is a Beta version so bugs may still be encountered. It is recommended you report any issues or problems related to the new Android 11 Beta OS. This one isn’t Compatibility Test Suite (CTS) approved yet. The pre-release APIs are already stable.
Only a few Android devices can run this Android 11 Beta. The Pixel phones–Pixel 2/XL, Pixel 3/XL, Pixel 3a/XL, and Pixel 4/XL–can be upgraded to this version.
