latest
Android 12 Beta 2 introduces extra granular battery stats
You can view your battery stats in two-hour intervals on some Pixel phones
Whenever Google releases a new Android version, you can count on redesigned notifications and settings, and the same is true for Android 12. The latest iteration of the pre-release software, Beta 2, further tweaks both of these aspects of the OS, but there's one detail we want to dive in here: The battery stats in the system settings, which now let you view which apps used up most of your battery in any given two-hour interval in the past day.
Battery statistics in the settings saw a considerable makeover in the developer previews of Android 8.0. In Nougat, the battery usage screen showed everything that had an effect, and screen on time was part of this list. With the Oreo developer previews, this was changed a bit to show more granular statistics showing screen on time per app and separating overall screen time into its own section. This helps you figure out how much an app is doing in the background, and while the change was welcomed by most, some users still wanted the option to view things the more traditional way. That's now possible, with a 'show full device usage' option in the three-dot overflow menu.
What's the opposite of a feature spotlight? I think we should call this an "Android O feature regression" post, because that's what we're looking at here. If you've installed the first Android O dev preview and you've been monitoring battery usage to see if all that fuss about the improved battery management and new background limits is true, then you may have noticed one thing missing: you can't see granular usage anymore for system-level items.
Google has implemented some battery saving technologies in Android 6.0, and OEMs will have to use them. That's great, but what about tracking your battery usage? Some device makers are famous for obscuring or completely removing certain stats (eg. HTC doesn't display screen-on time). That won't be allowed in Android 6.0, according to the Marshmallow Compatibility Definition Document (CDD).