The first Android 12 beta just landed shortly after the I/O keynote, and it has the huge rumored redesign in tow. While the most obvious changes are easy to spot, a few things are harder to see when you just have Google's press images to work with. One of these places would be your device lock screen's PIN or pattern entry field.

Android 12 does away with the trusty PIN/pattern entry field we've had for years, instead introducing a much sleeker interface that completely blocks out your wallpaper when you pull it up. In the PIN entry field, the numerals have gained proper button borders, trading them for the T9 letters that some people may rely on for memorizing their PIN for the sake of a cleaner design. Presumably, the background will also adhere to your wallpaper-based theme, but that engine isn't activated by default for us just yet.

The button layout remains the same, though. You have the delete button to the left of the zero and the enter option to the right, complete with the emergency call shortcut at the very bottom. The new interface looks identical both for the SIM PIN entry prompt and your device lock.

The difference is already striking enough when you look at still images, but it gets even funner when you see the new animations Google has introduced in action. When you tap buttons, they turn into rounded squares for a second, complete with the familiar ripple animation filling them out. It adds a light, playful touch that's just fun to interact with.

The new entry form also makes it harder to dismiss the PIN keyboard on accident. You need to pull down right from the top of the screen to go back to the lockscreen. Otherwise, you'll just have a bounce animation to play with. You can't even dismiss the entry field by swiping up from the bottom, like when you'd try to go home using the up gesture.

The pattern entry form already received a major facelift as part of a previous Android 12 version, Developer Preview 2. The beta just adds a monocolor background to the mix — otherwise, there are no bigger changes.

Left: Developer Preview 2. Right: Beta 1.

We're just starting to dig into Android 12 Beta 1, so stay tuned for even more coverage.