When Android P's first developer preview dropped in March, we noticed a number of changes to the app info settings page. Among the more bizarre was that the option to force stop an app had been relegated to the three-dot overflow menu in the top-right corner. Developer Preview 2 is out today, though, and good news, everyone: it's back to where it makes sense.
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With Android tablets being... Android tablets, Chromebooks are quickly being adapted to fill the void. On supported devices, they combine the utility of Android apps with the flexibility of an adaptive (and productive) form-factor. The latest tweak, presenting Android-style Settings and Shortcuts apps in the launcher, further affirms the role Google's Chrome OS is set to assume.
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It's been a rough month for Facebook. Following news that millions of users' personal data had been collected without permission by a third party, the social media giant caught some flak for the way it handled metadata collection on Android. In an effort to assuage public ill will, Facebook announced today that it's making user settings—especially ones dealing with account data and privacy—easier to access and more transparent.
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Android P has already brought a lot of changes, including in the settings arena. But things in each application's 'App info' have changed slightly as well; the 'force stop' button and version number have been hidden, though they're luckily still accessible with an additional tap.
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It's long been possible to receive important emergency alerts on your Android device, and with the introduction of the 8.1 developer preview the settings have been given a bit of a makeover. This one can definitely be filed with the other minor but useful dev preview changes. As well as a reorganization of the alerts section in the settings, there's also a history list so you can see previous alerts, including those you've accidentally dismissed.
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Over the course of the last few Android versions, Google has seemingly struggled to decide on exactly how some of the quick settings options should work. Some are simple toggles, some bring up extra details in the quick settings pane, and some take you through to the settings app. Several of them also have different behavior depending on whether you short or long-press them.
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In the past couple of years, many apps have traded small search icons for full-width search bars. The Google Play Store is a prime example of this, and it makes hitting the search button much easier. To my eye, it improves the appearance of the app as well, but that's subjective. The Android 8.1 Oreo developer preview has brought the top-mounted search bar to all devices, marking another Pixel 2-exclusive lost.
Read More![[Update: Dimming is system-wide] Android 8.1 feature spotlight: Settings now has a colored navigation bar that dims](https://www.androidpolice.com/wp-content/themes/ap2/ap_resize/ap_resize.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.androidpolice.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F10%2Fnexus2cee_thing-1.png&w=728)
The Android 8.1 Oreo developer preview dropped today, and with it come some new features that we've been discovering. One of the more prominent changes we've spotted so far is to the navigation bar while it's in the Settings app. On both Pixel and Nexus devices, the soft keys get a few aesthetic tweaks that modernize the software's look just a little bit.
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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.
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Google has been a bit slow to adopt Material Design in Chrome. The browser got a Material makeover in Chrome 52 for Mac and 53 for Windows, but the Settings page has remained relatively unchanged since Chrome's introduction. Chrome 59, which was released today on the desktop, includes a new Material settings area.
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