The next Android update is bringing a much-missed feature back to the Pixel line

Date:
Mon, 09 May 2022 09:00:05 +0000

Description:
The Pixel line will finally get a much-loved status bar icon back in June.

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One of the perks of owning a Pixel phone is that as well as new Android versions and security patches you also get a quarterly Pixel Feature Drop, which includes new features and improvements, and Junes drop has got some people extremely excited.

The beta is available now, and thats led Reddit user schrombear_23 to
discover that Google has brought back the vibration mode icon on the status bar, so that you can see at a glance whether your phone is on vibrate.

This is an incredibly small change but also an extremely useful one, since no one wants their phone loudly ringing at an inopportune moment, and with this you can instantly be sure that your handset will only vibrate. Its a feature that the Pixel line used to have, but which for some reason was removed a while ago. (Image credit: schrombear_23)

But Google has gone slightly beyond just adding the icon. Its also added a toggle to the sound and vibration settings screen, which lets you hide the vibrate icon if for whatever reason you prefer not to see it (perhaps you
dont like a cluttered status bar).

Oddly the vibrate icon doesnt appear on the lock screen status bar, which seems like a weird omission, but since this is just a beta of the software theres a high chance that the finished version landing on June 6 will resolve that.

Just note that this feature is only going to be available for the Pixel 4 and above, so if youre rocking an older Pixel handset youre out of luck.
Analysis: a worthwhile feature but one thats worth waiting a bit longer for

Having a vibration icon on the status bar seems obvious and useful, and its baffling that it was ever removed, so its great to see this returning to the Pixel line. But while you can grab the beta software with this feature now,
we wouldnt.

Beta software is often buggy and could cause problems with your phone not just in terms of the new features, but also in areas that were previously working fine.

This could be all the truer on the Google Pixel 6 line, given the problems these phones have had with bugs (most of which have thankfully been resolved now).

The software is due to be released in finished form on June 6, so theres only a month to wait at the time of writing anyway. Until then wed suggest you
just continue being vigilant about whether your phone is actually on vibrate. Get more out of your Pixel with some of the best free Android apps

Via Phone Arena



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/the-next-android-update-is-bringing-a-much-miss ed-feature-back-to-the-pixel-line/


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