Google releases surprise Android 14 Beta 5, pretends it was scheduled all along

Last month Google announced the rollout of Android 14 Beta 4 and implied that we should expect the final, stable release to come next. It even published this image of the release timeframe yet again:

This exact image has been basically published by Google every single month with every single new beta release without alteration. Until today, that is, when we got a surprise Beta 5 for Android 14 instead of the final version.

To add insult to injury, Google is pretending it didn't imply what it did last month. Not just that, but it's edited the timeline image too, which now looks like this:

Did you notice the very amateurish botched Photoshop job? The dark blue line is jagged right before the newly introduced "Aug" slot, as if someone hastily added that section to it.

We don't understand why the search giant couldn't just own the fact that it's apparently taking longer to fully bake Android 14 than it had anticipated. We're sure no one would have minded hearing that. But pretending it didn't imply what it did? Hastily (and badly) altering images to go with that? We're not sure what's going on.

Anyway, Android 14 Beta 5 has a ton of bug fixes. Dozens, in fact, so we won't be listing all of them here. If you're interested, you can find them all at the Source linked below.

As before, if your eligible Pixel device (which means Pixel 4a 5G or later) is enrolled into the Android Beta program, you will receive this update over-the-air. If not, you can enroll your device by going here. Once that's done, you will receive the new Beta 5 as an over-the-air update.

In case you're now wondering when to expect the final version to really drop, your guess is as good as ours. Maybe later this month? In September? We'll have to wait and see.

Source | Via