Android 13’s new media player is large and in charge
It’s been a couple of months since we first showed offAndroid 13’s redesigned output picker, granting it a new coat of paint that overhauled the entire UI. With DP1, we also got anearly look at the new media player style, though it wasn’t live for testers just yet. If you’ve been dying to try out the new style on your phone,Android 13 DP2has you covered.
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Rather than matching your system theme, this new player pulls its colors from the album artwork of whatever’s currently playing on your phone. Some people might not like that — after all, it clashes against Google’s current monotone trends — but if you’ve been requesting some much-needed diversity in your device’s theme, it might be a welcome sign.
As for the output picker, it’s the same style we first saw back in January, combining the labels for various speakers with volume sliders. It also has a dedicated button for pairing new devices, pulling you directly to the “Pair new device” menu in settings.
These two tools are just part of Google’s continued efforts to clean up Android 12’s redesign. While we don’t expect any significant visual changes this year, some sweet refinements — not to mention amajor expansion to dynamic theming— should improve on last year’s OS release.\
As with any developer preview, this update is a little more than buggy at the moment. Both myself and AP’s Ryne Hager saw the widget freak out on the lock screen, shrinking down to its original smaller size and, in my case, moving up to the top of the display. There are months to go before Android 13 is out for the public, which means plenty of time to smooth over those rough edges.
If you want to try it out for yourself, you’ll have toinstall Android 13’s developer previewon your device. Otherwise, keep an eye on Android Police for all our continuedAndroid 13coverage.
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