A last-minute update on a Friday afternoon
When Google seeded Android 14 Beta 5 last week, the announcement post called it “the last scheduled update in our Android 14 beta program.” But projects as complicated as a major version update to the world’s largest mobile operating system don’t always run on schedule, and Google is right back at it with another update just eight days later.
Google rarely issues Android updates on a Friday, because if major unexpected issues arose with the firmware, things would be hard to fix quickly with most of the project’s engineers being off for the weekend. Evidently, the company felt the benefits of patching a few outstanding bugs outweighed those risks, as it announced the new version today on Reddit. Google also shared release notes for this update, which mention fixes for connectivity and home screen bugs:
This minor update to Android 14 Beta 5 includes the following fixes:
- Fixed an issue that caused the system to stop detecting a SIM card if Fixed Dialing Number (FDN) features were enabled.
- Fixed an issue that caused connectivity interruptions for devices with carriers using 5G standalone (SA) mode.
- Fixed an issue for some devices where a blank home screen displayed after unlocking the device.
- Fixed a performance issue by temporarily disabling feather-styled live wallpaper on Pixel Fold. The live wallpaper version will be re-enabled after the other underlying issues are fixed.
This new update carries a version number of UPB5.230623.005, but the security patch level remains unchanged at August 2023. Enrolled Pixel devices from the 4a up to the Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet are eligible for the upgrade, which clocks in at around 25MB according to user reports.
Google says the new version is rolling out now, but could take up to a week to reach all users, depending on device type and carrier. If you’d like to speed things up, Android Flash Tool makes it incredibly easy to flash the factory images or sideload the OTA, and you can usually have things done in about 20 minutes.
Thanks: Moshe
