Ever since I flashed Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on my HTC Desire Z, I’ve been curious about trying the latest and — supposedly — greatest version of Android as soon as possible. When Google started publicly testing official Android developer previews and betas, I quickly signed up and it’s become a yearly tradition for me. New developer preview? On my secondary phone! Out of developer preview and into beta? On my main phone! That’s how I ended up with the Android 14 beta on my Pixel 7 Pro and all the bugs made me regret it ever since.
Before I carry on, I know we’re talking about a beta and beta software is bug-ridden by definition — testing is crucial to get to the stable release. I also know that bugs are hit-and-miss. I don’t recall seeing any notable issue with any previous beta I’ve flashed on my Pixel phones in the last five years at least. That’s extremely lucky, but betas are supposed to be significantly more stable than early developer previews. I guess all of my karma ran out, though, and I got saddled with a multitude of annoyances and bugs from day one with the Android 14 beta.