Android 13 includes custom layout for desktops and laptops for the first time
Google has set up a slightly changed interface for PCs in Android 13. When a device indicates to the OS that it is a PC, additional buttons appear on the taskbar and apps open in windows instead of full screen.
The discovery was done by Android expert Mishaal Rahman, who has written a very comprehensive report of all the novelties he was able to discover in the recently released Android 13 developer preview 2. The device type “android.hardware.type.pc” already existed, but was only used by Android apps to indicate to an OS that it explicitly supports Chromebooks. That’s a different operating system, but it also runs Android apps.
In version 13, Android does more with that. Additional accommodations for devices with large screens were already introduced in Android 12L, to increase ease of use on foldables and tablets. Now, Android is taking another step towards devices with large screens.
On the right side of the taskbar are permanent buttons for the notifications and the settings menu. In addition, all apps start in freeform multi-window mode by default, which means that the apps have their own windows and can be arranged as the user wants. This form of displaying apps has been in the operating system since Android 7, but was never used. Rahman has not posted screenshots of apps in window mode.
If Google plans to build Android in this direction and provide good support for laptops and desktops, it will overlap with Chrome OS. If this does indeed take place, a merger of the two Google operating systems is not inconceivable.
Another innovation that will apply to Android in the future is that notifications from apps will become a matter of an opt-in instead of an opt-out; users will therefore have to grant permission at the first notifications before an app can show it. That variable comes into play from api level 33, so until that level is a minimum requirement in the Play Store, apps can still get around it. Currently it is minimum still level 29, which is equivalent to Android 10.
Screenshots of Mishaal Rahman taken on a Pixel 6 Pro with adjusted dpi setting and PC as device type feature explained