Android 14 QPR3 managed to include an improved built-in desktop mode

Android typically lags behind macOS and Windows when it comes to desktop computers. The operating system lacks some features and the corresponding interface to meet the needs of desktop users. This could change in the future with Android 15, as improved capabilities have been incorporated into Android 14 QPR3.

Google first introduced the desktop mode in the release of Android 10 in 2019, but the implementation was quite primitive. The mode was not intended for regular users, but rather for developers to test how their applications behave in multi-display scenarios. However, after the release of the first quarterly update of Android 13 at the end of 2022, Google is working on updating the desktop mode of the OS. One of the areas that Google has focused on improving is window management.

Currently, Android supports displaying two Android apps side by side thanks to the split-screen mode introduced in Android 7.0. However, desktop operating systems can easily handle a larger number of applications. Google has been slowly addressing these issues in recent Android releases, although it has hidden its work behind a few flags so that users cannot play with the new desktop mode until it is fully ready. However, Mishal Rahman from Android Authority managed to enable the new Android desktop mode in Android 14 QPR3 Beta 2.1 to see how the window system evolved.

As can be seen in the video, at the top of each full-screen program, there is a small marker that can be clicked to bring up a small menu. It includes the name and icon of the application, as well as three buttons to open the window in full-screen mode, split-screen mode, or freeform mode. In freeform mode, the window gets a title bar that displays the name and icon of the program, a menu to open a menu to change the window mode, a maximize button, and a close button. The window can be freely moved and resized on the screen. Resizing the window temporarily hides the application content to make it easier to see the window while resizing it. Windows can be dragged to the left or right edge to snap them to that half of the screen. When an application is maximized to full screen.

Although these changes greatly contribute to making Android a better platform for desktop computers, the OS creators still have a lot to do to match desktop operating systems. For example, Android still does not have a reliable launcher for starting the desktop, does not support the key combinations used for window management, and there are still many applications that do not support advanced window operations. Currently, the best desktop mode can be obtained only with Samsung Dex or Motorola Ready For shells, both of which already offer many features that Google has not yet implemented.