Google brings again quantity controls for speaker teams to Pixels with Android 15 Beta 2

The second beta of Android 15, launched final week, introduced some long-awaited options for Pixel customers. Whereas the revamped quantity panel UI got here as no shock, one characteristic was sudden: the return of speaker group quantity controls whereas casting. This can be a perform that had been eliminated on account of a authorized dispute with Sonos.As detailed in a current Android Authority put up, when casting audio from a telephone to a speaker group – a set of Assistant-enabled gadgets like Nest Hubs arrange within the Google Dwelling app – customers can normally management the quantity of your entire group with their telephone’s quantity keys. Nevertheless, this performance had been lacking on Pixel gadgets for a while. This was on account of a lawsuit filed by Sonos towards Google for alleged patent infringement. The authorized battle prompted Google to disable a number of options, together with speaker group quantity controls on Pixel telephones, as a precautionary measure.For Pixel customers, this meant that controlling the quantity of speaker teams was solely doable whereas the casting app remained open. Closing the app meant shedding management of the group quantity. In the meantime, different Android gadgets remained unaffected, because the lawsuit was solely towards Google.

Nevertheless, a change occurred in late 2023 when a California decide overturned the jury verdict that had favored Sonos. Google responded by promptly restoring the flexibility so as to add Nest gadgets to a number of speaker teams. Regardless of this, the quantity management perform remained disabled on Pixel telephones till now.

With the arrival of Android 15 Beta 2, this performance has lastly been restored. Based on the supply, Google had launched a flag named config_volumeAdjustmentForRemoteGroupSessions in 2021, which managed platform-level quantity changes for grouped gadgets. Whereas this flag was enabled by default within the Android Open Supply Mission (AOSP), it was overridden for Pixel gadgets. This has now been reversed within the Android 15 Beta 2 builds for Pixel telephones, bringing again the speaker group quantity controls.