The third Android O developer preview is now available for download. Google announced the launch of the same today. This preview includes all the latest SDKs and applications for developers, and has system images for devices like exus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel C, and the official Android Emulator.
The preview also brings along an emulator for testing Android Wear 2.0 on Android O. Most importantly though, the Android O APIs are now final and in all likelihood, don’t need any further changes. This also brings to near culmination the Android O developer previews that were first launched in March, and is the third, with the second preview arriving in in May at Google’s I/O 2017 developer conference.
Google is said to be planning a final release, which will have near final system images. That particular preview is planned for next month and will be followed by a final release of the operating system in a couple of months or so.
The new features brought by Android O include background limits, notification channels and dots, autosizing textview, adaptive icons, Webview enhancements, Audio API, high-quality Bluetooth audio codecs, wide-gamut color for apps, and Google Play Protect. Also included are Autofill APIs, Picture in Picture, XML font resources ,downloadable fonts, emoji compatibility.
O is expected to be a big update and some of the features mentioned in the last paragraph are actually pretty huge. Picture in picture for instance, will let users watch a video while doing something else as well. To me, that is reason enough to upgrade.
Meanwhile, this update places all the tools developers need to start creating apps for O, into their hands. If you are a developer and want in, simply download the latest version of the preview now from developer.android.com. Alternatively you can also get it through the Android Beta Program.
