Google has just rolled out the highly-anticipated Android O Developer Preview 1 for a spate of Nexus and Pixel devices via official factory images. Android 8.0 aka Android O is now available for developer testing via preview release on Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel C and Nexus Player.
As the preview release of Android O is strictly meant for developers only, casual users are advised to exercise caution while installing the same on their primary devices as it could harbour unexpected bugs and broken features that are yet to be fixed by developers.
To be on the safer side, it is recommended to backup your personal data to an external storage before you proceed. Alternatively, you could use a secondary device to test this new firmware from Google.
Some of the noteworthy features coming to Android O include: background limiting for apps with background processes, picture-in-picture mode for smartphones and tablets, adaptive app icons, new notification channels, wide-gamut colour support and more.
In its recent blogpost, Google has highlighted the key changes coming to Android devices with the new version 'O':
Background limits: Building on the work we began in Nougat, Android O puts a big priority on improving a user's battery life and the device's interactive performance. To make this possible, we've put additional automatic limits on what apps can do in the background, in three main areas: implicit broadcasts, background services, and location updates. These changes will make it easier to create apps that have minimal impact on a user's device and battery. Background limits represent a significant change in Android, so we want every developer to get familiar with them. Check out the documentation on background execution limits and background location limits for details.
Notification channels: Android O also introduces notification channels, which are new app-defined categories for notification content. Channels let developers give users fine-grained control over different kinds of notifications — users can block or change the behavior of each channel individually, rather than managing all of the app's notifications together.
Supported Pixel and Nexus device owners may go ahead and download the factory images of Android O Developer Preview 1, using the links provided below:
