Google has launched the third
developer preview of its most-talked and the latest operating system Android O, with final APIs. Final APIs mean, the developers can now start building Android O compatible APKs of their projects.
Source: Google.com
The company has told that there have been several relevant changes in the API 26 SDK from the second preview that was launched in May during I/O Conference, and the developers are advised to test the compatibility of their apps again with the Preview 3. The final full-fledged version of Android O is also hinted to be generally available soon.
“Today we're rolling out Developer Preview 3 with the final Android O APIs, the latest system images, and an update to Android Studio to help you get ready for the consumer release later in the summer. Watch for one more preview update coming in July that will bring you the near-final system images.
Today's preview update includes the latest version of the Android O platform with the final API level 26 and hundreds of bugfixes and optimizations. You can download the final API 26 SDK from the SDK Manager in Android Studio, and Android Support Library 26.0.0 beta 2 from Google's Maven repository.Together, these give you everything you need to develop and test your apps with the official Android O APIs.“
Some of the most significant features in
Android O include - Picture in Picture, background limits, Autofill APIs, XML font resources, downloadable fonts, emojis, Text View auto-resizing, adaptive icons, high-quality Bluetooth audio codecs, and Google Play Protect, along with the availability of Java 8 APIs and runtime optimization.
Another big change that Preview 3 has brought is that developers using Android Studio 2.3.3 can now also develop applications that are compatible with Android O. Until now, they were needed to work on Android Studio 3.0 Canary 1.
Not only this, you can now publish your API 26 compatible APK updates on your Google Play alpha, beta, and production channels. This will give the ability to test the compatibility on existing devices along with the API26 equipped ones.
The O Developer Preview is available for Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel C, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, and Nexus Player. To download the Android O Developer Preview 3, visit the
official page. To learn how to start with Preview 3, you can go through the
Migration Guide.