Just a bit ago I shared with you the official naming of the next version of Android, Android Marshmallow. In that post I hinted that the final preview should be coming this week and indeed Google has already released it. In a post on the Google Android Marshmallow developer site, the final preview has been released along with the official 6.0 SDK to developers. It is a milestone event for the release and likely signals release is just a matter of weeks away.
In the post, Google shares that the SDK being released is the official one that developers should be updating their apps against. The SDK will have the latest APIs for Android Marshmallow.
The final Android 6.0 SDK is now available to download via the SDK Manager in Android Studio. With the Android 6.0 SDK you have access to the final Android APIs and the latest
Google Marshmellow
build tools so that you can target API 23.
Along with the SDK, developers can now get the final preview of Android Marshmallow on the Nexus 5, 6, 9 and Nexus Player to test. OTA updates will begin shortly but developers can go to the preview site and download system images.
The Android emulator system images and developer preview system images have been updated for supported Nexus devices (Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9 & Nexus Player) to help with your testing. You can download the device system images from the developer preview site. Also, similar to the previous developer update, supported Nexus devices will receive an Over-the-Air (OTA) update over the next couple days.
Finally, developers are reminded that the Google Play Store is already accepting apps built on API 23 so there is no need to wait. Developers are encouraged to start developing, testing and releasing their Android Marshmallow apps now to be prepared for the official release in a few weeks time.
