Category: Android Nougat

The news of the first beta of Android N being released yesterday has made the Android community a flurry of activity and with Google for the first time really making it easy for users to download it and install it on their Nexus devices, it means that a lot of people have installed it.  And by a lot I mean a lot.  My Google+ and Twitter feeds are full of people posting photos of their devices in various stages of being updated or N running on them.  Along with that has come a pile of posts of people not happy because their favorite app is not working.  I warned readers this would happen.  What was released yesterday was in every word beta and you could even make the argument that it is alpha code.

But whatever you do, don’t go to the Google Play Store and give a 1 star rating and bad review for an app not working in Android N.  That doesn’t help anyone, particularly the developers.

Editor’s Note:  This post is concerning a feature in Android N.  As this new version of Android is still in development, the features described in this post could change between the time of the writing and when it is released to the public in the summer of 2016.

The world is less than 24 hours into the initial technical release of Android N but already some new features and improvements are starting to emerge.  One of those is around Doze, the battery saving element in the Operating System.  As many of you will know, Doze made its appearance in Android Marshmallow and while it is really good and really impressive, it does have some rough edges.  It appears that Google is working to address those in N and from what I am seeing, they are all positive steps.

Google has now turned the wick up on the Android N Beta Program site, allowing you to register your device and download the next generation of Android to your eligible device.  The program is designed for developers to download the technical previews as they are released via an OTA update instead of having to reflash your device each time, a huge time saver to say the least.

[Update] I just received the discount code.  All in, it took about 45 minutes from the time I submitted to the time I received it.  Not bad.  Again, your mileage will vary.

As part of the announcement releasing the technical preview of Android N, Google has also announced that developers can save 25% off of the latest Android tablet, the Pixel C.  But here is the interesting things:  It seems that anyone can get the deal.  Simply register your email address and you will be sent a discount code to use in the Google Store.

On the list of things I expected to see today, a beta of Android N was not on that list.  After all, we are still a few weeks away from Google I/O and that has traditionally been when we see the latest builds of the next version of Android.  Not this year.  Google dropped the first technical preview of the next generation of the mobile Operating System today and if you have a Nexus device, you can download it to your device right now.  But I would seriously, seriously wait.