Google on Monday afternoon dropped the third public beta of Android P, which is supposed to be a close-to-final version of Android 9.0 that will be released at some point this summer. If you’re already on Android P, either on a Pixel device or on a handset from the other OEMs that partnered with Google for the beta, you can seamlessly upgrade to the new beta. It’s just like a regular software update.
If you want to give Android P a try for the first time now that it’s more stable, you need to enroll in the beta program, which is available at this link. In a post on Google’s Android blog, Google VP of engineering Dave Burke explains that the new beta “takes us very close to what you’ll see in the final version of Android P,” which is coming this summer.
Now that the developer APIs were finalized in the previous update, Android P Beta 3 includes bug fixes and optimizations “for stability and polish,” as well as the expected July 2018 security updates.
Like Google says, Android P Beta 3 isn’t big on new user features, but there are some changes that Android savvy users will notice right away. Droid-Life has a quick video of everything that’s new in the latest version of Android P:
Burke also said that Google will host a Reddit Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) session on July 19th to answer more questions about Android P. The final Android P version should be rolled out at some point in August, which is also when we’ll learn what dessert Google has chosen for Android P. Then Android users will just have to wait anywhere from a month to forever for their smartphone vendor and carrier to release the update for their particular phone model.
