Apple’s software releases are a dime a dozen at this point, but a much more exciting release made its way online on Wednesday. Following months of teases, Google finally launched the first Android P developer preview today, which will allow app developers to begin working with the new software ahead of its public debut.
While anyone can download the system image files from Android.com today, Google warns that the preview is solely for developers, and not intended for consumer use. Installing the software (which is still in a relatively early state) will remove all data from your device, so if you do have a good reason to check it out, be sure to back up all of your data first. As expected, the preview is only available on Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL phones.
You can read about all of the new features and updated APIs included in the first Android P developer preview over on Android.com, but some of the highlights from the long list of improvements include:
- Support for WiFi Round-Trip-Time (RTT), in order to take advantage of indoor positioning
- Display cutout support, for all the new phones that decided to emulate the notch
- A wide range of enhancements to notifications across the entire platform
- The ability to access streams from multiple physical cameras at once
- Built-in support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) VP9 Profile 2, HEIF and Media APIs
Google will share plenty more details about Android P at Google I/O 2018, which begins on May 8th. We still have no idea what the latest version of the mobile software is going to be called, but perhaps Google will give us a hint during its keynote presentation in May. In the meantime, developers can begin playing with the software now.
