Tag: Android N

Android N is nearly upon us and the question that everyone wants to know is if their phone or tablet will see the update.  For their part, Google has clearly outlined which Nexus devices will get updates and for how long after it is no longer for sale.  While the definition has been roughly outlined and discussed by Google, to this point there has never been a document outlining which devices will get updates and when those updates will stop.  That, thanks to a post in the Google Support pages, has been formally defined.

It is now official.  Unicode 9.0 has been ratified and is now available for companies like Google to start baking into their platforms.  We already know that Android N will support the standard out-of-the-box but it is possible that Marshmallow could see it in a future update as well.  In all there are 7,500 characters added to the standard along with 72 new emoji.

The Android N Developer Preview 4 was released earlier this afternoon and now those registered in the Android Beta program are seeing the OTA come to their devices.  The update brings build NPD56N to your Nexus device and weighs in at a lightweight 168MB.  The update brings all of the fixes and enhancements to the beta that I outlined earlier and, of course, brings the final API set to the device.

The forth and quite possibly the final Developer Preview of Android N is now available for developers and those who are in the Android Beta program.  The updated build number is NPD56N and while the OTA update for those enrolled in the Beta program hasn’t started rolling yet, it should be by the end of the day.  Perhaps the biggest news in this update is that it contains what will be the final shipping version of the APIs (API 24) for the release.  That means developers can start in earnest getting their apps updated for N.

As part of the 3rd Developer Preview of Android N, four new wallpapers made their way into release.  The better news is you can download them all here on the site.  The new wallpapers continue the trend of having natural scenes for wallpapers and all four of them are beautiful.  Three of the four are beach/surf scenes while the fourth is a close up texture image.  They look great on phones and tablets and are all 2880 x 2560 resolutions for your large screen devices.

To save everyone who isn’t interested from having to have the page render, I’ve added the images after the break.  You can tap on each one then right-click to save it or you can visit the wallpaper page and check out the hundreds of wallpapers I have over there.

What is interesting to this point is that there have been no Material Design wallpapers in any of the Previews so far.  All five of the wallpapers in N have been nature scenes so it will be interesting to watch if a new Material wallpaper or set of them comes when the final build of N is released later this year.

Enjoy these new wallpapers on all of your devices and given their size, you may even find them pretty nice to view on your PC, Mac or Chromebook too.

As expected, Google announced yesterday at I/O that the 3rd Developer Preview of Android N is now available for those registered in the beta program.  What is more interesting is that the company was quite clear that they believe this build is stable enough for general consumption on your every day devices.  It is a significant difference from the language used in the first two previews which was very clear in their “developer only” messaging.  While I would still caution those who don’t want to put up with odd behaviors or diminished battery life from download it, if you have an eligible device, you can get it through the Android Beta program site.