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Google releases the first developer preview for Android O

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CIOL Writers
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Even before we could move over Android Nougat, Google has released the next iteration of Google's mobile operating system. Android O is here, only for developers, though. Like last year's (out of the blue) Nougat announcement, Google has launched the first developer preview for Android O, which probably stands for Android Oreo.

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Developers who own a Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, Pixel, Pixel XL or Pixel C device can test the latest preview, but they will have to download and flash their devices manually. After a bit more testing with developers, Google will open enrollment into O through Android Beta.

With Android O, Google is aiming to address a persistent smartphone problem, battery life. "Android O puts a big priority on improving a smartphone's battery life and the device's interactive performance," said Google's vice president of engineering Dave Burke in a blog post.

The company says a new functionality in Android O allows the operating system to narrow down what types of task, applications can do in the background, resulting in power saving for the end user.

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CIOL Google releases android o

Android O also introduces notification channels, which are new app-defined categories for notification content. Channels let developers give users fine-grained control over different kinds of notifications — users can block or change the behavior of each channel individually, rather than managing all of the app's notifications together.

The latest OS will also add Picture in Picture support, which will also be available for phones, and allow users to watch movies or other video clips while performing other activities, like checking email or surfing the web.

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Now developers can also provide better support arrow and tab navigation in their apps. “With the advent of Android Apps on Chrome OS and other large form factors, we’re seeing a resurgence of keyboard navigation use within Android apps,” Google said in the official announcement.

Android O will also bring in high-quality Bluetooth audio codecs such as LDAC codec. Plus there is AAudio, a new native API for apps which need high-performance, low-latency audio.

The Android O Developer Preview is available now but we are expecting to hear more during Google I/O 2017 in mid-May.

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