We are getting closer to the release of the next iteration of Android which is currently called Android O. The very first developer preview of Android O was released back in March this year, and, the latest one was released last month. However, Google has now released the fourth and final developer preview of Android O which means the next release will be a final release.
The third developer preview of Android O confirmed that Android O is indeed Android 8.0, however, we still don’t have any word on what this next version of Android will be called. While Android Oreo seems a more obvious one, there have been reports that it might be called Oatmeal Cookie.
Speaking of the fourth and final developer preview of Android O, Google says that this is a release candidate build and is pretty much closer to what you would find in the final release which will be rolled out to all.
This fourth developer preview can be used by app developers to test their apps on the near final version on Android O and make sure that their app offers a great experience to the users on Android O when released.
This developer preview comes with final system behaviors, latest bug fixes, optimizations and the final APIs (API level 26), all of which are available since the third developer preview. Apart from that, this final developer preview also comes with stable version of Android 26.0.0 Support Library. Updates to SDK, tools, and Android Emulator system images will be rolled out in the coming days.
The Android O Developer Preview 4 is available for Nexus Player, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Pixel C, Pixel, Pixel XL and the Android Emulator. If you have any of these devices and are enrolled in the beta program, you will receive the developer preview 4 in the form of OTA. If not, you can flash the update manually.
Google has said that the final version of Android O will be released “later this summer”, however, there’s no specific date given as to when that would happen.
