A little over a week ago, Google officially announced the next major version of Android. With a new take on notifications, enhanced Bluetooth audio, a redesigned Settings menu and a whole lot more, Android O is shaping up to be quite a release. If all that sounds good to you, you can try it out right now! Alongside the announcement of Android O, Google also released the first developer preview of the new Android version.
But you should know that this is called a “developer preview” for a reason. Google made sure to mention in its announcement post that this first preview is for developers only, and not intended for daily or consumer use. The company isn’t even making it available in the Android Beta Program yet; you’ll have to flash the image manually if you want to give it a shot.
So, should you flash Android O on your Pixel or Nexus device? After using the first developer preview for a little over a week, we’ve decided to recount our experiences to help you decide.
Kris Carlon
Since I wrote the Android O features post I have only been using the O preview intermittently, so I can’t definitively say if I think it’s daily driver material or not. But what I can say is that in the time I’ve been using it, I’ve not seen any more instability or erratic behavior than I would on any stable version of Android. Of course, more frequent flyers might have varying mileage.
Lesson learned: don't flash a dev preview on a phone you need overseas
One thing that did crop up recently was Project Fi not picking up cellular coverage on a work trip to another country. I’d had Fi working fine on the dev preview before, but for the life of me I couldn’t get it going on that trip, despite repeated attempts. Oddly enough, once I returned home everything started working fine again. Lesson learned: don’t flash a dev preview on a phone you need overseas.
I’ve had lots of issues with lock screen notifications showing up reliably though, so if that’s an essential feature for you, stay away. Plenty of apps aren’t supported yet and those that are are temperamental. A lot of other background changes aren’t plugged in properly yet either, so I can’t tell you how “good” they are. I don’t mind the reconfigured Settings menu and other minor changes because they are what they are: if they arrive in Android O I’ll adapt.
Easily my favorite thing in Android O though is the ability to add additional soft keys to the nav bar. I’ve long been appalled at Android’s inability to be more precise when moving a cursor in some text to fix a spelling error or whatnot. Apple’s solution has historically been much better, but that’s all going to change in Android O.
Just enable the System UI Tuner, go to Navigation bar and add an extra left button with keycode 21 and an extra right button with keycode 22. Give them left and right arrow icons and you now have the most accurate cursor mover imaginable, and it lives down in the keyboard area so you don’t have to stop typing and awkwardly jab at the top of the screen whenever you need to correct a typo. It may seem like no big deal but trust me, set it up and it’ll soon be your favorite feature too.
As I said in the new features roundup, if you have a compatible device you should absolutely flash it to see things for yourself before Google starts retracting them in the next preview. But if you only have one Pixel or Nexus I wouldn’t bother. Watch Joe’s great quick look at Android O on YouTube and wait for things to hit the beta program.
Because even if I’ve found the first dev preview to be pretty stable on the occasions I’ve used it for extended periods of time, I can easily switch to another phone in a crisis. If you can’t do the same thing it’s definitely not worth it. The last thing you want is to be stranded somewhere with a malfunctioning dev preview and no way to flash a stable ROM.
Joe Hindy
Android O is a decent experience so far. Despite the many warnings from Google developers, the preview is surprisingly stable. However, I have run into the occasional app that doesn’t want to play nice. Additionally, there are some things around the OS that just mess up from time to time. However, once you get passed these, everything feels kind of like it should. It’s not too different from Nougat and most of the core functions work the same way.
Despite the warnings from Google developers, I've found the preview to be surprisingly stable
Of course, a lot of the upcoming features haven’t been added yet so there is still a lot left to play with. I’m looking forward to the next couple of developer previews. They should clear up some of these stability issues. The battery life has been good, if that counts. Good stuff, Google, but I’m more excited about tomorrow than today.
Dane O’Leary
When a new version of Android comes out, I expect to have one of two reactions: Either I’m taken aback by how different it is (á la Lollipop to Marshmallow) or I’m largely and disappointingly underwhelmed by the incremental changes (Marshmallow to Nougat). In other words, there’s a spectrum ranging from anxious anticipation to an anticlimactic letdown. In the case of the Android O Developer Preview, I’ve landed somewhere in-between.
On the surface, O looks virtually indistinguishable from N, which reiterated the Material Design aesthetic we first saw in Lollipop and Marshmallow. So I couldn’t help but be disappointed that the style of Android O is “so last season”. However, once that initial disappointment subsided, I came to really appreciate the subtle tweaks and enhancements that are woven throughout the operating system.
Perhaps my biggest problem happens to also be one of the biggest changes in Android O, which is—at least for me—the Settings menu revamp. It’s always frustrating when Google changes the Settings menu because you end up aimlessly wandering in and out of pages of menus to find what it is you’re looking for. While the new setup is certainly more organized, I can’t help but feel like Android O puts more menus between me and my destination. Personally, I quite liked how Settings was oriented in Nougat.
Personally, I quite liked how Settings was oriented in Nougat
As far as what I like about Android Oreo (wishful thinking?), I’m liking the added customization options that, admittedly, some third-party OEMs have offered users for several years at this point. For instance, the custom lock screen shortcuts I wrote about previously could potentially be a godsend. I should also mention the System UI Tuner, which facilitates the custom lock screen shortcuts and somehow feels more ‘official’ in lieu of making me feel like I need to hack my phone to unlock a secret menu. But arguably my favorite change Android O brings is the introduction of advanced codecs such as Sony’s LDAC, Google’s own AAudio API, and Qualcomm’s aptX and aptX HD; in short, audio streamed via Bluetooth will be exponentially better. Although I wouldn’t exactly call myself an audiophile per say, I do appreciate high-quality music and can say these changes make a difference.
Interestingly, one of my most-anticipated Android O features happens to be one of the least exciting, and that’s the new adaptive icons. Any Android user can sympathize with the frustrating that results from all your apps’ icons being different shapes and sizes. For the OCD among us, I can only imagine the palpitations induced by opening the app drawer. Although this is something that developers and OEMs will have to adopt, making icons adaptive means that we’re approaching a time when our app icons have the harmonious uniformity of iOS, making Android a much cleaner-looking OS. Again, it’s not the sexiest feature, but I welcome it with open arms.
Picture-in-picture support could be a game-changer, too. Until now, this is something we’ve only seen in YouTube — unless, of course, your device is made by Samsung. It will be so boss to start a video and have it playing in a window overlay while you continue to use other apps. Although split-screen support is great, this is the kind of multitasking I’ve been waiting for.
Virtually all of the changes implemented in Android O either revolve around the new Settings menu or are background enhancements. At least for now, moving from Nougat to O isn’t going to blow minds unless you’re someone who’s been eager for lock screen shortcuts and high-quality Bluetooth audio. But even bigger than the tweaks and enhancements is the potential for Android O to change how you use Android with features like picture-in-picture mode, better password management, and improved peripheral support. And this is only the first Android O Developer Preview, so we’ll have to wait and see if we get anymore new features as Android O is polished and improved.
Jimmy Westenberg
I’ve been using Android O on my Nexus 6P since the day after it arrived, and I’ve actually been really surprised with the stability thus far. I haven’t been using it as my daily driver, but I have been using it every day to check up on social networks, message coworkers and respond to emails.
As far as stability is concerned, I haven’t actually had any applications force close on me, aside from the Settings menu every once in awhile. My 6P can still handle pretty much anything you throw at it, including graphic-intensive games, frequent multitasking, etc.
One thing that has been pretty bad though is battery life. Unsurprisingly, battery life is pretty atrocious with this first developer preview. Now, since the stable release of Android 7.1.1 absolutely killed the battery on my Nexus 6P, prior to this I was only getting about three hours of screen on time. Now I’m getting about 2.5 hours of screen on time with Android O, but it will get better. This is an early release, after all, and I have faith that Google’s new background limits in apps will help with battery life in later builds.
Since a lot of the new features and improvements are behind-the-scenes, I’d have to say my favorite new thing in Android O is the new Settings menu. It’s been awhile since Android has seen a Settings menu redesign. While it’s not the most game changing improvement in this release, it’s still quite refreshing.
Anything that Google can do to improve battery consumption is fine in my book
I also like the new way Android handles notifications, particularly when it comes to snoozing and grouping by category. The ability to snooze individual notifications is a long-overdue feature, and notification channels will undoubtedly do wonders for keeping your notification shade clean and uncluttered.
As far as under-the-hood stuff is concerned, I’m really excited for the new background limits for applications. Aside from my Mate 9, battery life has been a huge frustration for me in recent months, both with the Nexus 6P and HTC 10. So anything that Google can do to improve battery consumption is fine in my book.
I can’t tell you that I’ve had a bad experience with this preview, but I can tell you my philosophy on these types of updates. I’m not planning on putting my SIM in the Nexus 6P until the preview at least comes to the Android Beta Program. Also, even though I haven’t complained much about stability, I still wouldn’t trust it to handle navigation in Google Maps or something that I really rely on.
All in all, this is a surprisingly stable developer preview so far, and I can’t wait to see what changes Google makes in the next preview.
Want to learn more about Android O? Be sure to check out our Diving into Android O series for more coverage!
Now we want to hear from you! Have you been using the first Android O Developer Preview? How stable has it been for you? Let us know what you think of it in the comments below.
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