There aren’t a lot of handsets out there that are running Android 8.0 Oreo and Google today announced a new version of Android. Granted, it’s going to be an incremental bump. The Android 8.1 developer preview has been officially announced by Google today. The company has also confirmed that the final version of the developer preview is going to be released in December this year.
Android 8.0 Oreo was present on the new Pixel handsets out of the box and they’ve been running this version of the Android operating system since they were released. A new version of Android has now been announced which will eventually make its way to these and other handsets.
The Android 8.1 developer preview is supported on recent Google smartphones such as the Pixel and Nexus handsets. These include the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P. The supported Pixel devices include the Pixel C, original Pixel handsets, the Pixel 2, and the Pixel 2 XL.
All system images of the Android 8.1 developer preview are now available for download from Google’s website. Users should keep in mind that their handsets need to have an unlocked bootloader if they’re thinking about flashing the developer preview.
The preview is going to be available until the stable version of the OS is released. Google expects to have it rolling out to all users by December this year.