You Can Now Get The First Taste Of Android 15 — The Developer Preview
2024 is the year of Android 15 and the first signs of the operating system coming later this year have come with the official release of the Android 15 Developer Preview. For developers, this means they can start getting to work to make sure their applications take advantage of all the goodness bound to come with the new OS.
Although it is intended for Android application developers, you don’t have to be a developer to give the Android 15 Developer Preview a test run. If you have a Google Pixel and you’re a big enough Android lover, you can install it on your phone just to get a first look at how the new OS will look and handle.
If you do decide to jump on the developer preview, your feedback is invaluable towards making the eventual release version a bug-free success. So yes, even if you’re not a developer, Google welcomes you giving the preview a spin.
What Are Some Of The Improvements Coming With Android 15?
Android 15 is coming with quite a few improvements over Android 14 to make the user experience much better. While some features might end up dropped in the final version, most of them stay in. You can expect security, performance, efficiency, and other quality-of-life improvements. Here are some things you will see in the Android 15 Developer Preview:
- Health Connect will provide a centralized platform on Android for health and fitness data. This should make the smartwatch integration experience much richer.
- A new feature, partial screen sharing, will protect your privacy by allowing only a specific app window to be shared instead of the entire display.
- Creators might soon be able to connect their Android smartphone and use it as a virtual MIDI device. This is perfect for DJs and music producers.
- Dynamic Performance will allow performance-intensive apps to integrate a lot more tightly with the GPU, CPU, and thermal systems in the smartphone.
How Can You Install The Android 15 Developer Preview?
If this sounds exciting to you, you can get the Android 15 Developer Preview installed and set up on your phone. You’ll need to have a Google Pixel 6 or newer, which includes the Pixel Fold and the Pixel Tablet.
If you’re not experienced with this kind of thing, it can be a little risky if things go wrong. But all you need to do is use the Android Flash Tool which will walk you through all the steps, and get the Android 15 Developer Preview system image for your specific device.
Just keep in mind that installing a developer preview will wipe all data on the device, so back everything up first!
