Google Launches Android O Developer Preview 3 With Final APIs

An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: Google today launched the third Android O developer preview, available for download now at developer.android.com and via the Android Beta Program. The preview includes an updated SDK with system images for the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel C, and the official Android Emulator, and there's even an emulator for testing Android Wear 2.0 on Android O. The big highlight with this preview is that the Android O APIs are now final. Google launched the first Android O developer preview in March and the second developer preview in May at its I/O 2017 developer conference. Google is planning to release one more preview with near-final system images in July and has slated the final version for release "later this summer" (in Q3 2017). Developer Preview 3 includes the latest version of the Android O platform with the final API level 26 and "hundreds of bug fixes and optimizations."

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[ArmoredDragon]

Last I checked, nobody ever guarantees the performance of pre-release software, up to and including release candidates.

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[ruemere]

Maintaining reasonable standards of quality keeps the populace of your beta-testers happy. By losing on the goodwill of volunteers, you lose the people you wanted to test and buy your products. It's a good business practice to maintain cordial relationship with customers.

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[ArmoredDragon]

I don't think this is why Google releases beta software to the general public. The reason they do it is so that application developers can begin learning new API changes and additions, begin testing their own apps against newer versions of the OS, and if something that their app does triggers a new bug that was introduced, they can report it to Google for a fix before it goes live, and applying a fix becomes more difficult. (Google can't possibly test every single scenario that every developer encounters.)

I

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[el_smurfo]

I ran the DP2 on my 6P and it was totally acceptable. There were some memory management issues that made it a bit janky and hard to keep background programs in memory when the camera was launched, but nothing you might not expect from an early beta. DP3 has fixed every issue I had and it's running great, so I had a month where my phone was just a little bit "off", but hardly "barely alpha"

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[ruemere]

Because waiting for the people who are late is not a good strategy for those who want to move forward.

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[beanpoppa]

My Pixel and my wife's Nexus have been on Nougat for quite a while. Those who care can buy an Android phone that has the latest software. Google is exercising the practice of leading from the front.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Right, because if they didn't bother with new versions, everyone would still be on Gingerbread.

As for what they're doing about it, read up on Project Treble [arstechnica.com].