After a series of rumors and leaks, Google has finally released the first Android Q Beta and shared its factory images and OTA files. “Today we’re releasing Beta 1 of Android Q for early adopters and a preview SDK for developers,” Google said in its official announcement.
It should be noted that the first beta is aimed at developers and Android enthusiasts who love to go the extra mile to get the latest features as soon as possible. The final and stable Android Q release is expected to arrive in early August.
The first beta is currently available for all generation of Pixel smartphones, so the list of devices getting the taste of the new dessert is small:
- Pixel
- Pixel XL
- Pixel 2
- Pixel 2 XL
- Pixel 3
- Pixel 3 XL
The users can either manually enroll in the beta program and receive the updates or simply download the factory image and flash it manually.
Here are some useful links to help you get started with the beta:
- Android Beta Program for OTA updates
- Android Q images for manual flashing
- Flashing instructions
Some of the major features coming with this release are better privacy protection, support for foldable and new screen form factors, sharing shortcuts, improved connectivity permissions, new formats/codecs for multimedia, system-wide dark mode, desktop mode, Neural Networks API 1.2, etc. We’ll be soon covering all these features in detail in a separate article.
Which new Android Q feature did you like the most? Share your views in the comments section and keep reading Fossbytes.
