Google has rolled out the fourth and final developer preview for Android O, which means that the public release of the latest major version of the Android operating system is coming very soon.
The final developer preview comes just two months after Google launched the Android O public beta at this year's Google I/O conference, as the operating system remains on track for its planned launch.
Android O Developer Preview 4
Google announced the release of the Android O Developer Preview 4 through a post on the official Android Developers blog, confirming that it is the final preview before the rollout of the public version of Android O.
As expected, the last developer preview does not contain any major changes. The final APIs included in Android O were rolled out with the third developer preview, so the fourth one mostly focused on stability and incremental updates. This will allow developers to run the final tests in the apps that they are preparing for the launch of Android O.
When Will Android O Launch?
With the final developer preview of Android O now out, Google appears to be on track for the plan to launch Android O this summer.
Google has still not set a definite date for when it will be releasing the final version of Android O. However, given that summer will not end until two months from now, it is probably safe to assume that Google will be meeting that deadline.
What Users Can Expect From Android O
Compared to Android 7.0 Nougat, Android O will not make significant changes to the overall look and feel of Android devices. This is because most of the improvements made to the operating system are under the hood.
Once Android O is launched and installed, users may expect longer battery lives, faster loading times, and improvements to the overall performance of their mobile devices.
Among the new features that will be included in Android O are Notification Dots, which is a new way to signal to users that there is new content waiting for them; Vitals, which shortens the boot time of Android by as much as half; Wise Limits, which places restrictions on the resources taken up by background apps; and Copy Less, which uses machine learning to make suggestions, in a bid to cut down the need for users to copy text between apps.
Android O will also bid goodbye to the weird blob emojis that were first introduced in Android 4.4 KitKat. The operating system will also introduce Project Treble, which aims to solve the fragmentation issue among Android smartphones and tablets.
