Google Delivers Android N Developer Preview 4 and Final Android N APIs

Google announced the 4th Developer Preview release of Android N today and revealed that the final version of the mobile OS will roll out to consumers “later this summer.” Additionally, the final Android N APIs are available to developers today.

As with previous Developer Preview releases, Android N Developer Preview 4 is available only to a limited set of supported devices, including the Google Nexus 6, Google Nexus 5X, Google Nexus 6P, Google Nexus 9, and Google Pixel C, as well as General Mobile 4G Android One devices and the Sony Xperia Z3. Developers can of course experience Android N Developer Preview 4 via the device emulators in Android Studio as well.

Google’s DP4 announcement includes a number of new features that will be of interest to developers, but nothing for end users. But the biggest change with this release will impact everyone: Developers can now publish Android N-specific apps (e.g. those apps that use API level 24) to the Google Play Store.

I’ve installed Android N DP4 to my Nexus 6P, but aside from the new installing animation shown above, I’ve not noticed any major changes so far. I’ll keep looking.