The Android train keeps rolling even though most phones out in the world are pretty much stuck on whatever version of the OS they’re currently running. And today, Google announced another small step forward with the start of Android Nougat 7.1.2 testing.
“Android 7.1.2 is an incremental maintenance release focused on refinements, so it includes a number of bug fixes and optimizations, along with a small number of enhancements for carriers and users,” Google VP Dave Burke notes in a post to the Android Developers Blog.
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As with previous Android Nougat beta releases, this one is open to only a very small list of devices, mostly from Google. But there is one big change this time around: For the first time, those with Pixel and Pixel XL handsets can participate too.
So for this first beta release, those with a Pixel or Pixel XL, Nexus 5X, Nexus Player, or Pixel C device can sign-up for the Android Beta Program and begin testing pre-release versions of Android Nougat 7.1.2. The Nexus 6P will be let into the testing for a later release, Google says.
The public beta will be delivered to eligible phones in the next few days. (And you can leave the beta at any time and return to the shipping version of Android, too, something that is not so easy for those testing Windows 10 in the Windows Insider Program.) There is no word on any new features, but Google says that Android Nougat 7.1.2 will be finalized in “a couple of months.”
I’ve added my Pixel XL to the list. It can only help.
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<blockquote><em><a href="#39469">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Darmok N Jalad">Darmok N Jalad</a><a href="#39469">:</a></em></blockquote>
<p>What? Paul never had an affair with Android, because it’s Google. You can read it by his posts, when he carries the MSFT narrative of "Scroogle" campaign, his antitrust crusade, and just recently he even questioned (on the latest What the Tech episode) on whether Chromebooks are real computers. </p>
<p>Paul moved on to Android because he got bored with his "special" Windows Phone and he saw that writing on the wall….it was breathing it’s last breaths. So he moved to Android, because it’s the only system where he can get build a quality ecosystem centered around Microsoft Office. Google comes out with a better phone, the Pixel, and he even said that he preferred his Nexus. LOL….THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE! </p>
<p>I have a Windows Phone Lumia 735 (Verizon). For a Microsoft fan, who wants an all-Microsoft ecosystem….that phone is still good. I can’t see why any Microsoft fan would want to switch to something else. </p>
<p>I think Mary Jo described Paul very well, during one episode of Windows Weekly. She told someone, I have a colleague who is about 50 and he plays video games.</p>
<p>Take the opening sentence: "The Android train keeps rolling even though most phones out in the world are pretty much stuck on whatever version of the OS they’re currently running." LOL…everyone knows that’s not Google’s fault. </p>
<p>I’ll tell you this much, if Paul came out of his Microsoft bubble and participated in technology roundtables, he’d be creamed!</p>