Android N: Google veröffentlicht vierte – und wahrscheinlich finale – Developer Preview

 

Seit der überraschenden ersten Developer Preview veröffentlicht Google Mitte jedes Monats eine neue Preview-Version des kommenden Betriebssystems Android N – und an diesen Plan hält man sich auch in diesen Monat wieder: Vor wenigen Minuten wurde die vierte Developer Preview offiziell veröffentlicht, die sich nun eher wieder an Entwickler richtet. Laut dem offiziellen Changelog soll diese Version in vielen Punkten bereits endgültig sein.

Google liegt mit Android N sehr gut im öffentlich kommunizierten Zeitplan und dürfte die endgültige Version tatsächlich im Sommer auf die Smartphones der Nutzer bringen. Im April gab es die zweite Developer Preview und im vergangenen Monat hat man mit der dritten Developer Preview gleichzeitig auch erstmals eine Beta-Version auf den Markt gebracht. Die vierte könnte nun die letzte sein.

Da die Version erst wenige Minuten alt ist, ist noch nicht viel über größere Änderungen bekannt. Offiziell bekannt gegeben hat Google bisher, dass die API nun bei Version 24 angekommen ist und endgültig ist – es wird bis zum offiziellen Release also keine Änderungen mehr für Entwickler geben. Das 3D-Touch Feature wurde, wie bereits angekündigt, zurück gezogen und ist in der neuen Version nicht mehr enthalten. Auch in der finalen Version sollte es dann nicht mehr enthalten sein.

Hier der vollständige Changelog:

New in DP4
 
Android N final APIs
 
Developer Preview 4 includes the final APIs for the upcoming Android N platform. The new API level is 24.
 
Play publishing
 
You can now publish apps that use API level 24 to Google Play, in alpha, beta, and production release channels.
 
Android Studio and tools updates
 
Along with Developer Preview 4 we’re providing the final API 24 SDK to be used with Android Studio 2.1.2 and higher. In addition, we’re releasing updated Developer Preview 4 system images for the emulator to help test your apps.
 
As new updates roll out for Android Studio, you should see minor improvements in the new project wizards and AVD manager as we add enhanced support for API 24. These are primarily cosmetic changes and should not stop you from getting your app ready for an update in the Play store.
 
Feature and API changes
•In previous versions of Android, an app activates with all of its locale resources loaded before locale negotiation begins. Starting in Android N DP4, the system negotiates resource locales individually for each resource object before the app activates.
•As announced at Developer Preview 3, we’ve deferred the Launcher Shortcuts feature to a later release of Android. In Developer Preview 4, we’ve removed the Launcher Shortcuts APIs.
•We’ve changed the BLE Scanning behavior starting in DP4. We’ll prevent applications from starting and stopping scans more than 5 times in 30 seconds. For long running scans, we’ll convert them into opportunistic scans.
•The Multi-Window android:minimalHeight and android:minimalWidth attributes have been renamed to android:minHeight and android:minWidth.
 
Known Issues
 
Stability
•Users may encounter system instability (such as kernel panics and crashes).
 
Launcher
•The default launcher’s All Apps tray may become unresponsive after cycling the screen off and on. Returning to the homescreen and relaunching theAll Apps tray may resolve this issue.
 
Setup Wizard
•Crash on selecting „Not now“ in „Set up email“ screen.
 
Media
•Media playback may be unreliable on Nexus 9 and Nexus Player, including issues playing HD video.
•Occasional freeze when running the YouTube app with other apps in multi-window mode on Pixel C devices. In some cases hard reboot is required.
•Apps may have issues playing some Widevine DRM-protected content on Nexus 9 devices.
•Issues handling VP8 video on Nexus 9 devices.
 
External storage
•Apps may become unstable when the user moves them from internal storage to adoptable external storage (this can include SD card or devices attached over USB).
 
Screen zoom and multiple APKs in Google Play
•On devices running Android N, Google Play services 9.0.83 incorrectly reports the current screen density rather than the stable screen density. When screen zoom is enabled on these devices, this can cause Google Play to select a version of a multi-APK app that’s designed for smaller screens. This issue is fixed in the next version of Google Play services and will be included in a later Developer Preview release.
 
Vulkan support and multiple APKs in Google Play
•On devices running Android N, Google Play services 9.0.83 currently reports Vulkan support but not Vulkan version. This can cause Google Play to select a version of a multi-APK app that’s designed for lower Vulkan support on devices with higher version support. Currently, the Google Play Store does not accept uploads of apps which use Vulkan version targeting. This support will be added to the Google Play Store in the future and fixed in the next version of Google Play services (to be included in a later Developer Preview release). Any N devices using the version of Google Play services 9.0.83 will continue to receive versions of apps targeting basic Vulkan support.
 
Accessibility
•Switch access doesn’t allow user to navigate web pages in Chrome.
•Accessibility issues for talkback users with notification dismissal, and wifi selection screen.
 
Android for Work
•Currently, CA certificates provisioned through DevicePolicyManager are not available to profiles other than the primary user/profile due to a preload issue. For example, this could prevent a user from connecting to a trusted server when in a Work profile. This issue will be resolved in the next Developer Preview.
 
Fixes for issues reported by developers
 
A number of issues reported by developers have been fixed, including:
•The active network state (NetworkInfo.getState() and NetworkInfo.getDetailedState()) might return incorrect values during some restricted background scenarios
•Data Saver restricts the foreground MMS mobile network request (bug 208478)
•Quick settings tiles and notifications sometimes unresponsive
•Unable to dismiss Clock notifications
•Duplication of bluetooth icon and other status icons
•Additional bluetooth connectivity fixes

Das Update für alle OTA-Abonnenten wird in den nächsten Stunden für alle kompatiblen Geräte ausgerollt und sollte dann wohl spätestens in den nächsten zwei Tagen bei allen Nutzern angekommen sein. Wer darauf nicht warten möchte, kann sich das neue Betriebssystem auch direkt hier herunterladen und es dann direkt auf das Smartphone flashen.

Spätestens in einem Monat dürfte Google dann auch die endgültige Bezeichnung für Android N bekannt geben.

[AndroidPolice]

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