Google SVP of Android Hiroshi Lockheimer just announced that a super-early developer preview of Android N, the next version of the mega-popular mobile operating system, is now available to download.
The headlining features of Android N, per a separate Google blog entry:
Multi-window support, like on the Apple iPad Pro, and the ability to quickly reply to messages straight from the notification, just like on an iPhone.
Other new features include better battery and data efficiency and the option to group notifications from the same app together from the notification pane. Plus, you'll be able to block spammers.
Android N, which doesn't yet have a proper name (like Android Marshmallow, the previous release), will go out to device manufacturers this summer, Lockheimer writes. He does tease in the post that Android N's name will have some kind of "nut"-theme.
By releasing a super-early preview, Google is giving app developers more time to perfect their wares before the final release, across all of the 400-plus companies currently making Android phones, Lockheimer explained.
"Last year, we took a hard look at our 2016 plans, with an eye towards building a timeline that gives everyone the opportunity to make the next release of Android stronger," Lockheimer writes.
Furthermore, Lockheimer, says, Google is going to make it easier for the owners of Google-made Android devices to try out the new Android N through an Android Beta Program. If you own a Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, Nexus 9, or Pixel C device, you can opt in to this program and download Android N later today.
"By making it easier for you to try out the developer previews, and giving all of us more time to tweak and iterate, we hope to create a stronger platform that’s fine tuned for you and the billions of people that use Android everyday," Lockheimer writes.
On February 28, Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, joined 31 other media groups and filed a $2.3 billion suit against Google in Dutch court, alleging losses suffered due to the company's advertising practices.
