Google has unveiled the first developer preview of Android O ahead of the Google I/O 2017 event that s scheduled to take place in May.
Despite the early launch of the OS, it is nothing strange since the story was the same with Android N, which came in a little earlier than Android O. While the OS won’t be made available to the public until the second half of the year, Android developers can already flash the OS’ images on their compatible phones that include the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, Google Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X as well as the Nexus Player and Pixel C tablet.
But as for non-Google users who want to jump into the early Android O beta program, the search engine giant might probably open the door at a later time, just like it happened with Android 7.0 Nougat.
So far, we know that the upcoming Android O will have a lot of energy directed towards power management, improved notifications as well as enhanced audio codecs that will ensure high-quality audio even when connected via wireless devices like Bluetooth speakers.
Well, these updates and improvements are expected from Google, but did you know that Google’s partner OEMs have also play a significant role in ensuring that we get the best-performing Android OS? Well, according to a report by The Verge, a lot of this effort is coming into Android O, with Sony leading the way as far as contributions are concerned.
Apparently, the Japanese tech giant has already contributed to more than 30 feature improvements as well as a massive 250 bug fixes. In particular, the company is reportedly pushing to ensure that Android O is a much better platform when it comes to handling wireless hi-res audio. To achieve this, Sony is said to be contributing the LDAC wireless audio coding tech – something the company already employs in a number of its Xperia phones from the recent past. With LDAC, you can be promised of a higher data transfer rate over Bluetooth at a bitrate of 990Kbps.
Be warned that getting the best out of this enhanced Android O audio technology is not just dependent on the software, but also the hardware. As a result, the best can only be achieved if the device in question has hardware that supports the audio technology, which could spell some trouble for the likes of Xperia X and X Compact, among other midrangers.