The first Android N Developer Preview was released in March last year, and continuing the trend, Google has released the first Android O Developer Preview. Just like last year, Google unexpectedly introduced the latest Android iteration, but we’re not complaining about it. Everyone loves updates, even though it takes a long time to roll out to consumers. As the name suggests, the first preview of Android O (we don’t know yet if it’s Oreo) is only available to developers. However, as with everything Android, you can install Android O Developer Preview on your Pixel or Nexus device.
note: I am installing Android O Developer Preview 1 on my Nexus 5X using a Windows laptop, but the process should be similar if not the same for other devices.
Some Things to Know
Note that beta updates are not supported in Android O Developer Preview if you have enrolled your device in the Android Beta program. Also, the process requires you to unlock your device’s bootloader which will delete all user data.
Flashing the system image delete user data, so I will advise you to backup your Android devices. You can check out our detailed article on different ways to backup an Android device. Also, since this is a very early developer build, you can expect lots of bugs and issues.
Things You Need
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Android O System Image
First, you will need to download the Android O Developer Preview system image for your device. You can download the pictures from the official Google website. here. The Android O Developer Preview is available as: Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, Pixel, Pixel XL and Pixel C.
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ADB and Fast Boot
you will need to have ADB and Fastboot tools on your Windows PC or Mac. You can download ADB and Fastboot here.
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Android Developer Options
Before starting the process,OEM Unlocking” and “USB debugging” is activated in Settings->Developer Options.
Unlock Your Device’s Bootloader
To flash the Android O system image, you must first unlock your device’s bootloader. To do this, first connect your Nexus or Pixel to your PC or Mac. At that time, Go to the path where ADB and Fastboot are located is installed on your computer. Here, open Command Prompt (hold Shift and right click to get the option) or terminal and enter the following commands:
- With Control if the device is connected or not:
adb devices
on your device “Allow USB debugging“. Tap on “OK”.
- Next, enter the command: reboot your device in bootloader mode:
adb reboot bootloader
- Once your device starts in bootloader mode, enter this command to make sure fastboot recognizes your device:
adb fastboot devices
- Then enter this command to unlock the bootloader:
adb fastboot oem unlock
You should then see several prompts on your device. Agree and after a while your device will be completely wiped and the bootloader will be unlocked.
note: If Fastboot does not recognize your device, make sure your PC has drivers for your device. You can manually install USB drivers from: here.
Flash Android O Image
Now that you’ve unlocked your device’s bootloader, let’s flash Android O on your Nexus or Pixel device:
- Firstly, Extract Android O system image you downloaded. Inside the extracted folder you will find another ZIP file, extract that too.
- After extracting all the files, make sure. move them to ADB and Fastboot folder.
- Next, make sure your Nexus or Pixel is in bootloader mode and Launch “flash-all.bat”. This file should open Command Prompt, burn all files and install Android O on your device.
- Many people, myself included, encountered errors while executing the batch file. But there is an alternative way. You can open Command Prompt from here and Flash these pictures one by one via these commands:
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash system system.img
- Once the scripts are finished, your device will reboot and Android O should be installed on your device.
You can go now Settings->System->About Phone and check the Android version (yes, the Settings page has been refreshed again). Android O brings a host of useful features like a new picture-in-picture mode, better notifications, improved battery life, UI changes, and more.
SEE ALSO: 8 Cool Android O Features You Should Know
Have you installed Android O on your Nexus or Pixel?
This is how you can install Android O on your Nexus or Pixel smartphone. As I mentioned above the build is still in a very early development stage so don’t flash it on your primary device. So, have you installed Android O yet? If so, let us know how you liked it in the comments section below. We will also bring you many articles about Android O features, Android O tricks, comparison to Nougat and more. So stay tuned for it!
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