Google has finally gone ahead and introduced the latest Android 14 Developer Preview. The company has decided to hit the same spot as last year, by releasing the developer preview in February. This is impressive considering how the company is already working on the Quarterly Platform Releases on Android 13, and working on the new developer preview simultaneously is no easy job.
Google gifts us with the first Android 14 Developer Preview with loads of new enhancements
With that said, let’s dive into the new developer preview. We have five tentpoles this time. The first one is, “working across devices and form factors.” Google has discussed how “Android 14 builds on the work done in Android 12L and 13 to support tablets and foldable form factors.”
The company also mentioned how it is looking to make it easier for all developers to optimize their apps to be ready for all form factor devices. You are also looking at Cross Device SDK, which will be used for cross-device audio switching that the company announced recently.
The second tentpole is unsurprising, Customization. Google has not shed much light here aside from mentioning that with Android 14, users can scale their font up to 200%, which is a drastic increase, but it might be suitable for some users.
We then move to Privacy and Security, where Android 14 will ensure that apps with targetSdkVersion lower than 23 cannot be installed. This feature was recently spotted, and it is good to see that it is finally making its way toward Android 14.
Furthermore, with Android 14, the background work is also streamlined. What Google has done with the new OS is made a change where apps that are exempt from clocks or calendars category will have to request the user to grant them specific permissions before they can set alarms.
Google has then talked about making changes to APIs that are already in place,
In Android 14, we are making changes to existing Android APIs (Foreground Services and JobScheduler) including adding new functionality for user-initiated data transfers, along with an updated requirement to declare foreground service types. The user-initiated data transfer job will make managing user initiated downloads and uploads easier, particularly when they require constraints such as downloading on Wi-Fi only.
In addition, Android 14 will also be bringing per-app language preferences, which, the way it sounds, will allow you to set a specific language for an app you are using without having to change the language throughout the entire system.
The last tentpole is App Compatibility, where Google has added support to OpenJDK 17 Support, along with easier testing and debugging of changes. The former will enable Java 17 language features in upcoming developer previews. Features such as record classes, multi-line strings, and more
Thanks to Google Play system updates (Project Mainline), over 600M devices are enabled to receive the latest Android Runtime (ART) updates that include these changes. This is part of our commitment to give apps a more consistent, secure environment across devices, and to deliver new features and capabilities to users independent of platform releases.
As far as the platform stability milestone, Google has mentioned it before and, and judging by that, is hoping to achieve that milestone by July, with final release happening sometime in August.
Android 14 system Images and OTA files for all supported phones are available. We will do a follow-up guide on how you can install it on your support device. For now, you can download the files below. For complete information on the new developer preview, you can check here.
Pixel 7 Pro: Factory Image — OTA
Pixel 7: Factory Image — OTA
Pixel 6a: Factory Image — OTA
Pixel 6 Pro: Factory Image — OTA
Pixel 6: Factory Image — OTA
Pixel 5a: Factory Image — OTA
Pixel 5: Factory Image — OTA
Pixel 4a (5G): Factory Image — OTA
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