Android O Developer Preview 3 Released; Confirms Android Version 8.0

Google on Thursday released the third developer preview build of Android O for developers. The latest preview confirmed the Android version to be Android 8.0. When Android O was announced, the version number had been kept under wraps, and has only been revealed now.

The company dropped the first developer preview build of the next major Android release in March, and the second developer preview was out at I/O 2017 last month. The company on Thursday released Developer Preview 3 with the final Android O APIs. Google has said that there will be another released in July which will bring "near-final system images."

The new Developer Preview 3 build will be rolling out to eligible users who are already enrolled in the Android Beta Program. The compatible devices include the Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel C, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, and Nexus Player. Dave Burke, VP of Engineering, announced the release of Developer Preview 3 in a blog post.

Google says that the latest preview build includes the latest version of the Android O platform with the final API level 26 and hundreds of bug fixes and optimisations. Developers can download the final API 26 SDK from the SDK Manager in Android Studio, and Android Support Library 26.0.0 beta 2 from Google's Maven repository. Google, once again, teases that the consumer launch of the latest Android O version is "approaching in the coming months."

Android Police reported the version first and notes that the settings page on their Nexus 6P showed Android 8.0.0 as the exact version.

So far, we know that Android O brings with it background limits, notification channels, standard autofill APIs, picture-in-picture video, adaptive icons, as well as support for multi-display.

If you have one of the eligible Google hardware then you can sign-in for the Android Beta program. Developers and early adopters can enrol via android.com/beta and opt-in via eligible Android smartphone (or tablet). As before, users can also download and flash the new update manually.