Android N Developer Preview is here!

Today Google released Android N Developer Preview. If you would like to find more information, please visit developer.android.com.

There you will find six sections:

• Program Overview

• Android N for Developers

• Behavior Changes

• Set Up the Preview

• Samples

• Support and Release Notes

In the Program Overview section, you will find information about the timeline and updates of preview releases.

Android N for Developer describes changes in Android SDK which include:

• Multi-window support

• Notifications

• Quick Settings Tile API

• Data Saver

• and more

Behavior Changes section tells you about:

• Performance Improvements – Doze & Project Svelte

• Permissions Changes – Android N introduces new permission: ACTION_OPEN_EXTERNAL_DIRECTORY also GET_ACCOUNTS is now deprecated

• Accessibility Improvements – Screen Zoom enables a user to magnify or shrink all elements on the screen

• Platform Migration toward OpenJDK 8, NDK Apps Linking to Platform Libraries, and Android for Work

Set Up the Preview guides you on how to get Android Studio 2.1, N Preview SDK, Java 8 JDK, and set up your development environment.

Thanks to Jack you can now use Java 8 features in Android back to Gingerbread. The following Java 8 features are available when targeting the Android N Preview:

• Default and static interface methods

• Lambda expressions

    fab.setOnClickListener(v -> { 
        Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hello Lambda", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT)
            .show();
    });
  

• Repeatable annotations.

You can enable Java 8 in Android Studio by setting the JDK Location field to the location of the Java 8 JDK and updating your build.gradle file:

android {
    compileSdkVersion 'android-N'
    buildToolsVersion 24.0.0

    ...

    defaultConfig {
        minSdkVersion 'N'
        targetSdkVersion 'N'

        ...
    }

    ...

    compileOptions {
        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    }
}

Be aware that the Instant Run does not currently work with Jack and will be disabled.

The Samples section contains 5 sample apps that demonstrate new Android N features including:

• Multi-Window Playground

• Active Notifications

• Messaging Service

• Direct boot

• Scoped Directory Access

In the Support and Release Notes section will find notes, known issues, and general advisories.

If you would like to read more about the new developer preview release, please visit:

• First Preview of Android N: Developer APIs & Tools

• Random Musings on the N Developer Preview

• Changelog for N Support Libraries

• What’s New in Android N