# 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](https://developer.android.com/preview/index.html).

There you will find six sections:

* [Program Overview](https://developer.android.com/preview/overview.html)
    
* [Android N for Developers](https://developer.android.com/preview/api-overview.html)
    
* [Behavior Changes](https://developer.android.com/preview/behavior-changes.html)
    
* [Set Up the Preview](https://developer.android.com/preview/setup-sdk.html)
    
* [Samples](https://developer.android.com/preview/samples.html)
    
* [Support and Release Notes](https://developer.android.com/preview/support.html)
    

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](https://developer.android.com/preview/features/multi-window.html)
    

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1740739104996/f9cd6ab9-cd3f-4562-80c2-2c10b6eaae13.png align="left")

* [Notifications](https://developer.android.com/preview/features/notification-updates.html)
    

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1740739132918/4f1e49d7-8479-498f-8ec6-2a5afa7594b8.png align="left")

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1740739162222/35776928-0b41-49f6-8cd6-164406d673fa.png align="left")

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1740739177747/add530ec-f9ec-4c52-8072-bb33671d62f6.png align="center")

* [Quick Settings Tile API](https://developer.android.com/preview/api-overview.html#tile_api)
    
* [Data Saver](https://developer.android.com/preview/features/data-saver.html)
    
* [and more](https://developer.android.com/preview/api-overview.html)
    

**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](https://source.android.com/source/jack.html) you can now use [Java 8 features](https://developer.android.com/preview/j8-jack.html) in Android back to Gingerbread. The following Java 8 features are available when targeting the Android N Preview:

* [Default and static interface methods](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/IandI/defaultmethods.html)
    
* [Lambda expressions](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/lambdaexpressions.html)
    
    ```java
    fab.setOnClickListener(v -> { 
        Toast.makeText(getActivity(), "Hello Lambda", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT)
            .show();
    });
    ```
    
* [Repeatable annotations](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/annotations/repeating.html).
    

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:

```java
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](https://github.com/googlesamples/android-MultiWindowPlayground)
    
* [Active Notifications](https://github.com/googlesamples/android-ActiveNotifications)
    
* [Messaging Service](https://github.com/googlesamples/android-MessagingService)
    
* [Direct boot](https://github.com/googlesamples/android-DirectBoot)
    
* [Scoped Directory Access](https://github.com/googlesamples/android-ScopedDirectoryAccess)
    

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](https://android-developers.blogspot.com/2016/03/first-preview-of-android-n-developer.html)
    
* [Random Musings on the N Developer Preview](https://commonsware.com/blog/2016/03/09/random-musings-n-developer-preview.html)
    
* [Changelog for N Support Libraries](https://michaelevans.org/blog/2016/03/09/changelog-for-n-support-libraries/)
    
* [What’s New in Android N](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsulIu3UaUM)