We’ve already detailed some of the new features coming to Android later this year in Android P, and now it’s time to try them out for yourself.

Google is running a beta program to let you run the latest preview of Android P on your smartphone, and thanks to adoption of Project Treble amongst manufacturers, there’s more phones than ever before able to run it, including phones from manufacturers like Sony, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Essential.

The supported devices are:

  • Essential Phone
  • Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL
  • Google Pixel and XL
  • Nokia 7 Plus
  • Oppo R15 Pro
  • Sony Xperia XZ2
  • Vivo X21 and X21UD
  • Xiaomi MiMix 2S

That’s 6 manufacturers besides Google themselves.

Now, not all of those phones are available in Australia so unless you’ve imported one you’re probably going to be looking at running the beta a Google Pixel or Pixel 2. We are.

If you’ve got one of these phones and don’t mind living on the bleeding edge of Android, head over to android.com/beta to find out how to get the Android P beta on your device (each manufacturer is hosting their own instructions, issue tracker and support page).

Google did call out OnePlus on the slide (seen above), but there’s no OnePlus phone listed on the Android Beta site – perhaps a sign that the OnePlus 6 will support Treble and be added to the page after release. It also gives us some hope that other phones with Treble support will be added to the list. (Update, 9.30am: OnePlus has officially announced support for the Android P Beta for the OnePlus 6)

Project Treble makes every device a developer device

Project Treble gives Android (and Google) a stable base of drivers for device hardware upon which to build a release of Android, and in the year since its announcement we’ve seen a number of community efforts to port Android releases onto devices that ship with Treble support but carry a heavily customised version of Android.

Now, Google is using Project Treble to allow them to distribute beta versions of Android for developers using hardware from a number of different manufacturers.

It seems that the mantle of “developer phone” formerly held by Google’s Nexus phone range now belongs to everyone… or at least, everyone with the right specs.

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Jason Murray
Before discovering the Nexus One, Jason thought he didn't need a smartphone. Now he can't bear to be without his Android phone. Jason hails from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane depending on his mood and how detailed a history you'd like. A web developer by day with an interest in consumer gadgets and electronics, he also enjoys reading comics and has a worryingly large collection of Transformers figures. He'd like to think he's a gamer, but his Wii has been in a box since he moved to Sydney, and his PlayStation Vita collection is quite lacking. Most mornings you'll find him tilting at various windmills on Twitter - follow @JM77 and say hi!
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Luke Roberts

I am on the Beta on my Pixel 2 XL which is my daily driver… – amazingly stable… – still getting used to the gestures… not sure if I am sold fully on them… – generally like the small changes to UX / colours etc – except for no drop-downs in the quick settings…just the normal press and hold to jump straight to those settings. – LOVE the improved in-line replies for messages… you can now see the previous few messages in the notification if you hit reply in-line – Don’t like the clock on the left hand side of… Read more »

Sujay

You know your Nexus 6P is getting old when it is left off the beta program for the next version of Android.

Stuart Knappstein

This makes me sad… Love my Nexus 6P still