This year Google’s developer previews for Android 11 has been not just premonitions for Android 11 but also for Pixel phones this year with some of the new features we are seeing in developer previews making it into stable Android 10 builds on a monthly basis. For this reason we are paying closer attention to each developer preview when it is released than ever before.
Overnight Google started rolling out the third developer preview for Android 11 on Pixel phones in what will be the last developer preview before the first beta is rolled out. Usually the first beta is released at Google I/O around mid-May so this last testing phase you would think should be relatively stable. We expect that timeline to be kept and Google does too — we also expect it to be released alongside the Pixel 4a and the second generation Pixel Buds. More information on the timeline can be found here.
Once again the developer preview builds are designed for developers only and are thus only installable using fastboot flashing — a change Google made this year to prevent people who did not know how to fix issues or go back to stable Android from playing around with it.
This incremental update brings quite a few changes yet again including:
- Wireless debugging is now official and totally revamped
- Faster installation of large APK files using ADB incremental
- Undo removing an app from Recents multitasking
- Ability to change gesture sensitivity
- New Screenshot UI
- All notifications can now be dismissed, including ongoing ones
The Android 11 Developer Preview 3 is available now in both full factory image and OTA flashable incremental update for Pixels 2, 2 XL, 3, 3 XL, 3a, 3a XL 4 and 4 XL. Head on over to the appropriate link for your device and check it out.
