Google had a lot of awesome stuff to announce at its 2017 developer conference. Alongside Google Lens and support for the Kotlin coding language, the company also announced that the second Android O developer preview would begin rolling out that day.
As exciting as a new version of Android can be, though, it’s important to remember that this is a developer preview – meaning, it’s meant for developers, and not intended for daily or consumer use. Loading up an unfinished version of Android means you run the risk of apps randomly closing, and lots of other inconsistencies throughout the OS.
I was pretty hesitant to load up the first Android O developer preview on my daily driver. But seeing as how Google made the second preview available through the Android Beta Program, I thought I’d give it a shot. Thus, I threw caution to the wind, put my SIM in my trusty ol’ Nexus 6P, and have been using the second Android O preview ever since.
If you have a compatible Nexus or Pixel device, should you do the same?
Android O Developer Preview 2 stability and battery life
A brief disclaimer: I’ve been having Nexus 6P battery life problems for months, long before the first Android O preview was released. I’m pretty sure it has to with a failing battery rather than poor software optimization, so be sure to keep that in mind before taking my word on battery stability.
With all that out of the way, I haven’t really experienced any battery issues caused by the second dev preview. I’m still getting a little over three hours of screen-on time, which is what I was getting with the stable build of 7.1.1 Nougat. That’s pretty good, especially considering this is only Google’s second Android O release. I still have high hopes that Google’s new background limits in apps will help with battery life in later builds though.
As far as day-to-day stability is concerned, I’ve actually had a pleasant experience with the second O preview thus far. I haven’t had any applications force close on me, and performance-wise, my 6P can still handle pretty much anything I throw at it: multitasking, graphic-intensive games, watching YouTube videos, etc. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity have also been awesome for me.
Of course, your mileage will vary.
Of the bugs I’ve encountered, none of them interfere with how I use my phone
Of the bugs I’ve encountered, none of them interfere with how I use my phone. Sometimes a random location prompt will show up on my home screen even though I’ve just closed it out. And sometimes notifications don’t show up properly in Ambient Display, and unlocking the phone with a swipe up on the lock screen brings up volume controls. That’s it though – these are all things I can certainly live with, especially if it means I get to use the latest version of Android.
All in all, in my experience, the second Android O preview is daily driver material. I’m not going to say everyone out there should be using it, but it’s more than good enough for me. But I also have multiple other Android phones to choose from on my desk, so the decision is a little easier for me.
Of the features Google introduced in this developer preview, I’m really loving the new look for the quick settings menu. The switch to light gray is really pleasing on the eyes, and I think it gives off a more minimalist look. Plus, there are a bunch of new animations to be found in the quick settings shade alone, which are always welcome.
I’m also loving the new battery settings menu. Google is trying to make this a little easier to understand for everyone, and it’s doing so by removing the battery history graph on the main screen. In its place, you’ll see a large battery icon that shows how long your device has left on its charge. Under that you’ll see how much time has passed since your last full charge, how much screen-on time your phone has achieved, followed by power management tools and app usage stats. Once you poke around in this menu a bit, I think you’ll find it is more intuitive than the previous implementation.
Stuff I haven’t tested yet
Unfortunately, things have become a little fragmented with the jump from the Nexus to the Pixel line. For starters, there are a bunch of goodies in the Pixel Launcher that I haven’t been able to try out since I’m using a Nexus 6P, which is still on the Google Now Launcher. I suppose I could download the Pixel Launcher apk and sideload it on my device to give it a shot, but that’s not the point of this article. I wanted to experience Android O the way Google wanted me to.
Some of the things I couldn’t test were improvements to the Pixel’s Night Light feature, long-pressing on icons to pull up widgets, notification dots, and changing icon shapes on my home screen.
If you want to learn more about all these non-Nexus improvements in Android O, check out our Diving into Android O series for all the details.
So now I want to hear from you. Have you used the second developer preview on your Nexus or Pixel device? How’s your experience been thus far?