It looks like Google has teamed up with Sony to release an Android N Developer Preview for the Sony Xperia Z3. While this may not seem like a big deal to the average user—Google releases Android updates for a wide variety of devices, after all—until now, the preview edition for this particular operating system update has been reserved for Google Nexus devices.
This marks, of course, the first time, Android N will be available for any device outside of Google/Android’s native devices. And so, the Android N developer preview will be made available for not only the Nexus 5X, 6, 6P, Nexus Player, Pixel C Tablet, and Android One General Mobile 4G, as well as the Sony Xperia Z3.
The Xperia Z3 may be a little dated—released by Sony in 2014 with Android 4.4 KitKat. But the OS update came out just slightly later than the release of this particular device, which was also the testing ground for Android 5.1 Lollipop, albeit one devoid of Sony’s usual customizations.
But if you have been waiting for news like this you also need to know that this Android N preview is only going to be available on two of the five Xperia Z3 variants: the D6603 and the D6653; and instead of downloading the Android N developer preview from Google—as would normally be the case—users will need to visit Sony’s website and flash the preview over to their devices instead.
Now, if this sounds like something which interests you, here are a few features the Android N Developers Preview lets you test:
A new multitasking feature that can automatically resize your apps to fit your screen so they can run side by side (like on a laptop computer)
notification bundles to improve your efficiency
in-notification replies (so you don’t have to switch out of a text notification, for example, to send a reply text)
Android N Doze power-saving feature
For developers this preview allows them to test for bugs and make specific requests. For Google, of course, it offers them a chance to expand on their ability to find these bugs before the first public release of the platform.
[graphiq id=”5IEFA1zIeA5″ title=”Sony Xperia Z3″ width=”600″ height=”473″ url=”https://w.graphiq.com/w/5IEFA1zIeA5″ link=”http://smartphones.specout.com/l/1418/Sony-Xperia-Z3″ link_text=”Sony Xperia Z3 | SpecOut” ]