Google dropped Android 11 Developer Preview 1 on Wednesday, February 19, and the second preview on Wednesday, March 18. The company then released the third Android 11 Developer Preview on Thursday, April 23. We fully expected the next release to be the first Android 11 beta, but Google announced that it’s shifting its plans. A surprise fourth Android 11 preview landed on May 6, while the beta launch is getting pushed back until June.
There’s surprisingly a lot to dig into considering these are very early builds of the OS.
If you don’t want to install the Android 11 preview on your phone just yet, we wouldn’t blame you. Again, these are very early builds, so you’ll likely run into bugs and performance issues.
So, you’re probably wondering when the official, consumer-ready Android 11 release date is happening. Google has outlined the four developer previews and three Android 11 beta builds that it expects to release over the coming months. Check out the details below:
- Developer preview 1: Early baseline build focused on developer feedback, with new features, APIs, and behavior changes.
- Launched: February 19, 2020
- Developer preview 1.1: Early maintenance update with bug fixes and performance improvements based on feedback thus far.
- Launched: March 4, 2020
- Developer preview 2: Incremental update with additional features, APIs, and behavior changes.
- Launched: March 18, 2020
- Developer preview 2.1: Early maintenance update with bug fixes and performance improvements based on feedback thus far.
- Launched: April 2, 2020
- Developer preview 3: Incremental update for stability and performance.
- Launched: April 23, 2020
- Developer preview 4: Incremental update for stability and performance.
- Launched: May 6, 2020
- Beta 1: Initial beta-quality release, over-the-air update to early adopters who enroll in Android Beta.
- Expected launch date: June 3, 2020
- Beta 2: Platform Stability milestone. Final APIs and behaviors. Play publishing opens.
- Expected launch date: Early July, 2020
- Beta 3: Release candidate build.
- Expected launch date: Early August, 2020
- Final release: Android 11 release to AOSP and ecosystem.
If you aren’t a developer and don’t want to install the full preview on your device using your computer, we’ve got some good news. The more stable Android 11 beta 1 is coming soon. Traditionally, Google rolls out the first Android beta build to eligible users during Google I/O each year. Google I/O 2020 is actually cancelled, but the company has announced that the Android 11 beta release is taking place June 3, 2020 during an online event. So, for the first beta build, we can expect the Android 11 release date to be June 3, 2020.
You’ll also notice in the list above that the Android 11 Beta 2 contains something called a Platform Stability milestone. Google says it wants developers to use this milestone as a target for planning final compatibility testing. By this point, Android 11 will have reached final internal and external APIs, final app behaviors, and final non-SDK graylists.
Google has provided a rough Android 11 release date timeline:
Things have shifted a bit from Google’s original Android 11 release date timeline. Now that there’s a fourth Android 11 developer preview, the beta release has shifted back to June, while the beta 2 will likely land in July, with a final release scheduled for sometime in Q3 2020.
To learn more about Android 11, check out our related coverage below:
More posts about Android 11
from Android Authority https://ift.tt/2V9pmzF
