Android 14 was officially released on October 4. And Google is already working on its successor, Android 15. Recently, he announced his first Developer Preview, a very preliminary version so that developers can become familiar. And although we still know little about what news will it bring With it, little by little we are learning more. Including a preliminary schedule of the different phases that Android 15 will go through until it reaches its Final Release or final version.
We already know How the Android ecosystem works. You won’t always be able to update to a new version on your mobile device, tablet, smart TV or dongle. But it doesn’t hurt to know what the most recent version of Android is, taking into account that Android 15 will be available in the second half of 2024. And even if your phone has Android 11 or 12, like the vast majority of users, who knows if one day it will be worth it for you to purchase a device that includes Android 15 as standard.
Let’s see what we can extract from the official announcement of Android 15. Mainly, the flagship new features of this 2024 Android. And what does its launch schedule have in store for us. Although it does not have specific dates, it does allow us to glimpse when its final version will be available, which the lucky ones who have the compatible phone model.
Main new features of Android 15
Dave Burke, VP of Engineering at Android, published an article announcing Android 15on February 16, on the blog for Android developers. In reality, the advertisement is Android 15 Developer Preview. A first test version to get in touch. Thus, application, device and service developers can begin to update their developments to this new version. Or incorporate your news.
To start, the ad talks about “improving your productivity while providing new capabilities to produce superior media experiences, minimize the impact of batterymaximize the performance application fluid and protect the privacy and the security of the user, all in the most diverse line of devices that exists.” A promising summary, although so generic that it could well be used for the latest Android updates.
Getting more to the point, “Android allows its apps to take advantage of premium device hardware, including high end camerapowerful GPUs, dazzling screens and AI processing”. In summary. With Android 15, Google wants to enhance and take advantage of the most complete cameras that the most expensive phones on the market have. Inevitably, you want to integrate the use of artificial intelligence and, finally, it will also focus its efforts on screens of all types. It must be taken into account that, on the one hand, we find Android in tablets and televisions with more and more inches. And on the other hand, the folding phones.
More news to take into account
- Improvements in Privacy Sandbox, announced in Android 13. Privacy and personalized advertising. More information here.
- Improvements in Health Connectintegrated in Android 14. “A secure and centralized platform for manage and share health and fitness data collected by the application.” More information here.
- Partial screen sharing. “Share or record just one application window instead of the entire device screen.” This feature initially appeared in Android 14.
- Further controls in the Camera app. Boosting the brightness when there is little light or adjusting the intensity of the flash light are the two main new features.
- UMP support for virtual MIDI applications.
- API improvements Android Dynamic Performance Framework (ADPF). They serve compatible devices to improve the battery usage and to adjust the CPU and GPU frequencies to optimize its performance, among other notable new features.
For the rest, as Android 15 goes through the different phases of development, we will learn more about these developments. What’s more, not all of them may appear activated in the Developer Preview 1 or are completely functional. And who knows if other changes and improvements not yet announced will be incorporated. We will have to wait a few months to know.
Some developers and testers have already found some new in Android 15 Developer Preview beyond those officially announced:
- it’s possible disable keyboard vibrations on all keyboards.
- Slight vibration when changing the brightness level.
- Putting down the notification volume.
- Continue using apps when you close the phone (folding models like Pixel Fold).
- They could return Widgets on the lock screen.
- Archive applications.
Release schedule
Officially, the Android 15 development program begins in February 2024 and, although there is no specific date, “the final public release for AOSP (Android Open Source Project) and OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) is scheduled for the end of the year.” If the schedule is met, we would be talking about September or October at the earliest. Between February and March, it will be available Android 15 Developer Preview. Between April and June, the versions Beta. Between June and August, more Beta versions but more stable. And finally, starting in September and, as a limit, December, we should already be able to see the Final version of Android 15.
- February 2024: Developer Preview 1. Preview version for developers to test the main new features, APIs and other initial changes.
- March 2024: Developer Preview 2. More news, APIs and other changes.
- April 2024: Beta 1. Available for Android Beta testers. Update from the phone itself, over-the-air.
- May 2024: Beta 2. Second Beta version to continue testing compatibility, possible errors, etc.
- June 2024: Beta 3. Third Beta version. More stable.
- July and August 2024: Beta 4 and later. To debug small changes and check that everything works correctly in Android 15.
- End of 2024: Android 15 Final Version. Ready for the entire Android ecosystem. As usual, It will depend on each manufacturer offer this update to its users on each model and device.
Android 15 compatible phones
The phones that, for now, are known to be compatible with Android 15 are the Google Pixel. As the months go by we will know more phone manufacturers and models to be added to the list. Additionally, keep in mind that many manufacturers use their own versions of Android with custom layers, which will mean some delay in incorporating Android 15 into their latest phones.
Phones compatible, for now, with Android 15:
- Google Pixel 6
- Google Pixel 6 Pro
- Google Pixel 6a
- Google Pixel 7
- Google Pixel 7 Pro
- Google Pixel 7a
- Google Pixel Tablet
- Google Pixel Fold
- Google Pixel 8
- Google Pixel 8 Pro