Nokia 8.1 among the first to offer Android Q Beta to developers

HMD Global has announced that Android Q Beta is now available through the Nokia phones developer preview programme on the award-winning Nokia 8.1. This allows app developers to test and optimise their software for the upcoming Android Q operating system. By participating in the Android developer preview programme, Nokia phones continue to bring the latest innovations from Google to developers and deliver on the promise of phones that just keep getting better. 

The Nokia phones developer preview programme pioneered with the Android 9 Pie preview on the Nokia 7 Plus. Now in its second year, it is designed to help developers design, test and perfect their Android apps in readiness for Play Store certification before each new version of Android software rolls out.

Android Q will provide users with greater control over their data, for instance when apps have access to your location. The latest Android operating system will offer improved privacy features such as restrictions to background activity starts and an update to better protect sensitive device identifiers.

Consumers can look forward to the improved gesture-based navigation that takes advantage of today’s edge to edge displays and a new dark theme that aside from being easy on the eye will also help you save battery.

As with the Android 9 Pie developer preview, not only will members have access to the Android Q Beta software, but they can also share ideas and collaborate using the community forum. HMD Global’s in-house developer team will continue to offer a formal feedback channel, offering support for 16 languages. This will be integrated into the software itself, and once submitted, issues can be reviewed and corrected in the fastest time possible.

The programme will provide invaluable feedback for analytics and error analysis from a wide geographical user base and cultural diversity, helping Google to refine the final build of the Android Q operating system for end users.