The next version of Android is closer than we think. Android 14 was just released late last year, but Google is already working on what’s next, with Android 15 now being in an early stage of testing. If you don’t mind very broken software, you can install the next OS on your Android phone and see how it fares. Now, Google has just released the second developer preview of Android 15, and it’ll be a bigger release than we initially thought.
Google is now rolling out the second developer preview of Android 15 to eligible Pixel phones. While it’s still in an early testing stage (hence why it’s still a developer preview and not a beta), we can see how the operating system is taking more shape. We previously thought that this would be a rather uneventful release compared to previous ones, but there is improved support for satellite connectivity.
We’ve been waiting for satellite support on Android since the iPhone 14 was released with satellite support, as we’ve lacked an equivalent feature in the Android ecosystem. Now, we might see Android phones with satellite starting next year or even later this year. Operating system-level support is the first step to be taken for it to become widespread, and we’re glad to see it’s happening. Qualcomm tried to develop a proprietary solution that didn’t go anywhere, and the company’s Snapdragon chips are still capable of satellite connectivity in theory, but it’s unclear if that will be compatible with the functionality in Android 15.
Other additions in this release include improvements to how NFC (and contactless payments) work, as well as improvements to how PDF files are read. Most of the changes in this release are mostly relevant for developers, and if you’re a developer, we certainly invite you to check out the full list of changes. Still, with the addition of satellite support in this release, it looks like Google is adding more and more customer-facing stuff slowly but steadily.
It should also be noted that this is only the second developer preview. The first “beta” release will drop next month, while the OS will reach the “platform stability” stage (where it’s usually feature-complete) by June. So we’ll probably be seeing more and more stuff drop as new previews and betas are released over the course of the next three months. We’ll need to wait and see.
Source: Google
