After launching as a public beta in March, Android 7.0—otherwise known as Nougat—is officially out of its beta stage and available for Android devices. Well, sort of.
Android 7.0 is initially available for only Nexus devices—the ones made by Google—as is customary for the update process. The Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 9, Nexus Player, Pixel C tablet, and the General Mobile 4G made the cut of devices that will make the jump right away. Any devices enrolled in the Android Beta Program will also receive the over-the-air update.
Missing from the list of supported devices are the Nexus 5 and the 2013 model of the Nexus 7. Neither of the devices received support in the Android 7.0 developer beta builds, and both have outlived the period of guaranteed updates for major versions of Android. (Both will continue to receive security patches for a little longer.)
For the devices that do make the jump, Google is promising 250 “major” features. Many are sure to go mostly unnoticed, but there are some prominent changes that will affect users.
Perhaps the biggest addition is the multi-window view, which allows users to run two apps side-by-side in resizable windows. A new notifications pane is also included in Android 7.0—which will offer a direct reply feature, making it possible to reply directly to notifications rather than needing to open an app.
Android Nougat is also smartening up on its battery usage to keep devices running longer, and it will include new security measures, including file-based encryption and background updates, that will aim to keep devices protected and up to date.
Google is making Android 7.0 available starting Monday, but the rollout for the new operating system is expected to take several weeks.
For those using non-Nexus devices, the wait could be months; it took a full eight months for Android 6.0 to reach 10 percent adoption rate, and Android 4.4 is still the most commonly used version of the operating system.
The Daily Dot has reached out to carriers in the U.S. for information on when Android 7.0 will be made available on the largest networks. We will update this story if any information is provided.
H/T TechCrunch
