The Nexus smartphones and tablets are the first ones to have any Android OS update because Google makes sure to send the stock updates and test them on those devices before sending the update packages to the smartphone makers.
The newly announced Android N Developer Preview is already available for the developers to download, install and test it out, but you need to first know which are the devices that can have the Android N Preview.
Here are the ones where you can install the Android N (or Nutella? ;)) preview.
- Nexus 5X
- Nexus 6
- Nexus 6P
- Nexus 9
- Nexus 9G
- Nexus Player
- Pixel C
What? No Nexus 5? It should surprise you because as a Nexus 5 user, you might have always seen every major and minor update popping up into your device, but now, the Nexus 5 is not supported. It usually is a case with Google that the devices that are getting the developer preview are the ones that will go on to receive the official update later on.
Alongside the announcement of the Developer Preview, Google also made an announcement about Android Beta Program, which is all about getting the preview and beta updates to the devices via. the OTA option and not the manual way of flashing the images on the phones.
What about the Non-nexus devices? As is the understandable case with any Android phone other than the Nexus series, the Android N will be seen on them only after the public release of the new OS version happens, and that is during the end of the year. The Developer Preview, Beta, and the actual release are going to happen for a few months, and then Google will send the final release versions to the smartphone manufacturers, who would modify it to their own UI before pushing out the updates.
