Android M Developer Preview 2 released for supported Nexus devices

Google has released the second developer preview of Android M for the Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and the Nexus Player. Developers can download and install new system images on their compatible Nexus devices and keep their apps up to date with the changes that will be introduced to Google’s mobile operating system down the road.

Android M was first announced back in May during Google I/O, and the first developer preview was released following the keynote. With the release of Developer Preview 2 of Android M, Google says that the second release has in fact been tweaked under the hood with some much needed bug fixes and performance improvements. “The update includes a variety of enhancements and bug fixes made across the system, including those related to issues reported by developers through the external issue tracker.”

Google's main focus with Android M is to fix and improve the way 'permissions' are handled on the platform. Additionally the new version of Android also includes fingerprint scanner APIs, remote Bluetooth/WiFi MAC, WiFi, and Bluetooth.

Since this is a preview release, expect the usual crashes and bugs with the release, including a possible system-wide Messenger app crash on a 64-bit emulator, while YouTube users may have to skip on the share function. The complete change-log of this release is embedded below:

The Android M Developer Preview as it name suggests is aimed at developers, giving them a chance to test out existing app compatibilities, or add something entirely new from scratch using the new Android M’s API set. However, there’s more than a fair chance that slightly advanced Android users would wish to give this new release a one-off spin, especially considering that any prospective consumer update is months away. Which brings us back to the usual warning associated with such beta releases of operating systems; Google is still far off from making this release a daily-runner, given the new set of APIs and internal changes being introduced to the Android world with the ‘M’ release, so if you care about general stability in day to day use, you are better off staying away from this release at this time.

If you already have Android M Developer Preview 1 installed then you can grab the OTA update by heading over to Settings > About phone > System updates then tap on ‘Check For Update.’ If you’re starting fresh then you can grab the update from the links provided below:

• Nexus 5
• Nexus 6
• Nexus 9
• Nexus Player

For instructions on how to download and install/flash Android M on your device from scratch, follow the guide here:

• How to install the Android M Developer Preview