Android O Developer Preview: Known Issues and Bugs Round-Up

Even though a lot of Android users are still waiting for an update to Nougat 7.0, Google announced a brand new OS. The Android Oreo or Oreos is the 8th Android installment and should be available for consumers in August or September 2017.

For the time being, Google released the Developers Preview version that should showcase upcoming features. It’s available only for Google-powered devices, namely for:

• Nexus 5X
• Nexus 6P
• Pixel
• Nexus Player
• Pixel XL
• Pixel C

So if you have one of these models, you can try out Android O. However, have in mind that this is not a stable version and you can encounter a large variety of issues. For that purpose, we listed some of the known issues for this preview release, so you can know what to expect.

Known issues of Android O Developer Preview

System User Interface Issues

With Android O, Google conducted various changes and improvements to UI. Sadly, you may have a hard time experiencing those when we consider these reported issues:

• ”System UI crash after toggling screen brightness, then going to Overview (recent) and selecting a new app.

• Occasional issues navigating Home, with incomplete transition making the device unusable.

• Taps in Quick Settings may be registered in another location.

• When using Autofill, an “Android system app displaying on top” message is sometimes shown, but it can be ignored (if it’s turned off, it will disable Autofill).”

Google Cloud Messaging/Firebase Cloud Messaging

Cloud Messaging is also unstable in this preview version. These are the problems that occurred with some users:

• ”FCM doesn’t work in a secondary profile unless the app is also installed on the primary profile. If the app is not installed on the primary profile, an FCM token is not generated in the secondary profile.

• Developers using FCM/GCM with Android O should update their Google Play services SDK to version 10.2.1, which is available from the SDK manager in Android Studio.”

Android TV Issues

The Nexus Player has specific issues on its own. We are bringing you a whole detailed list below.

• ”Setting up a restricted profile then restarting the device causes the device to be unusable.
• Typing in the search bar causes a crash.
• PIP image does not fill the window.
• Launching applications via voice command does not work.
• Application size is not displayed in Application Settings.
• Microphone button on remote control does not work.
• Factory reset does not work on Fugu.
• Connected remote control device disconnects intermittently.
• USB connected drive cannot be formatted. The Setup as device storage formatting option does not work properly for drive attached via USB.
• Device may freeze with blank homescreen when plug is inserted.
• Location status in Settings may become disabled with user unable to re-enable.
• Not able to reorder games in the apps and games row.
• Content may not play after relaunching media apps.”

Android for Work and Device Manager Issues

Android for Work is a great feature that let you create and manage work-specific profile separately from private ones. At the moment, there is a single reported issue regarding Android for Work.

• ”Enabling a Work Profile may cause a crash in Settings app. To work around this issue, remove and re-add the Work Profile.”

Besides that, users reported occasional crashes while trying to access the Device Manager.

• ”Selecting the Settings > Security and Screen Lock > Android Device Manager menu item may cause a crash. Updating to the latest version of Google Play services will resolve this issue.”

Android Wear Issues

Besides handsets and Android TV, Android Wear also supports trough Android Emulator System Images. However, it’s not without issues.

• ”Embedded app installation from Play Store can sometimes crash. Side-loading can be used to work around this issue.
• Only the x86 emulator is currently supported.
• Default watch face complications may not load until you switch watch faces or otherwise touch watch face settings, or reboot the device.”

Wi-Fi Issues

With Android O, Wi-Fi will receive additional interesting features. Additionally, there is one distinguished error and it’s concerning special services calls.

• ”611 call can’t be made on a Wi-Fi profile.”

Performance and Battery Issues

As you would expect, this is release is not advisable for everyday use. It is quite buggy and unstable performance-wise.

• ”System and app performance is known to be periodically slow / janky, and device may become occasionally unresponsive. These problems may become more acute with prolonged use.
• Some apps may not function normally on Developer Preview 1. This includes Google’s apps as well as other apps.
• This release has various stability and performance issues on all devices that make it not suitable for daily use on phone or tablet, especially for non-developers.”

Moreover, the same goes for batteries. If you are willing to try out Android O Developer Preview, prepare for battery drainage.

• ”Battery life may be regressed in this early release for screen-on and screen-off use cases.”

And with the lack of percentage that is removed from UI, you won’t be able to determine consumption as easily as before.

Other Issues

Besides the best-known issues, you may face a variety of secondary issues related to a lack of optimization. Don’t forget that some of the apps/features you may use are still not compatible with the novelties that Android O brings to the table.

• ”Using the Google Drive app’s PDF viewer to load a PDF document may cause the device to freeze.
• Apps or games may hit ANRs in GLThread, such as with AssetManager::open, that cause crash or failure to load properly.
• Games using Google Play games services may have problems with sign-in.
• The latest release of Android Auto may not work properly on Developer Preview 1.
• The NDK cannot build targeting Android O DP1 (an upcoming r15 release will fix).”

Have in mind that these are only the ‘noticed’ issues since we are too early in this release phase. So, a large variety of unlisted issues can occur. Additionally, features like Android Pay are not available due to security reasons.

In the end, unless you’re a developer or knowledgeable enthusiast, we don’t advise you to install Developers Preview. Soon enough we should be able to download the Beta version with CTS (Compatibility Test Suite) approval. That should be much safer to work with.

What are your first thoughts on Android O? What are the changes you eagerly await?