Google Nexus Handsets Encountering Issues After Installing Android N Developer Preview

Nexus device owners should be wary of trying the recently released Android N Developer Preview.

Last week, Google released the Android N Developer Preview much earlier than the usual time frame. Owners of Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 can now flash the system image to get the update. The other way is to sign-up for an OTA update.

As it turns out, after installing the Android N build some issues have cropped up in the Nexus devices. To be specific, Google has apparently not rolled out an OTA update to rollback to original Android 6.0 Marshmallow, in case there is a problem with the current update, Android Central reported.

The second problem encountered by Android N installed devices is quite critical. Apparently, some Nexus users are getting an update that “breaks the OS.” To top it off, they are unable to fix the issue because they cannot “flash an image or never unlocked their bootloader.”

The lesson is that — even though it is very tempting to try the new OS before it is made available for public use, Nexus device users should be very cautious before using such unstable builds. Most of Developer Previews come with bugs and issues. As Google has released the update a couple of months before the usual schedule, it does indicate that the build could have more bugs than usual.

In case, a Nexus device owner has never flashed an image in the past or has never unlocked the bootloader, it is better not to install the Android N build as it might make the device unusable.

However, one of the users seems to have fewer complaints when compared to others. After installing the update on a Nexus 6P, the device owner commented in the same forum stating that, “it's good,” but the clock clashed. Plus, he also encountered an error with Swiftkey and he ended up sideloading Facebook. Instagram, on the other hand, also showed some errors but it did not become unusable.