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Android Things Developer Preview 4.1 features new IoT-optimized Play Services variant

With Developer Preview 4, Android Things added support for the Google Assistant SDK on all certified boards. Today, the preview is getting a minor update to 4.1, which brings an Internet of Things variant of Google Play Services.

Specifically meant for Android Things, this new version of Play Services is optimized for IoT devices. It is smaller in size and footprint by excluding certain Google APIs for Android that don’t make sense on the platform. It requires developers to make use of play-services 11.0.0 or later in their build.gradle.

This release includes performance improvements, such as boot time optimizations that improve the startup time of i.MX7D-based hardware.

DP4.1 also adds compatibility for the new Pico i.MX6UL revision B board that supports common external peripherals from partners such as Adafruit and Pimoroni. However, prototype Pico i.MX6UL boards made available to early beta testers will not be compatible with DP4.1.

Developer Preview 4.1 is available on the Intel Edison, Intel Joule, NXP i.MX7D, NXP i.MX6UL, and Raspberry Pi 3 development boards, with images and updated release notes now live.


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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com