Google is taking a different approach this year for the Android N Developer Preview. They have been releasing updates earlier than expected. For example the new Quick Replies from the notifications area was pushed to Hangouts very soon, the new set of attractive Unicode 9.0 emoji was released even before the official announcement and now the Google Camera app (v3.2) has been rolled out to the Google Play Store.

The new Google Camera comes with all the updates mobile enthusiasts have already read. It has the ability to take pictures during video recording (kudos to the exclusive camera button right above the record button in video mode), latest slow-motion mode (if your smartphone can support it - 120 fps in case of Nexus 5X and maximum 240 fps for the Nexus 6P) in the nav drawer along with more icons and buttons. Worthy to note that all the Nexus devices won't have all the features.

Recording in HDR Mode will most probably give the experience of increased speed as available in the N preview 2. Earlier there used to be a very long processing period for the HDR shooting. Now, it has become much better, although not very smooth. Right now, there is no action pending from your end. All you need to do is wait for your turn to get the update in stacked release schedule. Although you can download and install .apk, it is highly recommended that you should take care of security issue and make sure that the file is from a trustworthy source.

Install Google Camera

There have been a lot speculations about Apple's plan to get rid of the headphone port in the next smartphone - the iPhone 7. Recently in China there was an announcement of three devices without any headphone port and they all run on Android.

LeEco, previously LeTV, yesterday unveiled the new Le 2 series, showcasing the Le 2, Le 2Pro and Le Max2, none of which feature the widely used 3.5mm headphone jack. All of these devices will come with USB Type-C digital headphones via the charging port.

This would result in improved audio quality, as digital headphones are based on lossless technology. The negative point is that it won't be possible for anyone to listen to music while the phone is getting charged (something that most of the folks do while working). That means although the USB Type-C headphones are nice to have feature, consumers might end up paying for a pair of Bluetooth headphones.

Until the introduction of LeEco's two new pairs of USB Type-C headphones - an in-ear variant and over-ear set - the JBL Reflect Aware C sports earbuds made it official alongside the HTC 10 that they were the only USB Type-C headphones available (till now they are not in the market). To conclude we can safely say that this trend might set the direction for next gen smartphones.

The Huawei Mate S is one of the recent Android smartphones to sport a pressure-sensitive display panel and Google's next iteration of the Android OS will come prepared to take advantage of such hardware. As of now, we know about an Android N feature called Launcher Shortcuts that will be the first to do so. It is to be noted that recognition of pressure-sensitive inputs are actually not new to Android as it was present even in the time of Android version 1.0.

Rumors and facts suggest that Huawei could be making one of the next Nexus smartphones for Google, especially if one considers the fact that Huawei had recently reserved the name Huawei 7P through copyright protection. Since Huawei is already running Force touch, coupled with the fact that Android N is now going to support similar functionalities, it seems quite likely that the upcoming Nexus might sport pressure-sensitive touch.

Although the number of currently available Android smartphones which have the necessary hardware to support this feature are limited to only the Huawei Mate S, Vernee Apollo and ZTE Axon Mini, Android 7's native support for pressure-sensitivity will definitely open up opportunities for developers to create applications based on it. Keep in mind though, that none of the smartphones mentioned are likely to get an Android N update very soon. What this means is that with the advent of the new Android, we will probably see fresh Nexus devices and smartphones from other partners of Google, launching with pressure-sensitive panels.

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Google rolled out the first preview edition of Android N last month, way before this year's Google I/O event. At the same time, Google made it official that more number of preview version would be unveiled in the coming months and now we have Android N Preview 2 with us.

The upgraded version comes with launcher shortcuts, api updates, bug fixes and a lot more (Vulkan 3D rendering API, Emoji Unicode 9 support). If you are simply interested in trying it out on your own, there are two options:

If you are part of the Android Beta Program for your Nexus device, the OTA notification will be sent to your device very soon.

Given below are links to install the latest beta manually, if you don't want to wait:

• Nexus 5X 
• Nexus 6 
• Nexus 6P 
• Nexus 9 
• Nexus 9 LTE 
• Pixel C 
• Android One

If you have already tried it out, then post in the comment about your experiences. What did you like the most? What are your suggestions to improve the OS?

If you have a recent (more or less) Nexus device and you had enrolled your device for the Android Beta Program, we have good news for you because Android N Developer Preview 2 is now available for you to download via OTA. Alternately, you can also download the package and flash it manually if you know what you are doing. Google had promised that there would be five monthly updates to the developer preview before its final release in September this year and so far, they are right on schedule.

If your device isn't a Nexus however, you will probably have to wait for quite a while to get your first taste of Android N 7.0, because the official release date for the OS is set in September 2016. Add to that the amount of time the manufacturing company will take to develop its own compatible version for your smartphone model and we are looking at at least a month before one can expect an Android 7.0 update for a non-nexus device.

Sony customers might feel a bit more optimistic here as the Japanese company did release a preview of Android M 6.0 for a few of their smartphones in 2015. If you are a Samsung user, the chances of Samsung changing its poor record of late releases is not very good. On the positive side, their software department is indeed doing a good job these days, so maybe they will break the record this year. We will have to wait and see but experts estimate that Android N will come to Samsung devices in February or March 2017.

The Huawei Mate 9 could be running Android 7.0 right out of the box as soon as Google releases the OS in September. Lenovo Moto series of smartphones will be among the first to receive the updates as has always been the case; experts speculate that Moto smartphones will be running Android N by December 2016. One cannot underestimate HTC either these days as they had shown when the One A9 and One M9 got updated to Android marshmallow by December last year. If you are a HTC user, you will probably see the latest iteration of Android on your smartphone by end of December, this year.