Google started rolling the latest Android P Developer preview 3 for Pixel series. With this developer preview, Google has included the new emoji, final API, a new BiometricPrompt API to standardize authentication from biometric systems (such as fingerprint sensors and face unlock). The update also includes few changes to Notification, Recent menu, Gesture and few other bug fixes.

Both the Android P Developer Preview 3 (Beta 2) factory images and OTA files were added to the Android Developer website. If you have the supported Pixel device, then you can grab the update and install it manually to try this on your phone. We don’t recommend you to install this update for daily use. This is still a preview image and there may be bugs which will produce frustration in your mind.

Currently, the DP3 update is only available for Pixel series such as Google Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL via both OTA and factory image to upgrade. So if you’ve been waiting to flash the developer previews, or if you’ve already migrated to them, you can update or flash fresh as you need. Other supported devices may see the updated developer preview very soon.

To install the factory image on any supported device, you may need to unlock the bootloader. Though,  OTA can be sideloaded even on a locked bootloader. According to the OTA size which contains 1GB, they’re probably not incremental updates, so you may be able to migrate to DP3 from Android Oreo with them.

Download Factory image and OTA File:

Steps to Install Android P Developer Preview 3 (Beta 2)

Here we will guide on how to install the Android P developer preview 3 – beta 2 on the pixel device via both factory image and OTA File. You can try any of the method given below.

Method 1: Flash factory image:

To flash the factory image, you need to have a unlocked bootloader on your device. To unlock, you can simply follow our guide to unlock bootloader on any pixel supported device.

Pre-Requisite:

  • This is supported only on Pixel device (Pixel 2016 and Pixel 2 series)
  • Charge your phone at least 50%
  • Backup your phone before following this guide to keep your data safe in case if things go wrong don’t blame us.

Here are the steps to install Android P Developer Preview 3 (DP3) factory images on Pixel series of devices. Follow the guide carefully. In a nutshell, you have to flash some Unix/MAC/Window based command line script and flash the factory image for your respective device.

Method 2: Sideload the OTA file:

  • This is supported only on Pixel device (Pixel 2016 and Pixel 2 series)
  • Charge your phone at least 50%
  • Backup your phone before following this guide to keep your data safe in case if things go wrong don’t blame us.
  • Download ADB Fastboot and extract it on your PC.
  • Download and install latest Android USB Drivers.

Now you can follow the below steps to sideload the OTA file on your device.

  • First of all, Download the OTA image for your device
  • Now move the downloaded OTA file to internal storage.
  • Make sure to download and setup the ADB if you haven’t already.
  • Open the command window on the same ADB Folder
  • You have to reboot your phone to recovery by entering the command given below
  • adb reboot recovery
  • In your recovery, Select the option “Apply update from ADB”
  • Enter the command below to sideload the OTA file
  • adb sideload <OTA_image.zip>
  • That’s it! Now the OTA file will start upgrading on your device.
  • You can reboot your device, once it is done.

If you want to downgrade to Android Oreo, then follow our guide on How to Downgrade from Android P Beta to Android Oreo

adb reboot recovery

adb sideload <OTA_image.zip>

Image courtesy: 9to5google

Source: XDA