Final preview of Android 8.1 now available

Posted by Dave Burke, VP of Engineering

Starting today we're rolling out an update to the Android 8.1 developer preview,
the last before the official launch to consumers in December. Android 8.1 adds
targeted enhancements to the Oreo platform, including optimizations for
Android Go (for devices with 1GB or less of memory) and a
Neural Networks API to accelerate on-device machine
intelligence. We've also included a few smaller enhancements to Oreo in response
to user and developer feedback.

If you have a device enrolled in the href="http://www.android.com/beta">Android Beta Program, you'll receive the
update over the next few days. If you haven't enrolled yet, just visit the href="http://www.android.com/beta">Android Beta site to enroll and get the
update.

At the official release in December we'll bring Android 8.1 to all supported
Pixel and Nexus devices worldwide -- including href="https://www.blog.google/products/pixel/new-pixel-2/">Pixel 2 and Pixel 2
XL, Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel C, Nexus 5X, and Nexus 6P. Watch for
announcements soon.

What's in this update?

This preview update includes near-final Android 8.1 system images for Pixel and
Nexus devices, with official APIs (API level 27), the latest optimizations and
bug fixes, and the November 2017 security patch updates. You can use the images
for compatibility testing or to develop using new Android 8.1 features like the
href="https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/neuralnetworks/index.html">Neural
Networks API and href="https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2017/10/android-81-developer-preview.html">others.

The Neural Networks API provides accelerated computation and inference for
on-device machine learning frameworks like href="https://www.tensorflow.org/mobile/tflite/">TensorFlow Lite -- Google's
cross-platform ML library for mobile -- as well as Caffe2 and others. TensorFlow
Lite is href="https://developers.googleblog.com/2017/11/announcing-tensorflow-lite.html">now
available to developers, so visit the href="https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/tree/master/tensorflow/contrib/lite">TensorFlow
Lite open source repo for downloads and docs. TensorFlow Lite works with the
Neural Networks API to run models like href="https://research.googleblog.com/2017/06/mobilenets-open-source-models-for.html">MobileNets,
Inception v3, and href="https://research.googleblog.com/2017/11/on-device-conversational-modeling-with.html">Smart
Reply efficiently on your mobile device.

Also, for Pixel 2 users, the Android 8.1 update on these devices enables href="https://www.blog.google/products/pixel/pixel-visual-core-image-processing-and-machine-learning-pixel-2/">Pixel
Visual Core -- Google's first custom-designed co-processor for image
processing and ML -- through a new developer option. Once enabled, apps using
Android Camera API can capture HDR+ shots through Pixel Visual Core. See the href="https://developer.android.com/preview/release-notes.html#test-pixel">release
notes for details.

Get your apps ready

With the consumer launch coming href="https://developer.android.com/preview/overview.html">in December, it's
important to test your current app now. This ensures that users transition
seamlessly to Android 8.1 when it arrives on their devices.

Just enroll your eligible device in href="http://www.android.com/beta">Android Beta to get the latest update,
then install your app from Google Play and test. If you don't have a Pixel or
Nexus device, you can set up an Android 8.1 emulator for testing instead. If you
notice any issues, fix them and update your app in Google Play right away --
without changing the app's platform targeting.

When you're ready, take advantage of new features and APIs in Android 8.1. See
the developer
preview site, the href="https://developer.android.com/sdk/api_diff/27/changes.html">API 27 diff
report, and the updated
API reference for details.

Speed your development with Android Studio

To build with Android 8.1, we recommend updating to href="https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2017/10/android-studio-30.html">Android
Studio 3.0, which is now href="https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html">available from the stable
channel. On top of the new app href="https://developer.android.com/studio/profile/android-profiler.html">performance
profiling tools, support for the href="http://android-developers.googleblog.com/2017/05/android-announces-support-for-kotlin.html">Kotlin
programming language, and Gradle build optimizations, Android Studio 3.0
makes it easier to develop with Android Oreo features like href="https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2017/05/android-instant-apps-is-open-to-all.html">Instant
Apps, href="https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/look-and-feel/downloadable-fonts.html">XML
Fonts, href="https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/look-and-feel/downloadable-fonts.html">downloadable
fonts, and href="https://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/icon_design_adaptive.html">adaptive
icons.

We also recommend updating to the href="https://developer.android.com/topic/libraries/support-library/revisions.html?utm_campaign=android_launch_npreview_061516&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">Android
Support Library 27.0.0, which is available from href="https://developer.android.com/studio/build/dependencies.html#google-maven">Google's
Maven repository. See the href="https://developer.android.com/topic/libraries/support-library/revisions.html#27-0-0">version
notes for details on what's new.

Publish your updates to Google Play

Google Play is open for apps compiled against or targeting API 27. When you're
ready, you can publish your APK updates in your alpha, beta, or production
channels.

To make sure your app runs well on Android 8.1 as well as older versions, we
recommend using Google Play's href="https://developer.android.com/distribute/engage/beta.html?utm_campaign=android_launch_npreview_061516&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">beta
testing feature to run an alpha test on small group of users. Then run a
much open beta test on a much larger group of users. When you're ready to launch
your update, you can use a href="https://developer.android.com/distribute/best-practices/launch/progressive-updates.html">staged
rollout in your production channel. We're looking forward to seeing your app
updates!

Give us your feedback

As always, your feedback is crucial, so please href="https://developer.android.com/preview/feedback.html">keep it coming!.
We've set up different hotlists where you can report href="https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/new?component=190602&template=1024208">Android
platform issues, href="https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/new?component=190602&template=808305">app
compatibility issues, and href="https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/new?component=190602&template=809305">third-party
SDKs and tools issues. We also have a dedicated hotlist for href="https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/new?component=190602&template=1024216">Neural
Networks API issues.

You can also give us feedback through the href="https://plus.google.com/communities/105153134372062985968/stream/755bb91d-c101-4e32-9277-1e560c4e26d2">Android
Developer community or href="https://plus.google.com/communities/106765800802768335079">Android Beta
community as we work towards the consumer release in December.

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Google Play's Indie Games Contest is back in Europe. Enter now

Posted by Adriana Puchianu, Developer Marketing Google Play

Following href="https://events.withgoogle.com/indie-games-contest-europe/">last year's success, today we're announcing the second annual href="https://events.withgoogle.com/indie-games-contest-2017/">Google Play Indie Games Contest in Europe, expanding to more countries and bigger prizes. The contest rewards your passion, creativity and innovation, and provides support to help bring your game to more people.

Prizes for the finalists and winners

• A trip to London to showcase your game at the Saatchi Gallery
  
  
• Paid digital marketing campaigns worth up to 100,000 EUR
  
  
• Influencer campaigns worth up to 50,000 EUR
  
  
• Premium placements on Google Play
  
  
• Promotion on Android and Google Play marketing channels
  
  
• Tickets to Google I/O 2018 and other top industry events
  
  
• Latest Google hardware
  
  
• Special prizes for the best Unity games

How to enter the contest

If you're based in one of the 28 eligible countries, have 30 or less full time employees, and published a new game on Google Play after 1 January 2017, you may now be eligible to href="https://events.withgoogle.com/indie-games-contest-2017/">enter the contest. If you're planning on publishing a new game soon, you can also enter by submitting a private beta. Check out all the details in the href="https://events.withgoogle.com/indie-games-contest-2017/terms-conditions/#content">terms and conditions. Submissions close on 31 December 2017.

Up to 20 finalists will showcase their games at an open event at the Saatchi Gallery in London on the 13th February 2018. At the event, the top 10 will be selected by the event attendees and the Google Play team. The top 10 will then pitch to the jury of industry experts, from which the final winner and runners up will be selected.

Come along to the final event

Anyone can register to attend the href="https://events.withgoogle.com/indie-games-contest-2017/final-event/#content">final showcase event at the Saatchi Gallery in London on 13 February 2018. Play some great indie games and have fun with indie developers,industry experts, and the Google Play team.

Enter now

Visit the contest site to href="https://events.withgoogle.com/indie-games-contest-2017/registrations/new/">find out more and enter the Indie Games Contest now.

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Why you should localize your app or game for Middle East and North Africa

By Mohammad El-Saadi, Business Development, Google Play



The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is a fast growing market for app and game developers on Google Play, and localizing is crucial to making the most of the opportunity. For example, the main grossing apps & games in Saudi Arabia have localized their store listings and their actual app and game on Google Play.



The British team behind the Skyscanner travel app had already localised it into more than 15 languages, yet the launch in Arabic was a huge milestone for them. Arabic speaking users really appreciated the localization and the app's average user rating increased from 4.62☆ to 4.77☆ after localization. Users engaged with the app longer, with an increase of 30% in their average session duration. Additionally 50% more travellers have been redirected to Skyscanner partners to book flight, hotel and car hire deals.

Skyscanner opening screen in English and in Arabic

But how difficult is it to correctly localize your app or game to Arabic?



The team at Skyscanner managed to develop Right-To-Left (RTL) Arabic language support within the app in two weeks: "Our initial fear was that we would need lots of manual coding for the layouts. However, the Android layout system handled all of the cases really well. We were already using *Start and *End margin and padding in line with guidelines, but there's also Android Studio support and Lint check to fix any issues automatically." says Mate Herber, Software Engineer.



Many other top apps and games developers are successfully investing in localizing for MENA users. For example, when game developer Pocket Gems localized War Dragons, the installs by Arabic speaking users tripled. Their percentage of revenue from Arabic language players also went from effectively 0% to ~1.5%.



We just refreshed the Now in Arabic collection (MENA only) with 16 newly localized apps and games, including titles like Netflix, Periscope and Transformers. It will be live until May 11 on Google Play in the following countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates.

Check our Localization Checklist for best practices when localizing for any language, and our Going Global Playbook. When your app or game in Arabic is ready, you can self-nominate to be part of future refreshes of the Now in Arabic collection by filling in this form.

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And the winners of the Google Play Indie Games Contest in Europe are...

Posted by Matteo Vallone, Google Play Games Business Development

Today, at Saatchi Gallery in London, we hosted the final event of the first Google Play Indie Games Contest in Europe. The 20 finalists, selected from nearly 1000 submissions, came from 12 countries to showcase their games to an excited room of gamers, industry experts and press. Selected based on the votes of the attendees and the Google Play team, the Top 10 pitched in front of a jury of industry experts who chose the top winners.

Stay tuned for more pictures and a video of the event.

Without further ado, join us in congratulating the winners!

Winner & Unity prize winner:

Reigns, by Nerial, from the United Kingdom You are the King. For each decision, you only have two choices. Survive the exercise of power and the craziness of your advisors... as long as you can.

Runners up:

	The Battle of Polytopia, by Midjiwan AB, from Sweden A turn based strategic adventure. It's a game about ruling the world, fighting evil AI tribes, discovering new lands and mastering new technologies.
	Causality, by Loju, from the United Kingdom A puzzle about manipulating time, altering the sequence of events and changing the outcome of each level to help a group of astronauts find a route to safety.

The other top games selected by the event attendees and the Google Play team are:

	Blind Drive, by Lo-Fi People, from Israel You're driving blindfolded as a mysterious voice gives you suicidal commands on the phone. Survive on-rushing vehicles using only your hearing to guide you.
	Gladiabots, by GFX47, from France A competitive tactical game in which you design the AI of your robot squad. Use your own strategy, refine it online and fight for the top of the leaderboard.
	Happy Hop: Kawaii Jump, by Platonic Games, from Spain This isn't just an original one-tap endless hopper, it's also the cutest one. Ever wondered what's in the end of the rainbow? That would be Happy Hop.
	Lost in Harmony, by Digixart Entertainment, from France Experience music in a new way with the combination of rhythmic tapping and choreographic runner to go through two memorable journeys with Kaito and M.I.R.A.I.
	Paper Wings, by Fil Games, from Turkey A fast-paced arcade game which puts you in control of an origami bird. Avoid the hazards and collect the falling coins to keep your paper bird alive.
	Pinout, by Mediocre, from Sweden A breathtaking pinball arcade experience: race against time in a continuous journey through this canyon of pulsating lights and throbbing retro wave beats.
	Rusty Lake: Roots, by Rusty Lake, from Netherlands James Vanderboom's life drastically changes when he plants a special seed in the garden. Expand your bloodline by unlocking portraits in the tree of life.

Check out the prizes

The prizes of this contest were designed to help the winners showcase their art and grow their business on Android and Google Play, including:

• 
  YouTube influencer campaigns worth up to 100,000 EUR
  
  


• 
  Premium placements on Google Play
  
  


• 
  Tickets to Google I/O 2017 and other top industry events
  
  


• 
  Promotions on our channels
  
  


• 
  Special prizes for the best Unity game
  
  


• 
  And more!
  
  

What’s next?

The week is not over just yet for Indie games developers. Tomorrow we are hosting the Indie Games Workshop for all indie games developers from across EMEA in the new Google office in Kings Cross.

It’s been really inspiring to see the enthusiasm around this inaugural edition, and the quality and creativity of the indie games developed across the eligible European countries. We are looking forward to bringing a new edition of the contest to you in late 2017.

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