Google delayed the roll-out of Android 11 due to the pandemic, but it looks like that didn't stop it from keeping Android 12 on time.

Most of the changes are under the hood and there's no over-the-air update yet for any of the great unwashed to try it out. Among the highlights of the release so far are the ability to transcode media into higher-quality formats like the AV1 image format, faster and more responsive notifications and a new feature for developers that now makes individual changes in the platform togglable so they can more easily test the compatibility of their apps.

Google said that it will  add a Platform Stability milestone to Android 12 to give developers advance otice when final app-facing changes will occur in the development cycle of the operating system. Last year, the team hit that milestone in July when it launched its second beta release.

Developers who want to get started with bringing their apps to Android 12 can do it by flashing a device image to a Pixel device. For now, Android 12 supports the Pixel 3/3 XL, Pixel 3a/3a XL, Pixel 4/4 XL, Pixel 4a/4a 5G and Pixel 5. You can also use the system image in the Android Emulator in Google's Android Studio.