Google graduates Android Things to 1.0 release
Google has made a 1.0 release of its Android Things managed OS for Internet of Things devices.
Initially, a quartet of system-on-modules will be long-term supported for three years -- NXP i.MX8M, Qualcomm SDA212, Qualcomm SDA624, and MediaTek MT8516 -- with the search giant stating in a blog post that development hardware and reference designs would follow in the coming months.
Google added that Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and NXP i.MX7D would continue to be supported as development hardware, while support for the NXP i.MX6UL would end.
Automatic updates would be enabled by default, Google added, with users still able to push updates to devices once official support ends.
"For each long-term support version, Google will offer free stability fixes and security patches for three years, with additional options for extended support," the company said.
Pushing software updates out via the Android Things Console is restricted to 100 devices for non-commercial use, with vendors looking to ship Android Things products needing to sign a distribution agreement with Google to have the limit removed.
Google said the 1.0 release arrives after its developer preview had over 100,000 development kit downloads.
See: What is the IoT? Everything you need to know about the Internet of Things right now
Earlier at its Build developer conference, Microsoft announced the open sourcing of Azure IoT Edge Runtime, a partnership with Qualcomm to create a vision AI developer kit, and that it was working with drone vendor DJI to build an SDK that would allow users to have full flight control and real-time data transfer to Windows 10 devices.
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