We often see Apple and Google offer developer previews of their big OS updates before the software is pushed out to the public. Doing so gives devs the chance to test out their apps with the updates to ensure that everything will work smoothly when the new OS rolls out to everyone. Now Amazon is doing the same thing.
Amazon today kicked off the Fire OS 5 Developer Preview, giving devs the opportunity to try out the operating system that’ll be used on the company’s Fire phone, Fire tablets, Fire TV, and Fire TV Stick. The Fire OS 5 software will be based on Android Lollipop, which is an upgrade from the Fire OS 4.6.1 update that was released last month and was based on Android 4.4 KitKat.
To try the Fire OS 5 preview, you’ll need a Fire HD 6 or Fire HD 7 tablet. If you don’t have one, Amazon will hook you up with a $50 discount on up to two Fire HD 7 tablets, which would bring the price down to just $49 each. This offer is valid through August 31.
There’s a lot that we still don’t know about Fire OS 5, like what it’ll look like or what new features it’ll offer, but it’s the big news so far is that it’ll be based on Android 5.0. That means that Fire device owners will have access to apps that require Android 5.0 or higher, so long as the developer ports them to Amazon’s Appstore.
