There are a few ways to install the latest Developer Preview of Android 7.0 Nougat on your Nexus device. The currently supported devices are as follows:
- Nexus 6
- Nexus 9
- Nexus 5X
- Nexus 6P
- Nexus Player
A few other devices are supported, but that is outside of the scope of this post.
The simplest way to install the latest Developer Preview on your device is to go to https://www.google.com/android/beta while logged in on your Google account. This will give you the option to enrol any eligible devices into the Android 7.0 Nougat Beta. Installing the beta via this method will not wipe your device, but if you unenroll from the beta your device will be wiped. You will also have to use an old backup from your device when it was one 6.0 if you go back, as you are not able to use 7.0 backups.
The other method to install the Android 7.0 Nougat Beta is to manually flash the image. This can be done the same as flashing any other Nexus system image.
First, you must download the Developer Preview system image from the following site: https://developer.android.com/preview/download.html
After the download has finished, unzip the file.
Then, plug your device into your computer. Ensure that you are able to see your device via adb with the command:
adb devices
If your device shows up, then you're ready to continue! If not, please make sure that you have the latest SDK installed.
Next, type the command:
adb reboot bootloader
Your device will reboot into Fastboot mode. You can also achieve this by using the correct key combination for your device.
Once in Fastboot mode, you will need to unlock your bootloader if it isn't already unlocked. This can be achieved by typing the following command:
fastboot flashing unlock
or on older devices
fastboot oem unlock
If your device was not already unlocked, it will begin wiping all data off of the device. When it has finished, your device will be unlocked and ready to continue with flashing.
In your command prompt, navigate to the folder that you previously unzipped.
Execute the flash-all script and watch as the Android 7.0 Nougat Beta is installed to your device!
Keep in mind, you will not receive Over The Air updates unless you also enroll your device into the beta program.
Your device should now how the latest Android 7.0 Nougat Beta installed. If you'd like to return to a previous version of Android, you should be able to unenroll your device from the beta page or download the latest stable factory image for your device from the link below: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
Simply follow the instructions above to install any other image that you download from the linked sites.