Before you install the developer preview!
It’s a great feeling being one of the first people to receive the newest additions to Android 13, but there are some major risks to installing a developer preview. A developer preview is a seriously early and extremely unstable version of the software. This version of the software is targeted at developers who want to do some compatibility tests with their software. It’s not meant to be used on your daily driver. If you want to install a developer preview, you run the risk of rendering your phone unusable due to unfinished software. If you really want to try out the features, it’s recommended that you use a secondary phone. Don’t use your main phone for this because installing the Android 13 developer preview will wipe your phone. Also, you run the risk of bricking your phone if you don’t install everything correctly.
How to flash the system image file
Manually flashing the system image on your device isn’t the hardest thing in the world, but there are a few prerequisites. Firstly, you will need to unlock your bootloader, download an SDK (Android Studio is a good choice), enable ADB and Fastboot on your computer, and enable USB debugging on your phone. This method does require some technical know-how, so you might want to avoid it if you’re a tech novice. First, download the system image file from Google and unzip the files into your SDK’s platform-tools folder. Then, go to that folder and look for a file called “flash-all.bat” Right-click it and you’ll see some lines of code. If you don’t want to have your data wiped, go down to the line that reads fastboot -w update image-hammerhead-krt16m.zip and delete the “-w” text. Ctrl+S to save the document and close out of it. If you’re using a Mac device, you’ll want to add (./) in front of every command if they’re not there. For example, you’ll put ./adb reboot bootloader. After that, connect your phone to your computer via the USB cord and summon a command prompt. Type this command in: adb reboot bootloader. At that point, you should get a prompt on your phone to allow USB debugging; allow it. After that, run the flash-all.bat file and your phone should handle the rest from that point.
