Android 7.1 is an "incremental update," but it's here if you need it.

Android 7.1 Nougat is slowly trickling out to the world via the release of the Google Pixel, but now users of older Google devices are able to get in on the fun too. Google just announced the availability of the Android 7.1 Developer Preview for the Nexus 5X, 6P and Pixel C.

While the Pixel phones already have a finished version of Android 7.1, Google calls this Nexus release "beta quality." Almost every change to Android 7.1 is a Pixel-supporting feature anyway, so users aren't missing much. As the first release in Android's new "regular maintenance schedule," Google calls 7.1 an "incremental release." The company blog post calls out a few objectives:

Since 7.1 has already launched on Pixel, we’re delivering the initial Developer Preview at beta quality for the Nexus lineup of devices. The goal is to tease out any device-specific issues.
We’ve finalized the new APIs as API Level 25
We’ve opened up publishing on Google Play for apps targeting the new API level, so you can update your apps soon as you are ready.

There are three ways to get the Developer Preview. You can enroll in the Android Beta Program and wait to get the OTA, you can flash the OTA manually from here, or you can wipe the whole device and flash a system image.