diff --git a/android/build.gradle b/android/build.gradle
index 0ea3922804..60534d2253 100644
--- a/android/build.gradle
+++ b/android/build.gradle
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import java.nio.file.Paths
+
 // This script accepts the following parameters:
 //
 // com.google.android.filament.dist-dir
@@ -42,23 +44,31 @@
 //
 
 buildscript {
-    def filamentPath = file("../out/android-release/filament").absolutePath
-    if (project.hasProperty("com.google.android.filament.dist-dir")) {
-        filamentPath = file(project.property("com.google.android.filament.dist-dir")).absolutePath
-    }
+    def path = providers
+            .gradleProperty("com.google.android.filament.dist-dir")
+            .forUseAtConfigurationTime().get()
+
+    def directory = objects.fileProperty().fileValue(new File(path)).getAsFile().get()
+    def filamentPath = directory.absolutePath
+
     // Our CMake scripts require a forward-slash path for the FILAMENT_DIST_DIR
     // variable, so here we convert the native path to a forward-slash path.
     filamentPath = filamentPath.replace(File.separator, '/')
 
     // Warning: changing this property does not work well with incremental builds.
-    def excludeVulkan = project.hasProperty("com.google.android.filament.exclude-vulkan")
+    def excludeVulkan = providers
+            .gradleProperty("com.google.android.filament.exclude-vulkan")
+            .forUseAtConfigurationTime()
+            .isPresent()
 
     def abis = ["arm64-v8a", "armeabi-v7a", "x86_64", "x86"]
-    if (project.hasProperty("com.google.android.filament.abis")) {
-        def newAbis = project.property("com.google.android.filament.abis").split(',')
-        if (!newAbis.contains("all")) {
-            abis = newAbis
-        }
+    def newAbis = providers
+            .gradleProperty("com.google.android.filament.abis")
+            .forUseAtConfigurationTime()
+            .get()
+            .split(',')
+    if (!newAbis.contains("all")) {
+        abis = newAbis
     }
 
     ext.versions = [
@@ -72,7 +82,7 @@ buildscript {
 
     ext.deps = [
         'androidx': [
-            'annotations': "androidx.annotation:annotation:1.1.0",
+            'annotations': "androidx.annotation:annotation:1.3.0",
             'core': "androidx.core:core:1.3.0",
         ],
         'kotlin': "org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib-jdk8:${versions.kotlin}"
@@ -120,7 +130,7 @@ buildscript {
 }
 
 plugins {
-    id 'io.codearte.nexus-staging' version '0.22.0'
+    id 'io.codearte.nexus-staging' version '0.30.0'
 }
 
 // Nexus Staging configuration
diff --git a/android/gradle.properties b/android/gradle.properties
index 63e61ee5ae..8c44680534 100644
--- a/android/gradle.properties
+++ b/android/gradle.properties
@@ -22,3 +22,5 @@ android.useAndroidX=true
 org.gradle.unsafe.configuration-cache=true
 
 com.google.android.filament.tools-dir=../../../out/release/filament
+com.google.android.filament.dist-dir=../out/android-release/filament
+com.google.android.filament.abis=all
diff --git a/android/samples/sample-gltf-viewer/build.gradle b/android/samples/sample-gltf-viewer/build.gradle
index 39e923f023..6e9a88a9a6 100644
--- a/android/samples/sample-gltf-viewer/build.gradle
+++ b/android/samples/sample-gltf-viewer/build.gradle
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@ android {
         targetSdkVersion versions.targetSdk
         missingDimensionStrategy 'functionality', 'full'
     }
+    // NOTE: This is a workaround required because the AGP task collectReleaseDependencies
+    //       is not configuration-cache friendly yet; this is only useful for Play publication
+    dependenciesInfo {
+        includeInApk = false
+    }
 }
 
 dependencies {
diff --git a/android/samples/sample-hello-camera/build.gradle b/android/samples/sample-hello-camera/build.gradle
index 3ff4b4b4e6..15850008f0 100644
--- a/android/samples/sample-hello-camera/build.gradle
+++ b/android/samples/sample-hello-camera/build.gradle
@@ -23,6 +23,12 @@ android {
         targetSdkVersion versions.targetSdk
     }
 
+    // NOTE: This is a workaround required because the AGP task collectReleaseDependencies
+    //       is not configuration-cache friendly yet; this is only useful for Play publication
+    dependenciesInfo {
+        includeInApk = false
+    }
+
     // We use the .filamat extension for materials compiled with matc
     // Telling aapt to not compress them allows to load them efficiently
     aaptOptions {
diff --git a/android/samples/sample-hello-triangle/build.gradle b/android/samples/sample-hello-triangle/build.gradle
index cb768787ce..aabbfc5e05 100644
--- a/android/samples/sample-hello-triangle/build.gradle
+++ b/android/samples/sample-hello-triangle/build.gradle
@@ -23,6 +23,12 @@ android {
         targetSdkVersion versions.targetSdk
     }
 
+    // NOTE: This is a workaround required because the AGP task collectReleaseDependencies
+    //       is not configuration-cache friendly yet; this is only useful for Play publication
+    dependenciesInfo {
+        includeInApk = false
+    }
+
     // We use the .filamat extension for materials compiled with matc
     // Telling aapt to not compress them allows to load them efficiently
     aaptOptions {
diff --git a/android/samples/sample-image-based-lighting/build.gradle b/android/samples/sample-image-based-lighting/build.gradle
index 03328be1f4..5693f54efb 100644
--- a/android/samples/sample-image-based-lighting/build.gradle
+++ b/android/samples/sample-image-based-lighting/build.gradle
@@ -29,6 +29,12 @@ android {
         targetSdkVersion versions.targetSdk
     }
 
+    // NOTE: This is a workaround required because the AGP task collectReleaseDependencies
+    //       is not configuration-cache friendly yet; this is only useful for Play publication
+    dependenciesInfo {
+        includeInApk = false
+    }
+
     // We use the .filamat extension for materials compiled with matc
     // Telling aapt to not compress them allows to load them efficiently
     aaptOptions {
diff --git a/android/samples/sample-lit-cube/build.gradle b/android/samples/sample-lit-cube/build.gradle
index 432ca05b91..b082c5561e 100644
--- a/android/samples/sample-lit-cube/build.gradle
+++ b/android/samples/sample-lit-cube/build.gradle
@@ -22,6 +22,12 @@ android {
         targetSdkVersion versions.targetSdk
     }
 
+    // NOTE: This is a workaround required because the AGP task collectReleaseDependencies
+    //       is not configuration-cache friendly yet; this is only useful for Play publication
+    dependenciesInfo {
+        includeInApk = false
+    }
+
     // We use the .filamat extension for materials compiled with matc
     // Telling aapt to not compress them allows to load them efficiently
     aaptOptions {
diff --git a/android/samples/sample-live-wallpaper/build.gradle b/android/samples/sample-live-wallpaper/build.gradle
index 12531884bf..0b365b3c70 100644
--- a/android/samples/sample-live-wallpaper/build.gradle
+++ b/android/samples/sample-live-wallpaper/build.gradle
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@ android {
         minSdkVersion versions.minSdk
         targetSdkVersion versions.targetSdk
     }
+
+    // NOTE: This is a workaround required because the AGP task collectReleaseDependencies
+    //       is not configuration-cache friendly yet; this is only useful for Play publication
+    dependenciesInfo {
+        includeInApk = false
+    }
 }
 
 dependencies {
diff --git a/android/samples/sample-material-builder/build.gradle b/android/samples/sample-material-builder/build.gradle
index 0d08d43b2c..348f7265cb 100644
--- a/android/samples/sample-material-builder/build.gradle
+++ b/android/samples/sample-material-builder/build.gradle
@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@ android {
         missingDimensionStrategy 'functionality', 'full'
     }
 
+    // NOTE: This is a workaround required because the AGP task collectReleaseDependencies
+    //       is not configuration-cache friendly yet; this is only useful for Play publication
+    dependenciesInfo {
+        includeInApk = false
+    }
+
     // We use the .filamat extension for materials compiled with matc
     // Telling aapt to not compress them allows to load them efficiently
     aaptOptions {
diff --git a/android/samples/sample-multi-view/build.gradle b/android/samples/sample-multi-view/build.gradle
index b0562428d5..69c547cf7c 100644
--- a/android/samples/sample-multi-view/build.gradle
+++ b/android/samples/sample-multi-view/build.gradle
@@ -22,6 +22,12 @@ android {
         targetSdkVersion versions.targetSdk
     }
 
+    // NOTE: This is a workaround required because the AGP task collectReleaseDependencies
+    //       is not configuration-cache friendly yet; this is only useful for Play publication
+    dependenciesInfo {
+        includeInApk = false
+    }
+
     // We use the .filamat extension for materials compiled with matc
     // Telling aapt to not compress them allows to load them efficiently
     aaptOptions {
diff --git a/android/samples/sample-page-curl/build.gradle b/android/samples/sample-page-curl/build.gradle
index 9a06422375..835f431752 100644
--- a/android/samples/sample-page-curl/build.gradle
+++ b/android/samples/sample-page-curl/build.gradle
@@ -25,6 +25,12 @@ android {
         targetSdkVersion versions.targetSdk
     }
 
+    // NOTE: This is a workaround required because the AGP task collectReleaseDependencies
+    //       is not configuration-cache friendly yet; this is only useful for Play publication
+    dependenciesInfo {
+        includeInApk = false
+    }
+
     // We use the .filamat extension for materials compiled with matc
     // Telling aapt to not compress them allows to load them efficiently
     aaptOptions {
@@ -34,5 +40,5 @@ android {
 
 dependencies {
     implementation project(':filament-android')
-    implementation 'androidx.annotation:annotation:1.1.0'
+    implementation deps.androidx.annotations
 }
diff --git a/android/samples/sample-stream-test/build.gradle b/android/samples/sample-stream-test/build.gradle
index aea342fe4d..1ec5feba23 100644
--- a/android/samples/sample-stream-test/build.gradle
+++ b/android/samples/sample-stream-test/build.gradle
@@ -23,6 +23,12 @@ android {
         targetSdkVersion versions.targetSdk
     }
 
+    // NOTE: This is a workaround required because the AGP task collectReleaseDependencies
+    //       is not configuration-cache friendly yet; this is only useful for Play publication
+    dependenciesInfo {
+        includeInApk = false
+    }
+
     // We use the .filamat extension for materials compiled with matc
     // Telling aapt to not compress them allows to load them efficiently
     aaptOptions {
diff --git a/android/samples/sample-texture-view/build.gradle b/android/samples/sample-texture-view/build.gradle
index e793516329..c010007a00 100644
--- a/android/samples/sample-texture-view/build.gradle
+++ b/android/samples/sample-texture-view/build.gradle
@@ -23,6 +23,12 @@ android {
         targetSdkVersion versions.targetSdk
     }
 
+    // NOTE: This is a workaround required because the AGP task collectReleaseDependencies
+    //       is not configuration-cache friendly yet; this is only useful for Play publication
+    dependenciesInfo {
+        includeInApk = false
+    }
+
     // We use the .filamat extension for materials compiled with matc
     // Telling aapt to not compress them allows to load them efficiently
     aaptOptions {
diff --git a/android/samples/sample-textured-object/build.gradle b/android/samples/sample-textured-object/build.gradle
index 3228a5a2ed..2b458a0227 100644
--- a/android/samples/sample-textured-object/build.gradle
+++ b/android/samples/sample-textured-object/build.gradle
@@ -30,6 +30,12 @@ android {
         missingDimensionStrategy 'functionality', 'full'
     }
 
+    // NOTE: This is a workaround required because the AGP task collectReleaseDependencies
+    //       is not configuration-cache friendly yet; this is only useful for Play publication
+    dependenciesInfo {
+        includeInApk = false
+    }
+
     // We use the .filamat extension for materials compiled with matc
     // Telling aapt to not compress them allows to load them efficiently
     aaptOptions {
diff --git a/android/samples/sample-transparent-view/build.gradle b/android/samples/sample-transparent-view/build.gradle
index e793516329..c010007a00 100644
--- a/android/samples/sample-transparent-view/build.gradle
+++ b/android/samples/sample-transparent-view/build.gradle
@@ -23,6 +23,12 @@ android {
         targetSdkVersion versions.targetSdk
     }
 
+    // NOTE: This is a workaround required because the AGP task collectReleaseDependencies
+    //       is not configuration-cache friendly yet; this is only useful for Play publication
+    dependenciesInfo {
+        includeInApk = false
+    }
+
     // We use the .filamat extension for materials compiled with matc
     // Telling aapt to not compress them allows to load them efficiently
     aaptOptions {