Google just made life easier for developers with the release of Android Studio 2.0 earlier this month This is the latest version of their integrated development environment (IDE). Version 2.0.comes along with an impressive list of exciting new features, including Instant Run, a faster Android Emulator, a Cloud Test Lab, and app indexing improvements. Everything one may need to build a fully functioning app.
This is the first update of the IDE since it’s launch back in 2013. With it, Google promises developers an all-in-one solution for all Android platforms development meant to make things faster and higher quality.
“Android Studio 2.0 is the fastest way to build high quality, performant apps for the Android platform, including phones and tablets, Android Auto, Android Wear, and Android TV.”
Perhaps the most interesting feature is Instant Run, which allows the developer to instantly see how changes in the code are affecting the running app. Android Emulator, which runs three times faster than the previous version, pushes apps and data to the emulator 10 times faster than it would to an actual device. Is also has the Google Play Services built-in, allowing the developer to examine API functionality. The Cloud Test Lab Integration lets developers run their code anywhere.
Find what’s new in Android 2.0 Studio | VIDEO
Android Studio 2.0 new features list
Here is the full list of Android Studio 2.0 new features:
Instant run
Instant Run in Android Studio is a solution to improve the developer’s workflow while providing them with a solution to continuously code and run the app they are working on. The feature is meant to increase the developer productivity by accelerating the edit, build, and run cycles. The features allows the developers to quickly see changes running on their device or emulators. When the Instant Run button is clicked, Instant Run will analyze the changes that have been made and determine how it can deploy the new code in the fastest way. Instant Run works with any Android Device or emulator running Ice Cream Sandwich or higher.
Android Emulator
The new Android Emulator is up to 3x faster in CPU, RAM, and I/O than the previous Android emulator. Thanks to ADB enhancements you can now push apps and data 10x faster to the emulator than to a physical device. It also has a new user interface and sensor controls, letting you drag and drop APKs for quick installation, resize and rescale the window, use multi-touch actions (pinch & zoom, pan, rotate, tilt), and so on. Like a physical device, the official Android emulator also includes Google Play Services built-in, so you can test out more API functionality. Finally, the new emulator has rich new features to manage calls, battery, network, GPS, and more.
Cloud Test Lab
Once the developer has built the code, this new service allows testing the app across a wide range of devices and device configurations. Google sees it as an extension to the testing process that lets the developer run through a collection of tests against a portfolio of physical devices hosted in Google’s data centers. Cloud Test Lab can perform a basic set of crash tests, right from Android Studio. The new interface in Android Studio allows the configuration of the portfolio of tests developers wants to run on Cloud Test Lab, and allows them to see the results of their tests.
App Indexing
With the App Indexing API it is easier for users to find an app in Google Search. Android Studio 2.0 helps developers to create the correct URL structure in the app code and add attributes in the AndroidManifest.xml file that will work with the Google App Indexing service. After that, one can then test and validate the app indexing code in Android Studio.
Android Studio 2.0 – App indexing
GPU Debugger Preview
For the ones that are developing OpenGL ES games or graphics-intensive apps, Android 2.0 integrates a graphics processing unit debugger. It can step through the app, frame by frame, to identify and debug graphics rendering issues.
All in all, these features will help us with better mobile app development. The new version of Android Studio for Windows, Mac, and Linux can be now downloaded directly from Android.com/SDK.
In the Google Play Store there are already over 1.6 billion apps. This indicates a high interest in the development of mobile apps. With The release of Android Studio 2.0, Google shows that this can be taken further. Find more about this issue on Android Developers Blog.