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Android Studio 2.0 released with new emulator and 'Instant Run' building
Following its announcement last November, Android Studio 2.0 has now been released into the stable channel. The upgraded suite brings developers new tools for emulation, an ‘Instant Run’ build feature, Cloud Test Lab integration, and plenty more. For the non-developers out there, Android Studio is the official integrated development environment (IDE) from Google that covers app development across smartphone, tablet, Android Auto, Wear, and TV platforms.
Instant Run looks to be the major new addition to Android Studio, which should enable much faster build times. This feature allows developers to see changes made to their app’s code almost instantaneously, even when it’s already running live on a device or in the emulator. Clicking the new button will analyze the latest code changes and figure out the fastest way to deploy it, avoiding re-installation of an APK each time you want to test out a change.
Speaking of speed, the new Android Emulator is said to be up to three times faster in CPU, RAM, & I/O in comparison with the old emulator. The software also builds much faster, with ADB push speeds up a huge 10 times faster than before. Google has updated the emulator with a new interface, sensor controls, and multi-touch gesture support. There’s also a drag and drop APK function for faster installation.
Other notable features include Cloud Test Lab integration, which allows for app testing on a wide range of physical devices from within Android Studio. There’s also new App Indexing to help promote the visibility of your app in Google Search with auto-generated URLs, a GPU Debugger Preview if you’re developing with OpenGL ES, and a more general update to IntelliJ 15 to keep the platform up to date with the latest coding platform features.
Android Studio 2.0 is available either as a separate download or as an update through stable release channel. You can read additional details about the changes and new features over at the Android Developers Blog post.