After taking the stage in November for its unveiling in the Android Developer Summit, Android Studio 2.0 is finally available for those who have a need for more speed.
Google's Android IDE (Integrated Development Environment), Android Studio, is a suite of tools that enables developers to create apps for Android, Android TV, Android Auto, Android Wear and the flavors of Android that run on smartphones and tablets.
Android Studio 2.0 fulfills one of the most popular request developers have made of the IDE. They want to build and deploy apps faster, so Google responded with Instant Run.
"Today, mobile platforms are centered around speed and agility," Google stated in a blog post. "And yet, building for mobile can sometimes feel clunky and slow. Instant Run in Android Studio is our solution to keep you in a fast and fluid development flow."
With the Instant Run button, developers can make changes on the fly, and those revisions and additions will appear live in running apps. When clicked, the Instant Run button will look for ways to deploy changes in as little as time as possible.
Instant Run, which supports Android Ice Cream Sandwich and higher, won't work with all changes. Some changes will still require a restart of an app or activity, but the more dynamic compiling the feature offers could shorten build, edit and run cycles.
"Since previewing Instant Run at the end of last year, we've spent countless hours incorporating your feedback and refining for the stable release," Google said. "Look for even more acceleration in future releases because build speeds can never be too fast."
Also speeding things along is the IDE's new Android Emulator, which Google said is three times faster than the previous version. And with boosts from Android Debug Bridge, developers can push apps and app data up to 10 times faster.
Android Emulator was also given new features that enable developers to manage calls, battery, GPS, network and other features just as they would on a physical Android device.
Other features new to Android Studio include Cloud Test Lab integration, the App Indexing Code Generation and Test, an IntelliJ 15 Update and GPU Debugger Preview.
Go here to get the latest version of Android Studio.
