Google Launches Android Studio 1.0 IDE for App Developers

Google on Monday finally launched Android Studio 1.0, the stable, full release of its official Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for developers created by its Android team.

Android Studio 1.0, which is based on IntelliJ IDEA JAVA IDE, was notably previewed at last year's Google I/O conference. The Android Studio 1.0 is now available to download from the Android Developers website.

It has been also noted that like "Chrome release channels, Android Studio will continue to receive updates on four different release channels: Stable, Beta, Dev, and Canary." Developers, with the help of these release channels, can utilise the new features for Android Studio.

Some of the new features included in the new Android Studio 1.0 for developers are a Startup Experience with better setup wizard, better code and resource editing, revamped UI, app usage monitor, unified build system, and easy access to Google Cloud Services. The blog has also posted migration steps to the new Android Studio 1.0 for old Eclipse developers.

Google last month announced the availability of the platform's API for developers. The Android Auto APIs will enable developers to make car-optimised audio and messaging apps. Using the API and UX guidelines, developers will now be able to build auto-optimised Android apps for audio and messaging.

In addition, Google also allowed developers to extend their existing Android 5.0 Lollipop (API Level 21 or higher) apps "to work in the car without having to worry about vehicle-specific hardware differences." The added bonus will give developers a wider reach across various car manufacturers, regions and models.

In October, the search giant provided a small code to third-party app developers to integrate the 'Ok, Google' voice command for their in-app searches as well.

The company says that with the integration of this feature to a third-party app search, users will be able to use 'Ok, Google' voice command following the search query and the app name will eliminate extra efforts of opening and searching from the app.