Going against tradition, Google launched the developer preview of Android N two months ago. Normally, we’d see the launch at the company’s I/O. We also got a second build a couple of weeks ago. To make things more interesting, Google launched Android Studio 2.1, with support for the Android N developer preview, on Tuesday.
Almost all Android developers now use Android Studio for building apps and services on Google’s mobile operating system. We saw the company roll out version 2.0 of its IDE a few weeks ago after the announcement in January. In short, the new build of Android Studio is for the people who want to try the Android N.
The IDE comes with many new features that will make development simpler and sophisticated at the same time. You get updates to the IDE wizards, build system and Android Emulator so that you can try out new features and APIs of the developer preview including the new Jack compiler and Java 8 language support. You also get performance improvements to Instant Run which leads to faster edit and deploy build speeds.
Those who do not know what Instant Run is, it’s a new service that increases your workflow by letting you quickly see changes running on your device or emulator instantaneously. It also removes the criteria that one small change in the Java code will lead to re-compilation of the whole program. This means you can now enjoy fast edit, build and deploy cycle with Android Studio 2.0. This service has now gotten even better as you can now update incremental changes to your app code significantly faster. This is compatible with any Android Device or emulator running API 14 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or higher.
You also get Android N specific default and static methods and repeatable annotations.
You can check for the latest build of the IDE from the navigation menu (Help → Check for Update [Windows/Linux] , Android Studio → Check for Updates [OS X]). If you need a new copy of Android Studio, you can download it here.
