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Three Recent Developments That Will Help Android Beat The Mobile OS Competition

At present, a hot debate ranges in the app development market about which mobile OS – android or iOS is more suitable for development in today’s scenario. While the battle continues, both these operating systems have displayed their unique characteristics and flavors. Let us concentrate here on the Android operating system as it is one which has generated mass appeal throughout the world.

Android is Google’s baby and with android being able to capture the imagination of millions of users around the world, there is no doubt that android apps development has taken off with so much zest and gusto globally. Today, more than 1.6 million apps are available on the Google Android store for download and the number is significantly expanding. Some positive developments about Android lately are:

Android Marshmallow

Now that Android Marshmallow has been released in Oct 2015, have been released, this is holds a huge connotation for app developers. This actually means that Android is committed to helping developers publish and update apps. Also, users get more room to decide whether they want and what type of personal data they are willing to share with app developers.

Android 2.0

According to Google, Android 2.0, which was released in November 2015, will save coders a lot of time. In fact, it is estimated that developers will be able to code incremental builds 50 times faster. An emulator toolbar has also been added so that new apps can be up and running easily. Thus Google promises a user experience much similar to the iOS via Android 2.0. This is the second major upgrade to its Integrated Development Environment (IDE). In fact, with this version, developers can sample a faster Android emulator along with a new feature called Instant Run.

While version 1.0 was released in December 2014 after a two year development period, the company stable version is 1.5. The version 2.0 needs to be viewed as a preview build, which has many bugs. The new version is expected to be at least 2.5 times faster than the previous versions.

The Instant Run feature allows developers to see the results of the changes made the the code on an instant basis. This can be done both on the physical device as well as the emulator on an almost immediate basis. Those projects which are running ice cream sandwich or later can be adapted to support the feature.

GPU Profiler Tool

Also highlighted by Google in Android 2.0 is the newest GPU profiler tool. This allows recording of OpenGL sessions in their enterity. Also, changes that happen on a frame-by-frame basis can also be viewed. This is an excellent tool for hunting for performance issues. Developers who build apps that are graphic intensive will find this tool useful.

Conclusion

Thus, it is expected that app development will surge greatly on Android. With the release of these tools, it is expected that Google Android will become more user friendly. According to recent surveys, around 90 percent of businesses plan to place a bigger focus on app development during the next year. A significant percentage of app users are already mentioning that apps are changing the way they do business.

Thus, with the introduction of these latest features along with the flexibility and scalability of Android, the concept of using Android for futuristic devices such as Android TV and wearables is becoming stronger. The future seems bright for android app development with the strong support of the developers and the user community worldwide.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by 360 Degree Technosft .