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Monday, December 22, 2014

Android One: Bringing Your Apps to the Next Five Billion




With the launch of Android One,
more people across the world will have access to high-quality and
affordable smartphones, packed with plenty of processing power and
running the latest version of Android. These devices are available now
in India and soon in Indonesia, the Philippines, and South Asia, so now
is a good time to make sure your apps are ready for these new markets.
This post highlights a few areas to consider.





These days, we often talk about smooth, 60fps transitions and keeping
apps jank-free, and rightly so — performance is a critical metric for
app quality. But in the user experience hierarchy of needs, an app
should first and foremost do its job reliably and consistently.



If your app has search functionality, will user requests time out
entirely? Do you think it is more important that a result is returned in
a timely manner, or that the result is returned at all? If you're
trying to build a robust app to reach the next five billion, it might be
less about returning a result immediately, and more about returning a
result at all. To address this challenge, why not include an option to
users to “notify me with the results” when a search query is running on a
slow network? Your app can then take as long as it needs to
successfully retrieve the data in the background and show a notification
when complete. The difference in user experience between an app that
times out on a slower network and one that caters to user-specific needs
will be very impactful for driving mobile app adoption.





There are also ways to test app performance without flying around the globe. The Android Emulator has network speed and network delay emulation
settings, which can become an integral part of your testing strategy.
If you’re testing on physical hardware, try turning off WiFi and
switching the network to 2G only; how well does your app perform? Do
search pages load? Does data refresh? These issues can often be fixed
with relatively minor changes to your app logic or by leveraging a SyncAdapter. Check out our blog post on sync in the Google I/O app for more ideas.







Another key area for you to be aware of is app memory utilization. As
part of the KitKat launch, we added new tools to the SDK for analyzing memory use and new APIs like isLowRamDevice(). We also just added a Memory Monitor to Android Studio 0.8.10 (currently in Canary). Much of this is documented in our Best Practices for Performance guide.



Moving forward, the Android L release has a strong focus on battery usage and analysis. Project Volta introduces new tools, such as Battery Historian and new APIs like JobScheduler, that can really help optimize battery use of your app.



By ensuring your app works well on slower networks, uses minimal
memory, minimizes battery usage and doesn’t have a larger-than-necessary
APK, you will help the next five billion discover, use and love your
app.

Android 5.0 Lollipop SDK and Nexus Preview Images





Two more weeks!





At Google I/O last June, we gave you an early version of Android 5.0 with the L Developer Preview,
running on Nexus 5, Nexus 7 and Android TV. Over the course of the L
Developer Preview program, you’ve given us great feedback and we
appreciate the engagement from you, our developer community. Thanks!



This week, we announced Android 5.0 Lollipop. Starting today, you can download the full release of the Android 5.0 SDK, along with updated developer images for Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013), ADT-1, and the Android emulator.



The first set of devices to run this new version of Android -- Nexus
6, Nexus 9, and Nexus Player -- will be available in early November. In
the same timeframe, we'll also roll out the Android 5.0 update worldwide
to Nexus 4, 5, 7 (2012 & 2013), and 10 devices, as well as to
Google Play edition devices.



Therefore, now is the time to test your apps on the new platform. You have two more weeks to get ready!



What’s in Lollipop?

Android 5.0 Lollipop introduces a host of new APIs and features including:



There's much more, so check out the Android 5.0 platform highlights for a complete overview.



What’s in the Android 5.0 SDK?

The Android 5.0 SDK includes updated tools and new developer system
images for testing. You can develop against the latest Android platform
using API level 21 and take advantage of the updated support library to
implement Material Design as well as the leanback user interface for TV
apps.



You can download these components through the Android SDK Manager and develop your app in Android Studio:


  • Android 5.0 SDK Platform & Tools
  • Android 5.0 Emulator System Image - 32-bit & 64-bit (x86)
  • Android 5.0 Emulator System Image for Android TV (32-bit)
  • Android v7 appcompat Support Library for Material Design theme backwards capability
  • Android v17 leanback library for Android TV app support
For developers using the Android NDK for native C/C++ Android apps we have:


For developers on Android TV devices we have:


  • Android 5.0 system image over the air (OTA) update for ADT-1 Developer Kit. OTA updates will appear over the next few days.
Similar to our previous release of the preview, we are also providing updated system image downloads
for Nexus 5 & Nexus 7 (2013) devices to help with your testing as
well. These images support the Android 5.0 SDK, but only have the
minimal apps pre-installed in order to enable developer testing:



  • Nexus 5 (GSM/LTE) “hammerhead” Device System Image
  • Nexus 7 (2013) - (Wifi) “razor” Device System Image
For the developer preview versions, there will not be an over the air (OTA) update. You will need to wipe and reflash
your developer device to use the latest developer preview versions. If
you want to receive the official consumer OTA update in November and any
other official updates, you will have to have a factory image on your Nexus device.



Validate your apps with the Android 5.0 SDK

With the consumer availability of Android 5.0 and the Nexus 6, Nexus
9, and Nexus Player right around the corner, here are a few things you
should do to prepare:


  1. Get the emulator system images through the SDK Manager or download the Nexus device system images.
  2. Recompile your apps against Android 5.0 SDK, especially if you used any preview APIs. Note: APIs have changed between the preview SDK and the final SDK.
  3. Validate that your current Android apps run on the new API 21 level with ART enabled.
    And if you use the NDK for your C/C++ Android apps, validate against
    the 64-bit emulator. ART is enabled by default on API 21 & new
    Android devices with Android 5.0.
Once you validate your current app, explore the new APIs and features for Android 5.0.



Migrate Your Existing App to Material Design

Android 5.0 Lollipop introduces Material Design,
which enables your apps to adopt a bold, colorful, and flexible design,
while remaining true to a small set of key principles that guide user
interaction across multiple screens and devices.



After making sure your current apps work with Android 5.0, now is the time to enable the Material theme in your app with the AppCompat support library. For quick tips & recommendations for making your app shine with Material Design, check out our Material Design guidelines and tablet optimization tips. For those of you new to Material Design, check out our Getting Started guide.










Get your apps ready for Google Play!

Starting today, you can publish your apps that are targeting Android 5.0 Lollipop to Google Play. In your app manifest, update android:targetSdkVersion to "21", test your app, and upload it to the Google Play Developer Console.



Starting November 3rd, Nexus 9 will be the first device available to
consumers that will run Android 5.0. Therefore, it is a great time to
publish on Google Play, once you've updated and tested your app. Even if
your apps target earlier versions of Android, take a few moments to
test them on the Android 5.0 system images, and publish any updates
needed in advance of the Android 5.0 rollout.



Stay tuned for more details on the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 devices, and how to make sure your apps look their best on them.










Next up, Android TV!

We also announced the first consumer Android TV device, Nexus Player.
It’s a streaming media player for movies, music and videos, and also a
first-of-its-kind Android gaming device. Users can play games on their
HDTVs with a gamepad, then keep playing on their phones while they’re on
the road. The device is also Google Cast-enabled, so users can cast
your app from their phones or tablets to their TV.



If you’re developing for Android TV, watch for more information on
November 3rd about how to distribute your apps to Android TV users
through the Google Play Developer Console. You can start getting your
app ready by making sure it meets all of the TV Quality Guidelines.



Get started with Android 5.0 Lollipop platform

If you haven’t had a chance to take a look at this new version of Android yet, download the SDK and get started today. You can learn more about what’s new in the Android 5.0 platform highlights and get all the details on new APIs and changed behaviors in the API Overview. You can also check out the latest DevBytes videos to learn more about Android 5.0 features.



Enjoy this new release of Android!