Developer Tool Improvements
Timed with the Jelly Bean developer preview is a new release of the Android SDK Tools (Revision 20). The tools have been updated to make app development faster (wizards improved, editor bugs fixed, and SDK load times faster) and to help developers design apps that run faster and smoother. Here are some of the new tools available in Revision 20:
- When creating a new Android app project using ADT, you can now choose from different app templates. These templates jive with different app navigation models, like single activity apps and master-detail flows. Not only do these templates set up your project with the appropriate files and assets but they also help reinforce the Android style guidelines.
- For OpenGL developers, there's a new Tracer for GLES tool. This tool helps capture sequences of OpenGL ES calls into a trace file for debugging purposes. The Tracer app can be run from within Eclipse as a perspective or from the new Device Monitor app (see below).
- To help developers performance tune, there's a new tool that ships with the Android 4.1 SDK called systrace.
- To help NDK developers, support for building and debugging NDK-based Android apps has been added.
- Finally, many of the existing debugging tools like DDMS, traceview, the Hierarchy Viewer and others have been rolled into a single standalone app called Device Monitor (as well as Eclipse perspectives).
For more information about what's in the Android SDK Tools, Revision 20, see the Android Developer website: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2012/06/android-sdk-tools-revision-20.html.
Conclusion
Jelly Bean may be a minor point release on the Android continuum, but it doesn't lack for features that developers—be they native Android app developers, mobile web developers, or NDK developers—should be aware of.
Use this honeymoon period before users get their hands on Jelly Bean to get familiar with the new Android tools and SDK features. Understand that as the Android platform matures, there will continue to be increasing focus on quality that are buttery smooth and feature-rich.
With typical smartphone and mobile device contracts running on a two-year cycle, we could see a massive jump forward in the next year or so from the legacy versions of Android like 2.3 forward to 4.1+ as users upgrade their devices. Don't get left behind.