Google has finally rolled out the Android Studio 3.1 full version and is now available for download. This new version of app development platform mainly focuses on the product quality and productivity. Google has also touted some quality changes in the newer version and which developers should consider. Also, these new Android Studio 3.1 features help a way better in their development flow.

C++ performance profiler is one such new feature added to the Android Studio 3.1 to help troubleshoot. Google focused on better code editor support for developers with a Room or SQLite database. Besides that Android Studio 3.1 brings better lint support for the Kotlin code announced last year. On the other hand, it offers accelerated testing with an updated Android Emulator with Quick Boot.

Android Studio 3.1 features:

Kotlin Lint Checks:

The development platform continues its efforts to make Kotlin language support better. Google has updated the Lint code quality checks to help developers run them via command line and from the IDE. Developers can run gradlew lint via command line by just opening an Android Studio project.

Database Code Editing:

New Android Studio 3.1 features make editing inline SQL/Room Database code in the Android project much easier. This release has SQL code completion in @Query declarations, SQL code navigation across projects and better SQL statement refactoring.

IntelliJ Platform Update:

The latest Android Studio release includes the IntelliJ 2017.3.3, which has some features like built-in SVG image preview support and new Kotlin language intentions.

D8 Dex Compiler:

D8 is now the default dex compiler in the new Android Studio. D8 dexing enables accurate step debugging, makes app size smaller, and leads to faster builds. Replacing the legacy DX complier, D8 Dex ensures gradle.properties either have no android.enableD8 flag, or it is set to true.

New Build Output Window:

The updated Build output window in Android Studio 3.1 organises build status and errors in a new tree view. Also, this change consolidates the legacy Gradle output into this new build output window.

Quick Boot:

Resume an Android Emulator session in less than 6 seconds with this Quick Boot feature. The emulator performs an initial cold boot just like a physical Android device, but subsequent starts are fast. This claims to be one of the interesting Android Studio 3.1 features and is enabled by default for all Android Virtual Devices. In addition, the latest version brings finer grain controls under the emulator settings page.

System Images and Frameless Device Skins:

Testers can now get the Google Play Store and Google APIs on API 24 (Nougat) – API 27 (Oreo) emulator systems images and also the P Developer Preview. On the other hand, the updated device emulator skins can now work in a new frameless mode. This helps test apps with 18:9 screen aspect ratios, or Android P Developer Preview DisplayCutout APIs.

C++CPU Profiling:

Earlier version has brought Android profilers to measure the CPU, Memory, and Network Activity in apps. Now, Android Studio latest version provides to profile their C++ code in apps along with Kotlin and Java language app code. The C++ profiler allows you to record C++ method traces using simpleperf as backend.

Network Profiler Updates:

Network Thread view helps to inspect and analyze multithreaded network traffic. Now, a new Network Request tab has been added to dig into the network requests over time. Thus, this threads & Network request helps developers to trace the network traffic from each thread and network request.