Best Android Developer tools for getting started or leveling up your Development skills
There are many android development tools that programmers can choose from when working on a mobile app project.
According to research data from Statista, the number of apps available in leading app stores as of 3rd quarter 2018 are as follows: the Google Play Store has 2.8 million; the Apple App Store has 2.2 million; the Windows Store has 6.9 million; Amazon has 600,000, and the BlackBerry App Store has 234,500.
While there are different tools developers use when creating iOS vs. Android apps, for the purpose of this post, we’re going to focus on Android specifically.
1] Android Studio:
If you're starting out, start using Android Studio. It's obvious that this is the future of Android Development.
Android Studio is the official IDE for Android and contains everything you need to build an Android app.
Completely designed for Android, it accelerates your development process and helps you build quality applications for every device. It is also known as the official development environment for Google's Android operating system. It has countless features such as visual layout, APK
analyzer, intelligent code editor, fast simulator, flexible build the system, and a real-time analyzer.
2] Android-Arsenal:
Android-Arsenal is a large library included information that all Android app developers should need. The libraries are well classified so developers can select what they need with ease. It also updates constantly so developers can easy to find any third party library if needed.
3] Android SDK:
The Android SDK is a development kit for Android. It includes a complete set of development and debugging tools.
The Android SDK is composed of modular packages that you can download separately using the Android SDK Manager. The current version is 26.1.1 and the toolkit includes:
- SDK tool
- SDK platform tools
- SDK documentation
- Android SDK resources
- SDK example
- Google API
- Android support
4] Android Debug Bridge:
ADB is a debugging tool that is often used in the Android development environment. An essential tool, it is a client-server program for Android developers that includes 3 components:
- A client, which sends commands
- A daemon (adbd), which runs commands on a device
- A server that manages communication between the client and the ADBD
ADB is included in the Android SDK Platform-Tools package. The ADB
shell is a useful little command-line tool that you can use to communicate with or run commands on a connected Android device (virtual or physical). It comes with Android Studio and for the most part, you won’t need to worry about it. Every now and then though, you’ll be following a tutorial and find you need to open it up. To do so, navigate to the platform-tools folder of your Android SDK installation or whichever folder adb.exe is located and open up a command line (Shift + RMB > Open Command Window Here).
5] Unity 3D:
Unity 3D is a game engine and IDE for cross-platform game development – and probably the best option for everyone from beginners to advanced users. Unity is easy to learn and comes with a large variety of features for game development.
6] Genymotion:
Genymotion is a cross-platform Android emulator that lets developers test
against several different versions while also performing debugging
tasks.
It has a very friendly drag-and-drop user interface and it comes with pre-configured Android images that make testing even easier,
especially when working with graphics-intense gaming apps. With its automated testing feature, Genymotion allows you to “test early, often and easily.”
One
of the reasons that Genymotion is so popular with Android developers is because of its amazing speed. Using x86 architecture helps Genymotion run faster than most virtual devices.
With Genymotion, you can simulate over 3,000 virtual device scenarios to test your application.
You can also launch a private beta and let customers try out your app from your website. They can test drive your app either on a desktop or
mobile device.
Conclusion:
There are several other popular tools out there besides the ones on this list that can be used for Android development.
It
seems that a combination of ease-of-use, open-source software, an
active and available community, and state-of-the-art debugging tools all
help to move a development tool to the top of everyone’s favorite list.
What’s
considered the “absolute best” is subjective and really just comes down
to the personal preference of the individual programmer.