Google unveiled the preview of version 2.0  of its Android Studio IDE at the Android Developer Summit last week.

The new version will come up with a number of new features including Instant Run, a new GPU profiler and a faster Android emulator.

However, currently, the Android Studio 2.0 has been released on Canary channel and the developers will have to wait to get their hands it.

Following the launch of Andriod Studio 1.0 in December last year, Google has released its five new versions, last of which – Android 1.5 – came three weeks ago.

Stephanie Cuthbertson, Google’s product manager for Android Studio, told media that the speed improvement has beej particularly focused in Andriod Studio 2.0 and a full build in it is 2x to 2.5x faster than five other major releases.

Instant Run

The feature which developers are more likely to appreciate in Android Studio 2 is “Instant Run”,  which lets them quickly witness the changes on their device and continuously code and run their app.

For newly-created projects, this tool is activated by default in the new version and can be enabled via “Build, Execution, Development” in the menu for existing apps.

Emulator:

There are several services available for the developers to test out their apps in the later phase of development including Google’s own Test Lab, AWS Device Farm and Xamarin Test Cloud but testing out their apps on a popular service early was almost impossible for them. Hence, they had to test their apps on an emulator during early development.

However, in the new version, Google has added a new emulator which features a new user-interface and boasts a much higher-speed. This emulator contains a new toolbar so the developers can instantly perform the most common emulator actions.  It also allows them to test out different screen sizes by simply resizing the emulator window.

GPU Profiler:

Android Studio 2 also brings up a GPU profiler which let the game and graphics-intensive app developers to easily profile their code. This tool also allows the developers to see the details about their Commands, GL State and record entire sessions. It also lets the users jump to the GL Framebuffer and Textures while the app is running, thus helping them to smoothly overhaul logistical mistakes and trace out performance related issues.

Currently, this tool is not pre-installed in Android Studio and you can download it from the Tools section of SDK Manager in the application.