During their 2014 I/O Keynote, Google had a lot to talk about, perhaps more than they’ve had to talk about in the last few years. Of course, for us users the most exciting things were Android Wear, and Android ‘L’ which is poised to completely revamp how Android looks and of course, how we use it. Google I/O is a developer’s conference, and they weren’t forgotten about this year, with Google detailing some big changes and new features to web developers as well as app developers. On the app front, Google Play has gotten a handful of new improvements to better help App Developers distribute their app and create better experiences for their users.
As Google Play matures, it’s becoming a more sophisticated platform and now, it offers comprehensive testing features for budding app developers. Appurify, that developers may know along with Testdroid as one of the leading cloud-based testing platforms for apps, is now part of Google. It wasn’t made a big deal of during the keynote, but we’re sure that developers will relish having a way to test their apps in the cloud, without having to have a desk full of different Android devices across different sizes and caliber. Appurify will allow developers to test their devices on emulated hardware, as well as real hardware should Appurfiy have the needed devices, control network conditions and simulate thousands of simultaneous users at once. It’s been around for some time now, and integrating the service into the Google Play Console will be the next step to making things even easier for developers.
Apps have played a big role during this year’s keynote, and SDKs for Android Wear, AndroidTV and Android Auto have been made available in some form or other. As for the new Material Design at the heart of Android L, well there’s a preview SDK for that to be made available alongside Developer Images of Android L later today. As a Nexus user, I can’t wait.