Google said its Android Things platform has reached version 1.0 for general release.
The company distributed a release candidate just last month. Android Things is meant to bring smarts to connected devices, such as lamps, TVs, thermostats, and more.
This version of Android Things packs the final set of APIs and the official v1.0 SDK. Android Things includes specific tools for app writers in the Android Things Developer Console to make it easier for them to build and manage connected devices.
For example, developers can unpublish the current OTA build if issues are discovered in production hardware, as well as configure device storage allocations, control supported fonts, and share through Google Groups. Changes in the library should simplify the process of managing APKs, which no longer need to packaged into separate zipped bundles. This should help with installations.
Google also changed the permissions runtime to make it clearer to end users when and which permissions they are granting to Android Things apps and devices. It its blog post, Google ensured that any device bearing the Android Things logo would receive software upgrades for a period of at least three years. Moreover, the company plans to support more hardware platforms / systems-on-a-chip, such as the NXP i.MX8M, Qualcomm SDA212, Qualcomm SDA624, and MediaTek MT8516. This means developers will have a wider election of components from which to choose when creating their connected devices.
Google has worked with several hardware vendors, including LG, Lenovo, JBL, and iHome to create some initial devices. JBL, for example, has a new sounder with Google Assistant and Google Cast built in.
Developers can find Android Things version 1.0 on Google’s Android developer web site.
