• By quade
• 17 May 2024

Gemini 1.5 Pro Upgrade to Enter Android Studio

Google’s Android development environment is set for a significant enhancement as they are expected to release the Gemini 1.5 Pro to Android Studio later this year. This system is a direct upgrade over the existing Gemini 1.0 system and promises many new upgrades.

This update introduces new abilities like extended context windows and multimodal inputs. Additionally, developers can leverage Gemini to generate code suggestions, analyze crash reports, and recommend next steps to address development issues. All of these are promising steps that will help automate coding.

From Gemini 1.0 to Gemini 1.5 Pro

Several weeks ago, Google announced that Android Studio would be powered by Gemini 1.0 Pro. This tool is made for coding and can help automate the process by generating code with minimum supervision. Gemini 1.0 was available as a free preview for developers, but the company recently announced plans to upgrade its AI offering to the more advanced Gemini 1.5 Pro. With a significantly larger context window (1 million tokens vs. 32,000 tokens), Gemini 1.5 Pro promises to deliver even higher-quality responses.

This was announced during the annual Google I/O developer conference where Google shows off its newest products. The event this year was heavily focused on AI and some of its practical applications on the Google platform.

“Android is uniquely positioned to bring all of Google’s AI innovations to the broader app ecosystem. “That’s why we continue to invest in tools and APIs that are easy to use and meet developers where they are and where we can have the most impact.” 

-Matthew McCullough, Google’s vice president of product management.

“One way we do this is by offering developers multiple ways to leverage Gemini models in their Android apps. Another part of our commitment is to use AI to make hard tasks easier for developers. Since launching AI features in Android Studio last year, we have continued to refine our underlying models, integrate developers’ feedback, and expand availability to more countries. And our goal remains to help developers leverage AI in their workflow and be more productive.”

-Matthew McCullough, Google’s vice president of product management.

For Google, offering better AI solutions is crucial, especially in the mobile sector as many other tech companies have already made big strides here. Gemini 1.5 Pro is their way of remaining competitive with Apple, which is rumored to be upgrading Siri with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

As AI moves to mobile, it is even more important that Gemini 1.5 Pro remain up-to-date and portable.  Google can’t afford to ignore developers building on Android.

Google Assistant, once the go-to AI on Android devices, was opened to developers in 2016 with Actions on Google. However, the era of relying solely on Assistants is over. With the inclusion of Gemini, developers now have greater freedom to integrate AI into their apps more natively.

Gemini 1.5 Pro Can Give Code Suggestions and Crash Reports

Google released the Studio Bot for Android Studio last year. This was an AI-powered coding assistant that used text-to-code services. Developers could ask questions about Android development or request Studio Bot to fix errors in their code.

A year later, Studio Bot has been rebranded as Gemini in Android Studio. When enabled, developers can simplify complex code to execute specific code transformations or generate new functions as described.

McCullough showcased Gemini’s new code suggestion capabilities during a demo last week. He demonstrated how Gemini can explain the purpose of a selected piece of code, helping developers determine if they’re editing the correct part of an app or how a change might affect other areas. Additionally, he highlighted Gemini’s ability to translate code into other languages.

It’s unclear if Studio Bot will continue to exist in its current form, but Google is integrating Gemini directly into its products instead of offering it as a standalone product. Google isn’t alone in this; other companies like Microsoft with Copilot, GitHub Copilot, Oracle Code Assist, Amazon CodeWhisperer, and Tabnine also provide coding assistants.

Google has enhanced its Gemini API to offer a starter app template within Android Studio which is what Gemini 1.5 Pro will be. Developers can use it to run prompts with image sources. This feature can serve as a starting point for creating an Android app, akin to using Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress.com for websites. 

Developers can now use Gemini 1.5 po to determine the source of app crashes. They do this by studying crash reports and generating crash summaries. with these suggestions, Gemini 1.5 Pro can offer recommendations. This includes sample code to fix issues and links to relevant documentation. This is accessible within the App Quality Insights tool in Android Studio once Gemini is activated.

This feature is integrated with Firebase Crashlytics, hailed as “a big step in how Android developers can improve their app stability.” Combined with data from Android Vitals, it created Android Studio’s App Quality Insights (AQI).

However, interpreting the data still requires manual analysis, which can be time-consuming for developers. Google aims for Gemini to handle the more tedious parts, freeing up resources to enhance the overall app experience.

How BPOs Benefit from Gemini 1.5 Pro?

One of the biggest beneficiaries of Gemini 1.5 Pro is Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies. Many of these companies are Offshore development centers focusing more on website creation and coding. Tools that speed up the process such as this will be welcome additions to their systems. 

Gemini 1.5 Pro’s AI capabilities automate data analysis by reducing the time and effort to generate code, enabling quicker, data-driven decisions. By improving customer support through real-time analysis of interactions, Gemini 1.5 Pro helps agents resolve issues more effectively.

For IT BPO outsourcing Services, it can share preventative measures that reduce the risk of crashes by analyzing the causes of previous ones. The AI also optimizes workflows by identifying bottlenecks and inefficiencies, streamlining operations, and enhancing productivity. Quality assurance is enhanced as Gemini 1.5 Pro automatically reviews work to maintain high standards, reducing the need for extensive manual checks

By integrating Gemini 1.5 Pro, BPOs can boost operational efficiency, improve service quality, and deliver better customer experiences, positioning themselves as industry leaders.