Google launches Android Studio 1.4 with Nexus 5X and 6P emulators, Firebase integration, theme editor

Google today said that it has pushed version 1.4 of its Android Studio integrated development environment (IDE) into the stable release channel. This release comes with several new tools to accelerate the development of Android apps.

Android Studio 1.4 is coming out exactly two months after version 1.3 came out.

In version 1.4, there’s a new Vector Asset Studio for easily selecting existing Material Design icons or uploading custom icons into projects, and a new Theme Editor simplifies the process of tweaking colors for app user interfaces, as Android product manager Jamal Eason explained in a blog post on the release today.

Emulators for Huawei’s new Nexus 6P and LG’s new Nexus 5X are included in the release.

This update also ships with a tight integration of the Google-owned Firebase backend as a service. Rather than make Firebase a dependency with Gradle, now in Android Studio developers only need to hit File, select Project Structure, and navigate to the new Cloud section, Eason wrote.

You can download Android Studio here. You can get the latest version by checking for updates using the drop-down menu or the pop-up box in the IDE.