Android Things 1.0 is now available for your IoT projects

Ahead of Tuesday’s Google I/O 2018 developer conference, the company has decided to launch the first non-preview version of Android Things, its operating system designed for Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Android Things 1.0 is now available for developers to download.

Android Things was first announced in December 2016 as the successor to the earlier Project Brillo for IoT products and projects. The first preview version of the OS was made available to developers on that date, and since then the company has released several updated preview builds. Google said today that over 100,000 preview versions of the Android Things SDK have been downloaded, and it has received feedback from over 10,000 IoT developers. The OS is designed to give those creators access to Google’s machine learning system, along with Google Assistant, for their IoT devices.

Developers who work with Android Things 1.0 for their IoT devices and projects should have a lot of post-release support from Google. The company said today that for each long-term support version, it will release free stability patches and security patches for three years, with additional options for extended support. Companies can still release app updates for their individual devices even after the Android Things 1.0 support window ends.

Speaking of which, Google announced today that four new IoT modules now support Android Things 1.0. They include two made by Qualcomm (Qualcomm SDA212, Qualcomm SDA624), one from MediaTek (MediaTek MT8516) and one from NXP (NXP i.MX8M). Support will continue for the older NXP i.MX7D developer hardware, as well as for the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, but support for the NXP i.MX6UL hardware will not continue.

It won’t be long until we see smart devices on sale with Android Things 1.0, including smart speakers coming from LG and iHome and smart displays from Lenovo, LG, and JBL. They should be going on sale in the very next future.