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Android Developers Backstage

Android Developers Backstage

By: Android Developers
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Android Backstage, a podcast by and for Android developers. Hosted by developers from the Android engineering team, this show covers topics of interest to Android programmers, with in-depth discussions and interviews with engineers on the Android team at Google. Subscribe to Android Developers YouTube → https://goo.gle/AndroidDevs2021 © Android Developers Politics & Government
Episodes
  • What's so great about R8?
    Feb 18 2026

    Join hosts Tor and Romain as they sit down with Søren Gjesse, Chris Craik, and Shai Barack.

    This week, the team dives into R8, the whole-program optimizer that handles the "last mile" of your code before it runs on a device. Learn why implementing R8 is effectively like giving your users a "free hardware upgrade" by making their current devices perform like models that are years newer.

    Enable app optimization → https://goo.gle/R8-Optimizer


    Chapters:
    0:00 - Intro
    0:23 - What is R8?
    1:16 - R8 vs D8
    1:40 - Tree Shaking & Dead Code
    4:14 - Handling Reflection
    10:10 - Performance Co-Optimization
    13:03 - Kotlin-Specific Gains
    16:22 - Real-World Impact
    41:50 - Jetpack Compose & R8
    50:51 - Keep annotations
    1:03:49 - The "Free Hardware Upgrade"

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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • XR: Virtually here
    Jan 14 2026

    Join hosts Tor, Chet, and Romain as they sit down with Diego Perez (Android Studio) and Patrick Fuentes (Developer Relations) to explore the new frontiers of Android XR.

    This episode of Android Developers Backstage breaks down the latest announcements and Developer Preview 3, offering a technical look at how developers can start building for spatial environments today.

    Resources:
    Hello Android XR sample → https://goo.gle/3Nbnrre
    Build for AI Glasses with the Android XR SDK Developer Preview 3 → https://goo.gle/49lUjGr

    Chapters:
    0:00 - Intro
    4:42 - Latest announcements
    5:46 - AI Glasses
    8:28 -Developer preview 3
    16:13 - Spatialization
    18:29 - Tools team perspective
    24:07 - Using the XR Emulator
    29:00 - What is an Orbiter?
    37:33 - What hardware is currently available
    38:39 - Final thoughts

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    44 mins
  • Bring your own model - Android Developers Backstage
    Dec 10 2025

    In this episode Tor and Chet chat with Raluca Saucic and Eugene Yakavets about the new "Bring Your Own Model" feature in Android Studio which allows using other models than Gemini for agent mode, including models from Anthropic, OpenAI, and more. We also discuss using local models via Ollama and LM Studio.

    Resources:
    Use a remote model → https://goo.gle/43N2Z5E

    Use a local model → https://goo.gle/3Xij27V

    Chapters:
    0:00 - Intro
    0:49 - Bring your own model
    4:13 - Bring your own key
    7:24 - Anthropic model
    13:17- How often do you need to remind the model of the context?
    17:40 - Thinking vs planning
    20:25 - What happens when the API needs to give multiple answers to a complex question?
    24:14 - Supported models
    31:18 - Are there any barriers when using a different model?
    34:07 - Support for code completion
    38:16 - GitHub's relationship with agents
    44:35 - Using agents for development
    56:36 - Studiobot
    57:56 - Wrap up

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    58 mins
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