What is the latest version of Android Studio and what are its features?

 The latest version of Android Studio (2024.1.1) is called Koalas.

Android Studio is used for building high-quality, modern Android Applications. The following features make it extremely well suited for building modern Android applications. These are in no way new but essential in all modern design environments:

•  Develop Native Android Apps:  The basic function is used to build Android applications using KOTLIN, or Java. KOTLIN is Google's preferred language for Android app development. It provides an development environment with all the necessary tools for writing, editing, testing, debugging, and deploying your application. It's Android device monitor can explore various aspects of a connected Android app.

• Build app's UI with Jetpack Compose :  Without UI you can not think of an application and Android can do UIs. It uses 'Jetpack Compose' to create UIs. Jetpack Compose is a declarative UI framework that allows you to build modern, customizable, and efficient user interfaces with a more composable and reactive approach.

•  Utilize Robust Development Tools: Android Studio has a rich set of tools to do almost anything such as:

1.  Code editing: Syntax highlighting, code completion, refactoring tools, and code navigation for efficient coding.
2.  Debugging: Step through your code, set breakpoints, inspect variables, and identify and fix bugs effectively. Debugging can also be used look at data flows in the app.
3. Testing: Write unit tests, integration tests, and UI tests to ensure code quality and prevent regressions.

• Emulation and Testing on Different Devices:  Every app developer wants to see how is app works on a physical device and the look and feel on other device sizes. Without needing a physical device for every configuration, you can use the built-in Android Emulator to test your app on virtual devices simulating various screen sizes, operating systems, and device capabilities. Additionally, you can connect real Android devices for testing and development. You can test on external devices using WiFi or USB. 

• Integrate with Firebase and Other Services:  You can use Google Firebase for authentication, databases, cloud storage, analytics, and more. Android Studio also supports integrating with other third-party libraries and services to enhance app features such as Networking, Image loading, UI animations, databases, etc.

Here is a link to installing Android Studio on Windows 10: 

https://hodentekmobile.blogspot.com/2017/11/installing-android-studio-30-on-windows.html

Also, couple of more articles on the same HodentekMobile blog.

What kind of an application is RUFUS?

RUFUS is an app with a small size that helps formatting USB flash and also to create a bootable drive from a flash.

You can download rufus-3.3.exe (1.1 M) from here:
https://rufus.ie/downloads/

How did you fix the Lumia 950 recognition?

In my previous post I had difficulty in accessing my Lumia 950 Smart Phone (Windows Mobile) although I could use the USB ports otherwise.

The trouble shooting and updating the USB drivers did not help. I dawned upon me that perhaps it is to do with something else.

I opened up the Device Manager with the phone connected to an USB Port and voila! there indeed was an item for the Lumia 950 as shown with a question mark.

This shows the properties of the Lumia 950(RM-1105) device.

I updated the driver for this device and that seems to have fixed the problem. under Portable devices I do find the ZrEWindows phone.

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How come my Microsoft Lumia 950 not recognized by the File Explorer?

It has been quite strange the way Windows 10 works.

Few days ago Windows 10 was updated to Insider Preview Build 17692.rs_prerelease-flt.180625-1624 and now I cannot see my Microsoft Lumia 950 connected to the USB (there are three on this laptop) in the file explorer.

It is strange that I can connect to Flash Drives and WD's My Passport 1 TB drive connected to the USB drives.

Even stranger is, the fact that I can deploy UWP (Universal Windows Platform) projects from Visual Studio Community 2017 to the Microsoft Lumia 950 connected to the USB Drive.

I have done a hardware troubleshooting and restarted the laptop.

Still no good.

If I find a fix I will psot here for those who may hit the same wall.