BUILD APK - stay connected to the internet
------------

download
android sdk tools UNZIP into C:\Android\android-sdk-windows\
platform tools UNZIP into C:\Android\android-sdk-windows\
gradle-4.6-all.zip UNZIP into C:\Gradle\

set environmental variables
ANDROID_HOME = C:\Android\android-sdk-windows
GRADLE_USER_HOME = C:\Gradle
CORDOVA_ANDROID_GRADLE_DISTRIBUTION_URL = file:///C:/path-to-gradle-file/gradle-4.6-all.zip

OR in GradleBuild.js and StudioBuild.js set
var distributionUrl = 'file:///C:/path-to-gradle-file/gradle-4.6-all.zip';

set path
C:\Gradle\gradle-4.6\bin;
C:\Android\android-sdk-windows\tools;
C:\Android\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools;

install platform tools if missing
C:\Android\android-sdk-windows\tools\bin/sdkmanager.bat "platform-tools" "platforms;android-26"

install build tools
C:\Android\android-sdk-windows\tools\bin\sdkmanager.bat --list
C:\Android\android-sdk-windows\tools\bin\sdkmanager.bat "build-tools;27.0.3"

accept all licenses
C:\Android\android-sdk-windows\tools\sdkmanager.bat --licenses

platforms/android/gradle/gradle-wrapper.properties
distributionUrl=file:///C:/path-to-gradle-file/gradle-4.6-all.zip

commands
cordova platforms add android
cordova platforms remove android
ionic cordova build --release android

apk location
C:\<path-to-app>\platforms\android\app\build\outputs\apk\release\app-release-unsigned.apk


SIGN APK
-----------

1) set path C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_121\bin\ <------------path to jdk

2) Let’s generate your private key using the keytool command that comes with the JDK:

keytool -genkey -v -keystore my-release-key.jks -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000 -alias your-alias

3) To sign the unsigned APK, run the jarsigner tool which is also included in the JDK:

jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore my-release-key.jks android-release-unsigned.apk your-alias

4) we need to run the zip align tool to optimize the APK. The zipalign tool can be found in /path/to/Android/sdk/build-tools/VERSION/zipalign.

zipalign -v 4 app-release-unsigned.apk test.apk
*C:\Android\android-sdk-windows\build-tools\27.0.3\zipalign -v 4 app-release-unsigned.apk test.apk

5) To verify that your apk is signed run apksigner. The apksigner can be also found in the same path as the zipalign tool:

apksigner verify test.apk
*C:\Android\android-sdk-windows\build-tools\27.0.3\apksigner verify test.apk

This very interesting news to a tech person like me, how this gentleman has build Android APK with android studio installed in that device. I was confused first and when I tried running on australianwritings.com reviews blog server the same code which was shared in this post, it really worked smooth and all the features are working