Do I need to install an emulator of some sort? Are there any online services that offer this? I've found little guidance elsewhere on this matter. I'm on Windows 8, just trying to figure out (locally) why my android users are experiencing issues with an MVC app.
The easiest way would be to download and install the Android SDK and use the emulator to try and reproduce the problem. The SDK has emulator images for all versions of Android, and you can create devices with different screens (resolution/dpi/size), so if your site uses responsive design you can test also how it scales across different devices and whether the problem affects one specific or all Android devices.
However, it is possible that the emulator might not be good enough for reproducing and understanding the problem. The Android SDK images come with the browser that is part of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). While this browser is technically based on WebKit, it is based on a rather old version of it. Most OEMs that have built Android devices have signed the Google Mobile Services (GMS) license ship on their devices the Google suite of apps which includes the latest version of Chrome, which is based on the most recent WebKit version. The difference in the behavior between the two browsers is rather big.
So if the problem turns out to be with Chrome instead of the AOSP Browser, you will have to buy a real device and test on it. Depending on the budget you have and whether you want a phone or a tablet, you can go with a Nexus 5 ($350 w/o contract), Nexus 7 ($230 wifi only), or a Moto G ($175 w/o contract). Of course, you could also buy Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One X, or a Moto X, but they all will cost you more.
It might be worth also borrowing from someone a Samsung Galaxy Ace 2, or equivalent low end MDPI device.
well, you can install an android emulator and use the browser there (http://developer.android.com/tools/devices/index.html), but it's extremely slow,
so you should, instead, try Genymotion. It's an android virtual machine and it's pretty smooth. (http://www.genymotion.com/)
another option, is the Opera mobile emulator, but that is specifically for the mobile Opera browser. (http://www.opera.com/developer/mobile-emulator)
if you want a chrome specific approach, try this (https://developers.google.com/chrome-developer-tools/docs/mobile-emulation)
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html has the emulators.
… but it may be just as cost-effective to just spring the $40 for a cheap Android tablet with WiFi.
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I am about to port my application on android. Since I am new to this system I would like to ask for tips on android phones for testing my app. The number of phones is pretty huge so it is pretty hard to choose the right one. Also I wasn't able to find some kind of official chart of system distribution.
I know that it really depends on hardware and how much my app demands from hardware. It is pretty basic app and I am able to run this app at 30fps on iPhone 4S.
I did some research and people are talking about the latest phones but I think that it is not necessary to buy the newest one. Also, is there option to buy for example tablet and emulate android devices on this tablet?
So my goal is to focus on devices people have the most.
Thank you for any advice.
You can run many of your tests on the Android emulator. Using it together
with the DDMS will allow you to simulate several real life situations
(arriving call, arriving sms, change position...)
You can use BlueStacks which is an emulator put on steroids.
TestFairy and UTest are awsome communities for crowd testing were you can test ~any device you can think of.
Still, it is a good idea, especially if you plan your run at Android to be long,
to maintain a small stash of real devices.
Which devices should you buy? Which OS version should they run?
The Android dashboard is the official source for answering some of these questions. It gives an
up to date statistics of worldwide distribution by OS version, svreen size/density and more:
OS Distribution
Screen type Distribution
So, true to July 2014 you would want devices running Jelly Bean, Gingerbread & ICS and you screens of types normal/hdpi, normal/xxhdpi and normal/xhdpi. This list can grow but even this will provide you with a good sample of the Android device ecosystem.
As for manufacturers, the picture is clear: Samsung is the winner. Exact number &
distributions are harder to find here, but a Google search might help.
If my memory serves me write some 65% of all Android devices are Samsungs made with
Galaxy S3 taking 15% (of ENTIRE Android market) and Galaxy S4 = 10%.
Device screen features:
Galaxy S2 is normal/hdpi
Galaxy S3 is normal/xhdpi
Galaxy S4/S5 is normal/xxhdpi
These will probably be your best bet. You will do smartly to install on them 2-3 different OS versions, at
minimum Jelly Bean and ICS.
The Android Development Tools in Eclipse and Android Studio both have emulators that can be used to emulate different devices, including tablets and phones. You don't need to buy anything to be able to test your app on an emulator. The emulators run on your computer.
For more information
As for what devices most people have, while I don't have official statistics, looking at my own applications' downloads, most people are using either a Nexus 4 or Nexus 5.
I am beginning Android app development and I would like to know which device would give me the most comprehensive testing environment. I would like my app to be compatible with the most number of devices without breaking the bank by buying a dozen devices. Just testing on the emulator is not an option because it runs at 1/10th of normal speed.
OS Version
Should I purchase a device with the most common OS? As of now, 2.2 is the most popular. Obviously, a 2.2 device wouldn't be able to test run an app made for 3.0. But is the reverse also true? If I buy a 3.0 device, would that allow me to test all lower versions?
Tablet or Phone
Given that my app won't be dealing with phone calls, should I be buying a phone or tablet? Are the two sufficiently the same except for resolution? Has your app ever worked on a tablet but failed on a phone? The Apple iPad has a neat emulation mode for iPhone apps. Is this feature also available on Android tablets?
Price is also a big consideration when choosing a tablet over a phone. I'm not going to sign up for another cellular plan, so most phones would have me fork over $500+. That would come out to be the same price as the Motorola Xoom. But arguably Android phones are much more popular than tablets, so a Xoom wouldn't let me see what most of my users would be seeing.
In general it's up to you, I suggest you Google Nexus S, because of NFC module in that phone (only that phone nowadays as I good know have NFC), besides that it has everything you need. Big plus for screen.
Android 3.0 is made generally for tablets but of course you can write application in 3.0 and run it on 2.2 or 2.3 just look for backward compatibility, and use reflection.
Also good to know that it does not depend of your phone which version you have it's up to SDK ver which you choose during creating project, in general you can set 7 as min SDK and test it on phone with 9.
If you are creating applications which requires a lot of custom drawing/animating such a game, then a slew of devices would be ideal to test against resolutions, DPI, RAM, CPU power, etc.
If you are using more of the native components then you do not have to worry as much about the different screen types and sizes as these tend to scale very well.
This question was brought up at GDC's Android Developer Day, you may be able to find the video online. Basically, it boiled down to trying to get one of each kind of device, low end, mid, high. It was also recommended that you built for the newest SDK, then start building against older ones, fixing, testing, rebuilding.
Therefore, I would personally recommend the Nexus S.
The company I work for does Android development on the original G1, HTC Hero, Samsung Epic 4G, and HTC Incredible.
I really want to get into Android programming but I only have access to company resources right now. I have the money right now to purchase a XOOM or a development laptop. Is it possible to compile Android apps using the command line on the Xoom while using other apps to write the program files.
What would seem like a dream environment would be if I purchased a XOOM and a BlueTooth Keyboard. Am I dreaming? Developing using older Android devices was naturally limited by the screen space of the device and the underlying hardware also.
No, as far as I know, you cannot develop Android applications from within Android. You will need a Windows, Mac, or Linux desktop environment to develop Android applications. Visit the Android Developer site for additional info on the SDK.
Go for the development laptop, and test your applications on the emulator. Initially you can get friends to test them out on their android for you, and hopefully by the time you make something important enough you will be able to afford your own android.
Check out AIDE. It can build and deploy apps natively on Android.
Google doesn't have a version of the SDK that runs on an android device, although as devices become more powerful this would be a pretty awesome thing to have.
You'll want the laptop, since it can emulate different android devices.
Buy the laptop and get a cheap phone on craigslists.
Although, the XOOM emulator doesn't work at all, so if you want to develop specifically for that tablet it's a good idea to buy it. It's impossible to emulate android 3.0 on any computer on earth :)
I've the default (comes with the SDK) and Samsung Galaxy Tab emulators in my SDK. I want to know what other third party (Motorola, LG, Sharp, etc) emulators are available, so that I can test my apps for more devices. Please provide the names with links.
I found this link a while back. It goes pretty in-depth on how to set up the sizing and capabilities for many devices. These are just alternative AVDs that run in the default emulator, though, and it might not be exactly what you're looking for.
http://mobile.tutsplus.com/tutorials/android/common-android-virtual-device-configurations/
The Motorola SDK addons (i.e. emulator images) are all available on the MOTODEV site (http://developer.motorola.com/docstools/tools/). You will need to register an account, but you can download images for all the shipping phones. If you join the App Accelerator Program, you get early access to addons for unreleased products.
Use Genymotion. Its fast (faster than with Intel x86) with GPS and Battery support and comes with pre-rooted.
My boss recently gave me an HTC Wildfire phone for doing an Android version of one of our mobile apps, which is all fine and good, except that the app requires API level 8 (ie Android 2.2), and the phone itself only has Android 2.1 installed. After much googling, I discovered that this phone does support Android 2.2, and carriers will be rolling out updates over the air for this model phone "in the near future".
Since I'm not entirely certain what our lazy carrier's definition of "near future" is, it would be nice if I could download images for particular releases and install them on my phone. Coming from the world of the iPhone, it seems that this should be something rather necessary in order to successfully develop an Android app.
Yet, it doesn't seem that Google offers any Android OS updates themselves. Have I no choice but to wait for the carrier to release an update?
Edit: Thanks for the suggestions regarding the emulator, but I'm asking about testing on hardware only. I already have a working 2.2 emulator image, but I need to test on hardware now, since the emulator does a very poor job of things like video playback and audio processing.
There's a few ways you can test your application on Android 2.2:
1) You can use the Emulator provided by Google in the SDK. It is possible to create a virtual machine of any version of Android with various hardware options. However, the emulator does have some limitations such as not supporting certain hardware options (such as bluetooth) and it's also dreadfully slow to boot.
2) If you have to use an actual phone with 2.2, you can root your phone and flash a custom ROM. I'm not particularly familiar with how to root the Wildfire, or what custom ROMs are available for that specific phone, but Cyanogen Mod has pretty good ROM support for HTC phones, as well as an active forum with tutorials.
No, it's not possible to download images before OTA. You could check CyanogemMod from time to time - they're working on Wildfire support. Also you could use an emulator.
If you are wanting to bounce around with newer versions, I recommend the Nexus One as a dev phone if you can get your hands on one. Or, if you can deal with the constraints, start with a built-in AVD emulator with API 8 until your phone gets the OTA update.
The Motorola Droid is also getting/has 2.2 on it. At least in the States, in seems that most of the phones on Verizon already have it (non-scientific, just from talking to people I know). So if that phone is available, it may be a decent choice.