Beginning Android

USES OF THE ANDROID EMULATOR

As discussed in Chapter 1, you can use the Android emulator to emulate the different Android configurations by creating Android Virtual Devices (AVDs).

You launch the Android emulator by directly starting the AVD you have created in the Android SDK and AVD Manager window (see Figure B-1). Simply select the AVD and click the Start button. You have the option to scale the emulator to a particular size and monitor DPI.

FIGURE B-1

Alternatively, when you run an Android project in Eclipse, the Android emulator is automatically invoked to test your application. You can customize the Android emulator for each of your Android projects in Eclipse. To do so, simply select Run ⇒Run Configurations. Select the project name listed under Android Application on the left (see Figure B-2), and on the right you will see the Target tab. You can choose your preferred AVD to use for testing your application, as well as emulate different scenarios such as network speed and network latency.

FIGURE B-2