CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androiddevelopment-environment
Daniel Kaplan
Daniel Kaplan

Reputation: 721

Any reason to use the Android Device Emulator?

Obviously the Android Device Emulator is super slow. I was told that even if I mega-bump up my ram it will still be slow. So am currently using a physical android tablet.

So is there ever a "solid" reason to use the emulator? Or can in develop happily away without it?

Many thanks ahead.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 152

Answers (3)

Dhaval Jivani
Dhaval Jivani

Reputation: 9697

  • Emulators maintain the original look, feel, and behavior of the physical android phone

  • No need to buy android phone

  • No need to worry that you will destroy your ‘phone’

Android Studio 2.0 is latest release of the official Android IDE focused on build performance and emulator speed to improve the app development experience.

Android Emulator - Brand new emulator that is faster than most real devices, and includes a brand new user interface.

Genymotion is faster then android old emulator.The Genymotion emulator uses x86 architecture virtualization and OpenGL hardware acceleration which makes running your apps more efficient.

Upvotes: 0

Björn Karpenstein
Björn Karpenstein

Reputation: 221

You can make it more performant when you use windows virtualization technology that is supported by Intel Processors. This has to be enabled in the BIOS. It will significantly speed up the performance of the emulator. Additionally you can freeze the running Emulation to a snapshot, that can be loaded without rebooting the complete device.

Another point is you can use several device configuration, screen resolutions and other android versions. In some cases you want to test the features of newer Android versions without buying a new device.

Upvotes: 1

Sergi Juanola
Sergi Juanola

Reputation: 6647

One of the reasons falls on the obvious: if you don't have ANY physical device.

The other strong reason is to be able to simulate environments you don't have in your device. Different android versions, different screens sizes and densities, etc.

PS: Genymotion is fast enough to be a good option to develop using emulators, and the latest versions of Android Studio and AVD seem to integrate pretty decently x86 emulators, which also increase the overall speed. I've been working with this last choice for over a week with acceptable results. Anyway, nothing can compare to a physical device.

Upvotes: 2

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