Most suitable android phone for testing purpose?

Question

I am new in android development and want to buy an android phone for testing my applications,can any one suggest which one is the best,i gone through dis link http://www.talkandroid.com/android-forums/android-market-reviews/8128-best-device-android-development.html , but little bit confused. Thanks

Answer 1

HTC HD2. While originally Windows Mobile phone, you can flash on it one of custom ROMs that you like.

Answer 2

You can never have too many phones...

Emulator is good for testing something you don't have, but only running standard Android. But to test 2.1 versus 2.3 or to test a different screen size or whatever it's okay.

If you're only going to get one device I'd recommend getting a popular device with a skin (Sense, MotoBlur or TouchWiz) and also testing against the emulator. If you design and test on standard Android only it's easy to have something look wrong when using one of the skins. For example the standard Gmail app has inconsistent icons in the MotoBlur-Gingerbread options menu, some are standard-android-gray and some are MotoBlur-black. I have several devices so if I'm just doing general testing/development I alternate between them to be more likely to catch the random issues due to skins.

Answer 3

If you're looking to test standard Android apps I would recommend a combination of any standard Android device and the Emulator. I suggest the emulator because ideally, you'll want to test your app on as many versions, configurations, and screen sizes as possible and this is easiest using the Emulator. I also like using a real phone or tablet for hands on testing and because these are usually faster than the emulator.

If you're looking to create a custom Android build then according to http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/device.html

If you want a SIM-unlocked phone, then you might consider either an Android Dev Phone or the Google Nexus S. These are SIM-unlocked so that you can use them on any GSM network using a SIM card. The Android Dev Phones also feature an unlocked bootloader so you can install custom system images (great for developing and installing custom versions of the Android platform). To find a a place you can purchase the Nexus S, visit google.com/phone. To purchase an Android Dev Phone, see the Android Market site (requires a developer account).

But this is overkill for standard app development.

Answer 4

As stated in the Using Hardware Devices guide the Android Dev Phone is a good candidate