Android Studio: creating Android Virtual Device AVD

Why do we need AVD?

To be honest most of my Android testing happens on the real devices, however sometimes you need to test on a device with different screen size, different resolution (dpi) or limited memory or network bandwidth.

Example AVD Settings


One of my favorite emulator settings is the 10.1 inch tablet with mdpi resolution, it it relatively light weight and works pretty well.  



Starting AVD with the correct scale for your screen size.

It is essential that when you start the emulator of e.g. 10.1 inch tablet, it is actually 10.1 inch (diagonally) on your screen - you should measure it with a ruler. If the screen is too small you will design all the elements too big, if the emulator is too big, the UI will be too small on the real device.





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Android Studio: creating Android Virtual Device AVD

Why do we need AVD?

To be honest most of my Android testing happens on the real devices, however sometimes you need to test on a device with different screen size, different resolution (dpi) or limited memory or network bandwidth.

Example AVD Settings


One of my favorite emulator settings is the 10.1 inch tablet with mdpi resolution, it it relatively light weight and works pretty well.  



Starting AVD with the correct scale for your screen size.

It is essential that when you start the emulator of e.g. 10.1 inch tablet, it is actually 10.1 inch (diagonally) on your screen - you should measure it with a ruler. If the screen is too small you will design all the elements too big, if the emulator is too big, the UI will be too small on the real device.





As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Android SDK: set-up in IDE

It is a good practice to maintain a Stand Alone version of Android SDK (also called ADT for Eclipse) that is residing on your file system independently of your IDE (Eclipse, or Android Studio).

Getting Android SDK


Open:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html


Download:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html#download

Once you download the SDK (ADT) put it in a convenient location, I keep it on my Mac here:


/Applications/Android/SDK/android-sdk-macosx

The reason for this location is that it is being backed up with all Apps and moved to another Mac when upgrading. We aware that after you download all kinds of versions this folder will grow, mine is about 13 Gb most of that are system-images -- and I don't even have all previous versions of Android downloaded. You will need every version you are building for, so for example I am currently using API 17 and 19.

Setting SDK in Eclipse (Luna):




Setting Android SDK in Android Studio









As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Android SDK: set-up in IDE

It is a good practice to maintain a Stand Alone version of Android SDK (also called ADT for Eclipse) that is residing on your file system independently of your IDE (Eclipse, or Android Studio).

Getting Android SDK


Open:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html


Download:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html#download

Once you download the SDK (ADT) put it in a convenient location, I keep it on my Mac here:


/Applications/Android/SDK/android-sdk-macosx

The reason for this location is that it is being backed up with all Apps and moved to another Mac when upgrading. We aware that after you download all kinds of versions this folder will grow, mine is about 13 Gb most of that are system-images -- and I don't even have all previous versions of Android downloaded. You will need every version you are building for, so for example I am currently using API 17 and 19.

Setting SDK in Eclipse (Luna):




Setting Android SDK in Android Studio









As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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