Creating Useful AVDs

Various Android Virtual Devices

Many new Android developers just use a basic, default Android Virtual Device (AVD) for development purposes. This is fine when you're just getting started, but when you get serious about designing and developing apps for specific devices, you'll want to give some thought to configuring AVDs to match devices your users actually own.

In some cases, you can just switch to testing on real hardware instead of the emulator. If you have a lot of devices for your team, you can probably just switch to using devices. However, if you can't afford devices for everyone on the development and test team or can't get your hands on some unusual devices with unique hardware characteristics, you can create AVDs to simulate these. Head over to Mobiletuts+ and read our tutorial about creating AVDs that come as close as possible to simulating the following devices:

• HTC Evo 4G
• Google/HTC Nexus One
• Motorola Droid
• T-Mobile/HTC G1
• Archos 5 Internet Tablet