Why you need an Android emulator (Topic)

Emulating Android on other platforms is fun, but what practical use can you find?

The most common need to emulate Android on other operating systems is to develop applications and video games. But by and large the emulator has much more extensive applications than just tests.

For software development

It is unlikely that you will ever meet a mobile application developer who has a hundred or two devices available for testing projects. In fact, it is easier for a programmer to install an emulator and test the operation of mobile software right on his computer. Any device can be imitated on a powerful platform such as PC or MAC and the behavior of the software can be examined for bugs. You can load any firmware into the emulator, select a resolution, make an imitation of accelerometer and gyroscope sensors. Debugging the application is much faster than if the programmer had to install another test copy on each physical device.

If you look at the situation from the financial point of view, then buying a bunch of smartphones for tests alone will cost a pretty penny. Installing an emulator is much more cost effective.

For fun

Some users like to play. Nowadays, some mobile games surpass some titles for serious platforms in the story, and then users are looking for a way to run their favorite mobile MMORPG on Windows. Staring at a small portable screen, of course, is great, but bending noobs on a wide monitor is much more convenient.

For users and testers

Those who like to test the new system at work can also download the emulator and evaluate the latest version of Android, see the innovations, or even install the mobile operating system on a stationary computer and use it as the main one. Any application will work the same as on a smartphone. Today, almost all editions are available for emulators, including Android Nougat. Google is already targeting the large computer market, so some of the peripherals are easily recognized and work as expected. Control is carried out using a conventional keyboard and mouse. Problems can arise only if the software uses specific sensors (their imitation can save the situation).

What emulators are there today?

The first emulators were created several years ago, but they worked extremely unstable: they hung and crashed, the overall compatibility was mediocre. Today on the net you can find such high-quality simulators of the Android system as:

• Droid4x
• BlueStacks
• Windroy
• Andy

Among other things, the search giant Google offers its Android Studio developer kit with a built-in emulator for debugging applications. Each of the mobile simulators has many settings, so it's easy to configure it to your liking.

The Topic of Article: Why you need an Android emulator.
Author: Jake Pinkman