One of the benefits of the Android mobile phone OS is that it is open source, therefore Google releases a public version for developers to create and test applications. Prior to purchasing my Droid, I installed the SDK to get an idea of how it works. Recently, a new version of Android, version 2.01 was released on the SDK and will soon be released for the Motorola Droid.
Once the SDK is installed you can automatically update new releases easily. I will explain the steps to install the SDK and check for future updates so you can always have the latest versions to try out. I should add that if you are not a developer, the SDK can be a bit disappointing compared to an actual phone running the OS. The main reason I say that is due to it not having the Android Market and ability to install applications. You basically have a phone background and some basic applications.
I am still learning to use the Eclipse plugin to create some basic applications and obviously the SDK starts to show it’s real value in those situations. This post will focus on installing the SDK which allows you to create the emulator, I will continue to add future posts regarding the additional ways I learn to use the SDK.
The first thing I suggest doing is checking out the Android Developer site to learn more about the Android OS at http://developer.android.com/index.html. The tabs along the top, specifically the Dev Guide provides a great deal of information regarding how the OS and applications work and some sample tutorials for creating simple applications.
I have setup my SDK in Windows so these instructions will be based on that, but you can also install in Linux and Mac if that is what you are using. To download the SDK go to http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html or just click on the SDK tab if you went to the previous link to review information.
Download the appropriate zip file for the OS on the computer that you are using, in my case it was Windows. After you have the file downloaded, unzip it with Windows and make sure to extract all files into a folder, I was left with a folder called android-sdk-windows.
This next step is not required, but you need to be able to access the folder to launch the emulator and other programs that are run from a command prompt so I renamed the folder android and moved it from my download folder to documents. This has made it much easier to get to from the desktop and shortened the commands needed from the terminal.
Now go to your android folder and double click on the SDK Setup.exe file. The Android SDK will run and ask for which packages to install as seen below. You can review each of the Platforms and API’s and accept the ones that you want to install, I chose to Accept All since I never know if I want to check out some of the older platforms but the download does take a little time for all of them.
If you are only interested in the latest version, accept the most recent – in this case Android 2.01 and reject the others. The first time I tried this I had to go to settings and uncheck the force https box before it would download, if you have any trouble try changing the setting.
I received a Program Compatibility error, but after clicking that the program installed correctly, it seemed to run fine.
Now you are back at the SDK and AVD Manager and need to create a new virtual device tab. If you have just installed it the screen will be blank when you click Virtual Devices on the left. Click on the New… button that is circled to create a new virtual device.
Use whatever name you like to identify the device in the menu, note that spaces are not allowed. In the target dropdown you select the platform that is available from the previous download. You can enter a size to emulate the SD card, if you want to change the skin or the hardware you can, or it will default to the settings shown below. Once you have entered the information click on Create AVD at the bottom.
Now you will be back at the SDK and AVD manager, make sure that the device you want to start is highlighted and click on Start to launch it.
A box will popup with the launch options that you can select if you wish, I typically leave them with the defaults and select launch.
Then it will take a little time for the emulator to load, I would say about a minute or two depending on your PC.
Finally, you will have the Android OS Virtual Device ready to go.
Just a few tips if you are not familiar with Android, clicking on the tab at the bottom will open up the menu of applications as shown in the above screen shot. Any time you want to get back to the home screen click on the button that looks like a house.
To run the program again, go back to the Android folder where you saved the extracted files and click on the SDK Setup.exe file. If future updates are released, the box will open up and ask you to accept the download, once it is installed you just create a new virtual device with the new platform as the target.
You should keep in mind that this is a development environment so there may be some issues, but give it a try and post your comments on what you think of Android and the SDK functionality.
