How to Create an Android Virtual Device

This post deals with how to create an Android Virtual Device (AVD) in your windows machine. 

Once you configured your system for Android development, you have to create an Android virtual device (AVD) to simulate your application that is being developed. Once you create an Android virtual device you can install apk files to that Emulator, view output from Eclipse IDE, debug your application etc.


You can create AVD using AVD Manager.exe. It can be invoked either from Android installed folder or from Eclipse, from menu Window-> AVD Manager (If you are not updated your Android plugin, it will be under Window->Android SDK and AVD Manager ). 

Once you launch the AVD Manager, you can create a new AVD by clicking on the "New" button on the top right corner of the window.

Then "Create New AVD" dialog is appears.  Here you will fill the details of the virtual device that you are going to create. Give  a Name to your Emulator, select a target platform, SD Card size (optional), and click on “Create” button. You finished creating your first Android Virtual device. Way to go!

You can add properties to your AVD, by clicking on the “New” button in the Hardware section of the above window. You can specify following properties to your Emulator.

Characteristic	Description	Property
Device ram size	The amount of physical RAM on the device, in megabytes. Default value is "96".	hw.ramSize
Touch-screen support	Whether there is a touch screen or not on the device. Default value is "yes".	hw.touchScreen
Trackball support	Whether there is a trackball on the device. Default value is "yes".	hw.trackBall
Keyboard support	Whether the device has a QWERTY keyboard. Default value is "yes".	hw.keyboard
DPad support	Whether the device has DPad keys. Default value is "yes".	hw.dPad
GSM modem support	Whether there is a GSM modem in the device. Default value is "yes".	hw.gsmModem
Camera support	Whether the device has a camera. Default value is "no".	hw.camera
Maximum horizontal camera pixels	Default value is "640".	hw.camera.maxHorizontalPixels
Maximum vertical camera pixels	Default value is "480".	hw.camera.maxVerticalPixels
GPS support	Whether there is a GPS in the device. Default value is "yes".	hw.gps
Battery support	Whether the device can run on a battery. Default value is "yes".	hw.battery
Accelerometer	Whether there is an accelerometer in the device. Default value is "yes".	hw.accelerometer
Audio recording support	Whether the device can record audio. Default value is "yes".	hw.audioInput
Audio playback support	Whether the device can play audio. Default value is "yes".	hw.audioOutput
SD Card support	Whether the device supports insertion/removal of virtual SD Cards. Default value is "yes".	hw.sdCard
Cache partition support	Whether we use a /cache partition on the device. Default value is "yes".	disk.cachePartition
Cache partition size	Default value is "66MB".	disk.cachePartition.size
Abstracted LCD density	Sets the generalized density characteristic used by the AVD's screen. Default value is "160".	hw.lcd.density
Trackball support	Whether there is a trackball present.	hw.trackBall

Once you finished with your Emulator, your emulator will be displayed in the existing AVD devices in the AVD manage. If it is a valid one, you could see a green tick mark on the left side. Select the created Emulator from the list and click on the start button. A Launch option dialog will get appeared, where you can set your Emulator scaling.

You can wait for some time to get your Emulator launched. Just slide the lock icon to get it unlocked. Enjoy the Emulator, if you are experiencing for the first time. 

Cheers,
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