If you are new to Android and looking for a way to test some of the currently available Android applications, here is how to proceed :

1. First get the Android SDK and unzip it somewhere on your hard drive
2. Add SDK_ROOT to your system variables pointing to /tools folder under the sdk
3. Run the emulator
4. Copy the apk file to /tools folder
5. Change directory to /tools and run from commandline $adb install your_application.apk
6. Now check applications list in the emulator and you should see the new application installed and ready.

Some pointed me to the error message when running adb on windows : * deamon still not running * error: no device.

In this case try to shutdown adb server and start it manually using :
$adb kill-server
$adb start-server

You can test if deamon is working by running $adb shell

The uninstall procedure is

$adb shell rm your_application.apk

Hope this help, enjoy !

In the latest interview, Brendan mentioned that SDK releases have slowed down and here is today the official Android blog announcing the immediate availability of the new release m3-rc37a. Highlited features in this release :

• The ability to inject SMS messages into the emulator, which will allow you to more easily test IntentReceivers for incoming SMS messages (Telnet to Android then run: sms senderPhoneNumber senderPhoneNumber)
• Android Debug Bridge (ADB) supports multiple emulators on one host computer
• The audio problem with the emulator on Windows should be fixed
• There’s a new emulator control panel that you can use to control network events like radio state changes and incoming calls.
• The Eclipse plugin now does color syntax highlighting on the XML files, such as AndroidManifest.xml
• The new default skin for the emulator is HVGA, portrait mode. That’s the one you should focus on for your submissions for the Android Developer Challenge.

It seems there are problems with com.google.android.providers.media in this release, others are reporting that many applications are not running such contacts, maps, browser and even Xmpp settings. Here all applications are working fine and I’m able to emulate phone call, but not sending sms. We’ll try to update you as we get more information on the subject.

More changes on the release notes, and you can download the latest Android SDK release from Google code. Be sure to update the ADT Eclipse Plugin as usual, instructions available for upgrading the SDK.

While it’s not possible to run Android on current iPhone, anyone can create amazing skins for the emulator. AndDev.org have created an amazing iPhone skin for Android emulator in two flavors : landscape and portrait. To use it, unzip the downloaded package then rename it to iphone_HVGA-L and iphone_HVGA-P, instead of using the default names. Copy to android_sdk/tools/lib/images/skins/ and you are ready. To run the emulator with the new skin see our previous tips. Then enjoy !

If you are behind a proxy and looking to connect the emulator to Internet, Luisa Magarian have posted the way to set proxy for the emulator. It uses the command line and the adb utility. First change directory to the emulator tools folder, you will find also the adb utility there. Run the emulator, then from command line :

1. ./adb shell sqlite3 /data/data/com.google.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db “\”INSERT INTO system VALUES(99,’http_proxy’,’ [host_or_IP]:[port]‘);\”"
2. Change [host_or_ip] and [port] to your correct proxy values
3. Try to connect from Android and it should be working fine.

Luisa posted also the way to access some Android’s system setting using SQLite, this will help to get more information on how Android work, for example to retrieve all settings :

1. ./adb shell sqlite3 /data/data/com.google.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db “\”SELECT * FROM system\”"
2. This will return :
   1|music_volume|3
   2|voice_volume|3
   3|ringer_volume|3

Android emulator came with four predefined skins, I just noticed the skins in image folder but didn’t find a way to switch from default skin, while it was very easy. Every skin is based on transparent png images and using a layout file to describe images and positions.

To run the emulator with a different skin, use from command line :

emulator -skin HVGA-L

While HVGA-L is the skin ID, the available skins are :

QVGA-L 320×240, landscape (default)

QVGA-P 240×320, portrait

HVGA-L 480×320, landscape

HVGA-Q 320×480, portrait

From eclipse you can also run the emulator with a different skin, just goto run dialog -> select project -> in the right panel, select Emulator tab as shown in screenshot below :

Thanks to NuuNeoI and Dmitriy