Develop apps using x86 Android* 4.4 (KitKat) emulator

Introduction

Android developers normally debug their apps by hardware devices, but it is an expensive solution for application development because there are complicated issues of fragments in Android hardware devices and OS versions. Fortunately, x86 Android* 4.4 (KitKat) emulator system image solves this issue for many cases. Developers can employ this emulator to debug their apps which is handy if hardware devices are limited or unavailable.

This article has five parts: 1) Download and install ADT and JDK; 2) Configure Android SDK Manager for Android KitKat; 3) Download and install the x86 Android 4.4 emulator system image; 4) Download and install Intel® Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager (Intel® HAXM); 5) Use x86 KitKat emulator to develop apps.

Senior developers can skip the first four parts and just read the last one. Less-experienced developers should read all five parts to avoid making some common mistakes in setting up and using the emulator.

1. Download and install ADT and JDK

Developers need to download and install the Android Developer Tools (ADT) first. Please follow the steps below.

Step1) Download ADT from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html. A snapshot of web page is shown in Picture1. Click the “Download the SDK ADT Bundle for Windows” button, highlighted with a red rectangle.

Picture1

Step2) Check the box if you agree to the terms and conditions, then click “Download the SDK ADT Bundle for Windows”. Picture2 shows typical responses. Developers can change the bit option if the target system is 32-bit.

Picture2

Step3) Save the file to the hard disk and then install it on your computer. Please refer to Picture3.

Picture3

After installing ADT, developers need to download and install the Java Development Kit (JDK) by following these steps:

Step1) Access http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html and click “Java Platform(JDK) 7u51” (marked with a red rectangle in Picture 11). Note: Oracle may post a newer version, so be sure to download the latest one.

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Step2) If you agree to the terms in the license agreement, select “Accept License Agreement” and click “Windows x64” item to download (Picture5).

Picture5

Step3) Save the file and then install it (Picture6).

Picture6

2. Configure Android SDK Manager for Android KitKat

The Android SDK Manager is an essential function in Eclipse*, and developers can use it after ADT is successfully installed. The next steps will introduce how to configure Android SDK Manager for Android KitKat.

Step1) Launch Eclipse and select “Window ->Android SDK Manager”.

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Step2) Select and install/update “Android 4.4(API 19)” package.

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Did everything successfully download and install? I hope so! But sometimes, you may have trouble. The Android SDM Manager may give you the error: “Missing SDK platform Android, API 19,” which occurs if you have an older version of Eclipse. All you need to do is update your version of Eclipse.

Please refer to Picture9.

Picture9

3. Download and install x86 Android 4.4 (KitKat) emulator system image

Developers need the x86 Android KitKat emulator system image to run x86 KitKat image, and there are two methods to acquire this image. I recommend using Method1 as the Android SDK Manager usually has the latest version. However, you can employ Method2 to find the latest one on the Intel web site.

Method1) Download the image with the Android SDK Manager.

Step1) Launch the Android SDK Manager (refer to Picture7).

Step2) Select and install “Intel x86 Atom System Image” as Picture10 shows.

Picture10

Method2) Download the image from the Intel web site.

Step1) Go to http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/android-4-4-kitkat-x86-emulator-system-image.

Step2) Download and install “sysimg_x86-19_r01.zip” (refer to Picture11). Over time, this name may change if new versions are released.

Picture11

4. Download and install Intel HAXM

Intel Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager (Intel HAXM) is a hardware-assisted virtualization engine. By using Intel HAXM, developers can speed up Android app emulation on their host machines. It is an option to use it with the emulator, but I strongly recommend developers install it for debugging apps because of its great performance.

How to download and install it?

Step1) Go to http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-hardware-accelerated-execution-manager.

Step2) Download “haxm-windows_r03.zip” OR “Haxm-windows_r03_hotfix.zip” if you have a Windows* 8.1 system.

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Step3) Unpack the zip file and install it.

5. Use x86 KitKat emulator develop apps

Developers need to add x86 Android KitKat devices into the Android Virtual Device Manager to make the emulator function well. The following steps show how to do this.

Step1) Launch the Android Virtual Device Manager, as shown in Picture13.

Picture13

Step2) Click the “New…” button to add an x86 Android KitKat device.

Picture14

Step3) Enter its name in the AVD Name field (see Picture15).

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Step4) Select "4.0” WVGA(480x800:hdpi)” in the list (see Picture16).

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Step5) Select the target for Android KitKat (see Picture17).

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Step6) For the CPU/ABI, select “Intel Atom (x86)” (see Picture18).

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Step7) Select a camera if needed in your app (see Picture19).

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Step8) Modify any of the remaining options if needed, and then click the OK button (see Picture20).

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Step9) Select the “Intel_x86_KitKat_4.4” device and click the “Details…” button (see Picture21).

Picture21

The detailed information for this device will be shown in a dialog box (Picture22), so developers can double check whether they are correct or not.

Picture22

Now the Android virtual device has been added, and developers can launch the emulator.

Step1) Select “Intel_x86_KitKat_4.4” and click the “Start…” button (Picture23).

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Step2) Click the “Launch” button (Picture24).

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Step3) Wait for the emulator to start or cancel it (Picture25).

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Step4) Select Front/Rear Camera if needed (Picture26).

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Step5) Android starts booting (Picture27).

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Step6) Android is ready for use (Picture28).

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Now the emulator is ready and developers can install their apps into the emulator.

How to do it? Just follow these steps.

Step1) Check whether or not the “Google USB Driver” is ready, and install it if it isn’t (Picture29).

Picture29

Step2) Use the command line, and change path to the adb folder (Picture30).

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Step3) Install app using “adb install” command. The sample apk uses the baidu package to demonstrate how to do it (Picture31).

Picture31

Step4) Check whether or not the app has been installed in the emulator successfully (Picture32).

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Developers can use x86 KitKat emulator to debug their apps after installation, and all the emulator commands can be found in http://developer.android.com/tools/help/emulator.html if developers want more.

Do you want a more convenient way to install and debug apps without having to type commands on the boring command line? Eclipse can finish installation and execution automatically. The following steps show you how to use Eclipse to do that.

Step1) Open “Android SDK Manager” (see Picture7 if you forgot how), and download sample codes for KitKat (Picture33).

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Step2) Open sample code files in Eclipse.

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Step3) Run sample code (Picture35).

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Eclipse will first build the sample code and then launch the x86 KitKat emulator. After that, sample codes will be installed and executed in the emulator.

Developers should now have the sample code displayed on the emulator screen (Picture36).

Picture36

Isn’t it easy?☺

Developers can choose the one that’s most similar to the app they want to develop.

There are some common issues in using the emulator, so here I list a few, helpful BKMs.

How to configure the network the emulator is running in Proxy and DNS are two common issues in using emulator, and developers can configure them using Eclipse.

Step1) Open “Windows” menu and select “Preferences”.

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Step2) Select the “Launch” item under “Android”, and fill in default options for emulator. For example: -http-proxy <<proxy-name>> -avd <<avd_name>> or -dns-server 10.0.2.3 for your different requirements. If developers want more information, please refer to http://developer.android.com/tools/devices/emulator.html#emulatornetworking and http://developer.android.com/tools/devices/emulator.html#connecting for more options.

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How to speed up the emulator on Intel CPU/GPU
Use Intel HAXM to make the emulator execute faster on Intel CPU/GPU. Refer to Part 4: Download and install Intel® Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager (Intel® HAXM).
How to use the camera for photos/videos
Developers can use webcam/emulated camera to capture photos and videos on the emulator, and the task should be done in the AVD configuration. Please refer to Picture19 in Part2: Configure Android SDK Manager for Android KitKat.
The following table maps emulator device keys to keyboard keys.

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Check these Google Android FAQs to help answer your questions.
a) http://developer.android.com/guide/faq/framework.html
b) http://developer.android.com/guide/faq/licensingandoss.html
c) http://developer.android.com/guide/faq/security.html
d) http://developer.android.com/guide/faq/index.html

Summary

This article introduces how to build an Android development environment specifically for Intel processor-based devices. Using the x86 Android 4.4 (KitKat) emulator system image to launch the x86 KitKat emulator. Using Intel HAXM is critical for improving the performance of the emulator with CPU/GPU hardware acceleration. Furthermore, debugging Android apps was shown by using ADT and the command line, and developers can choose their favorite method. Developers will encounter different issues with the emulator, so I shared some BKMs and website links to help young birds find their wings.

To learn more about Intel tools for the Android developer, visit Intel® Developer Zone for Android.

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