A Android emulator tips

If you have previously done mobile development on Android, you may be familiar with some of the common annoyances of the Android emulator such as getting the emulator set up to run and the subpar performance of the Android emulator. This appendix provides some general tips for working with the Android emulator.

A.1   Emulator speed

The Android emulator is known for being notoriously slow (especially on Windows). One way to improve the speed of the Android emulator is to install the Intel Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager (Intel HAXM). By installing Intel HAXM the Android emulator can execute the application code directly on the CPU of your development machine instead of having to first translate the code. Normally, Intel HAXM is installed as part of Android Studio; however, because we are developing in NativeScript, we never had to install Android Studio. To install Intel HAXM, follow the instructions at https://software.intel.com/en-us/android/articles/intel-hardware-accelerated-execution-manager

A.2   Using Genymotion

Genymotion is an Android emulator alternative that you can use instead the official Android emulator. Genymotion is free for personal use and has different for-pay licensing schemes for a larger team setting. You can download and install Genymotion from https://www.genymotion.com/fun-zone/ (you will be required to create an account to get the free personal use license).