Testing Web Designs on Android (without a phone)

One cool side effect of getting into Android Mobile App development would have to be the Android Emulator.  While there is plenty of stuff an emulator cannot achieve as a replacement for a real device, one great opportunity in an emulator is to be able to test your site design within the Android Browser!

If you click on the image in this blogpost you will see the emulator on the left side and a number of emulator controls on the right.  This is what my site looks like on the Android web browser!

Pretty cool stuff!

As an added note, a co-worker introduced me to Spoon.net the other day.  This site actually downloads a plugin that can emulate a number of browsers and help you test your site across a number of web experiences. If you are actively building web sites, this is a very important step. But to my knowledge you still need to test your site on devices and while emulators don't really completely reveal what that experience will be like, they get you about 95% of the way there. While you can't currently test your site in Safari for Apple without at least the iPod Touch, it is nice to know that companies like Google make life that much easier for developers and designers.