Android Development and a phone

[Jagadeeswara Yaramala]

Hi,

I am new to android development and have 2 years of Java experience.
I would like to know if buying an android phone would make the development process of applications faster? Will the debugging be faster while developing apps for android, if I have a phone?
The emulator is working very slow.

[zoheb hassan]

That depends on which version of android platform you are developing your application for If its gingerbread the emulator is painfully slow however if its Froyo then its fast enough and quite responsive.Some phones do not let much data to appear for debugging due to security reasons.You do not need a real phone for debugging, a emulator would do fine but then if you got Money get a phone what is an android developer without one

[Jagadeeswara Yaramala]

Thanks zoheb for the information and advice.

I will start with the emulator and try to buy an android phone..

[James Elsey]

I don't think it would directly make developing apps "faster" however it may make your life easier in a few areas.

Being able to debug your app on a device will quickly show you where the UI quirks are, so you can easily spot where buttons need to be moved, colors not working great together and so on.

Also, its much easier to get feedback on your apps if you have them on a device, i.e., taking your phone into the pub/canteen and showing your friends is much easier than carrying a laptop with the emulator ;)

[zoheb hassan]

Rightly Put by James, if you are working on releasing an android app in market it would help to get a phone