Android Tutorial Galaxy S4 AVD Emulator Settings

Setting up a new AVD (Android Virtual Device) for a Samsung Galaxy S4 proved to be a bit hit and miss so I am posting the settings that I used to get one working on Windows 7 64 bit.

The AVD uses a custom skin and the display exactly matches my real Galaxy S4 TDD device. Speed is good due to the X86 image and Emulator Accelerator. For example the JellyBean demo from GameSprite library runs at the same speed as the real S4 ie 40 fps.

Download the skin files from sourceforge via this link http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2761086

Copy the 'Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini' folder to C:\Android\android-sdk\platforms\android-17\skins (change this to matches your sdk install location).

Use the SDK Manager to install API level 17 including Intel Atom (x86) image. Also install the HAXM Emulator Accelerator. From memory (long time ago) I had to install the HAXM manually, hopefully the SDK manager is fixed now.

Open the AVD Manager and create a new 'Device Definition' called Samsung4. The Create Button did not work for me so I used the 'Clone' button to clone the Nexus5. Change the new device name to 'Samsung4' and edit the new entry with the settings in the attached image for 'Edit Device' dialog. Note that 'Buttons' is set to 'Hardware' since the new skin supports this.

Switch tabs to Android Virtual Devices and click 'Create'. Change the settings as per the attached screen dump. Note that the RAM size is set to 512 because the emulator may become unreliable in windows with settings much larger than this.

Note that it seems easy to edit the skin files, for example I changed the window background color to grey by changing one entry in the layoutfile. That is the extent of my knowledge on skins so Google will be your friend for anything more difficult.

Bluejay
 

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JohnD

Active Member
Licensed User
Longtime User
Thank you for the level of detail you provided on this configuration issue. I was able to get a reasonable dupe of my S3. However, when I tried to create other screen sizes I always ended up banging my head, uttering a few swears under my breath, and using the UI Cloud. I'm going to try to tackle the Larger emulator issue again armed with your post.
 

Mark Turney

Active Member
Licensed User
Longtime User
Thank you too. I'm just about ready to test my first app, and I want to ensure it looks and behaves on other devices before distribution.

Mark
 
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