Can I program an Android application without actually having an Android phone?
Does the Android SDK contain anything to test your application on while developing an Android application (much like the iPhone does)?
I don’t own a phone with Android (I actually have an iPhone…) but I would like to program some Android apps, without burning money on a phone. When it comes time to test my application on a live phone I have plenty of friends that would be willing to be guinea pigs.
Yes. The android SDK includes an emulator call AVD or Android Virtual Device. It is limited in some respects because it can’t receive calls or be moved around for GPS testing, but for simple games and web-apps it’s perfect for users who don’t want to invest in a development phone.
Here’s a website on how to use the AVD in the basic sense:
http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/avd.html
However I recommend using the Eclipse Android Development Tool (ADT) plugin for all your work as the AVD launcher is built right into the normal launch system for Eclipse. Here’s a page on how to install that:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/eclipse-adt.html
Obviously you’ll need to install Eclipse for Java Developers and the Android SDK first. If you haven’t done that yet, here are the pages you need to get that done:
http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/
http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing.html