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I am new to Android development and just installed the new Android sdk with Eclipse and ADT bundle. From this question, I knew about installing Intel X86 system image.But, I have one confusion about installing intel x86 for which I coudn't find any solution on internet.

In SDK manager, Intel x86 system image installation options are shown for each API level as in the picture.

image is here (since I have no privileges. Hope someone will correct it)

So, my question is that Do we need to have intel x86 system image for all API levels?
(I am making an application which will support from Android ICs to kitkat.)

Community
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xyz
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2 Answers2

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Short answer: no, you don't need to. When I am actively developing an application, I'll pick a target API level and just use the emulator for that API. It's just like only having one phone to develop on - while you're working, you can only really use one at a time, anyway.

When it comes time to test, however, my advice is to run your app on as many different configurations as you can get your hands on - including different API levels. Now, one thing to keep in mind is that even though the emulator images are all official and provided by Google, they're not a replacement for testing on actual devices. Your app will have different performance characteristics in the emulator, and there are often device-specific bugs (industry term "quirks") that you won't find with the emulator (and some bugs that you'll find only on the emulator).

So, my overall answer is no, not really. Download and use whatever emulator is your target API, maybe download and also develop occasionally on the emulator for your min API, and then try as much as you can to do final testing on real devices, only falling back to emulators whenever you're unable to get a real device with a specific configuration.

tophyr
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  • thnks, one more question: Will it not affect the minimum required SDK? and also we are going to use google maps. but google x86 system image is not found for API level 20. – xyz Sep 11 '14 at 07:13
  • No, the max, target and minSdk levels are really just metadata for the Play Store. It's possible (though potentially difficult) to install any app on any API device, even if that device is outside the prescribed range. The app would work until it tried to use a feature that wasn't available in the framework on the device, then it'd crash. App stores use the sdk levels to filter what applications can be downloaded so that people won't run into that situation. – tophyr Sep 11 '14 at 07:17
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If you dod't develop the Intel x86 system device, you don't need to install it.

Thinsky
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    What does it mean? I won't need to install x86 for creating AVD? – xyz Sep 11 '14 at 06:55
  • Most mobiles use Qualcomm cpus, but some mobiles use Intel X86 cups. If you device not use Intel X86 cup, you don't need to install. But it's ok to install all the files in the SDK manager. – Thinsky Sep 11 '14 at 07:02
  • I'm not talking in the context of mobiles. i'm talking in the context of Android Virtual Device(AVD). – xyz Sep 11 '14 at 07:04
  • Qualcomm is one of a few different chipset manufacturers but that has almost nothing to do with the emulator. Even the ARM emulators don't run chipset-specific code; all of the images use kernels built specifically for the emulator or chipset they run on. – tophyr Sep 11 '14 at 07:12