5. Using and Configuring the Android Studio AVD Emulator
The Android Virtual Device (AVD) emulator environment bundled with Android Studio 1.x was an uncharacteristically weak point in an otherwise reputable application development environment. Regarded by many developers as slow, inflexible and unreliable, the emulator was long overdue for an overhaul. Fortunately, Android Studio 2 introduced an enhanced emulator environment providing significant improvements in terms of configuration flexibility and overall performance and further enhancements have been made in subsequent releases.
Before the next chapter explores testing on physical Android devices, this chapter will take some time to provide an overview of the Android Studio AVD emulator and highlight many of the configuration features that are available to customize the environment.