Introduction to mobile emulators

As discussed in Chapter 1, Ensuring Five-star Rating in the MarketPlace, a device emulator is a desktop application that emulates both the mobile device hardware and its operating systems, thus allowing the testing of applications a lesser degree of tolerance and better accuracy. A simulator may be created by the device manufacturer or by some other company that offers a virtual environment; please note, however, that simulators are less accurate; than emulator programs.

In most discussions, though, the terms emulator and simulator are used interchangeably. Emulators can be understood as virtual device hardware that operates on a PC or laptop. Emulator software can be obtained from platform and device makers. In some cases, emulators come bundled with the Software Development Kit (SDK); for example, Google's Android SDK has a mobile emulator. While, in other cases, it can be a separate program altogether, such as Apple's iOS simulator, which can...