Android Virtual Device Repository

Question

It would seem that since there are a finite set of official Android devices, it would be easy to maintain a repository of Virtual Device Configurations for each actual device. However, the Internet seems to think that everyone should be creating their own virtual devices from scratch (really, how many Motorola Xoom configs or HTC EVO 4G's do you really need?).

Is there really not central repository for pre-configured virtual devices?

Answer 1

It would seem that since there are a finite set of official Android devices, it would be easy to maintain a repository of Virtual Device Configurations for each actual device.

Bear in mind that:

• There are lots of Android devices that do not have the Android Market and therefore firms like Google will never see

• AVD settings cannot completely match hardware, because there are only so many configurable settings

• Few of your proposed AVDs will accurately reflect the devices, because they will not have any firmware modifications made by the device manufacturer, ranging from drivers to presentation layers (e.g., Sense, BLUR, TouchWiz)

• You will wind up with many AVDs that are the same (due to 2nd and 3rd limitations above), because on the limited range of possible settings, many devices will be identical

• While AVD configurations are small, AVDs themselves are rather large, as they hold copies of disk images and such

• You might have some trademark issues

However, the Internet seems to think that everyone should be creating their own virtual devices from scratch

Please do not anthropomorphize the Internet. It hates it when you do that.

Answer 2

I'm not sure about HTC but other companies offer preconfigured Add-ons