Emulator or real device

At the beginning of Android testing, you need to decide how to start: with a virtual or real device.

A real Android device can be used for testing with QF-Test. It needs to have the USB debugging developer option activated and requires a connection via cable to the machinge QF-Tests runs on. By help of respective setup sequence, QF-Test connects to the real device and is able to control it. Now actions and tests can be recored and executed.

An Android virtual device (AVD) is the emulation of a real device. It runs by using an emulator software on a computer that replicates the hardware and behavior of the real device. An Android emulator is therefore a software to execute and test Android apps on a computer. The emulator is able to load different Android virtual devices with specific Android versions or products of a certain vendor.

When using an emulator, it is typically started by QF-Test at the beginning of the test, then QF-Test loads and connect to the defined virutal Android device. Finally the app to be tested is opened. Actions and tests can now be recorded and executed.

An advantage of the emulator is, that there is no dependency of external devices and testing of different virtual devices is possible. Though, it needs a bit more of initial setup and may cause more load on your maschine.

A real device allows a quicker start, is less flexible and needs USB debugging enabled.