How do I configure the Android 4.0+ emulator to behave as a tablet?

Question

I have been developing Android application for Android 3.x and now I want to support Android 4.0.

So I created a new AVD from AVD Manager with a target of Android 4.0.3 and API Level 15, resolution 1280 x 800.

The emulator runs normally, but its UI is in phone mode, not tablet, and my app (for tablets) UI is collapsed. i.e., notification bar sets top, not bottom.

How do I make the emulator recognize that it should run as a tablet?

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 29 '12 at 01:10

10

Use your tablet skin. For example WXGA (default skin for 3.x). You can change skin via AVD manager. Or by command line. For example to run device name:

[me@pc]# emulator @name -skin WXGA

The skin must be supported. You can find skins in [SDK]/platforms/<platform-name>/skins.

answered Mar 29 '12 at 01:10

I did not find WXGA in android 4.0 – Nishant Mar 29 '12 at 09:05
@Nishant, You can use another one, e.g: `WXGA800`, `WXGA720`... I have those all in `android-15/skins`. – Mar 29 '12 at 09:19
means 4.0 does not supports tablet screen – Nishant Mar 29 '12 at 09:22
@Nishant Yes it does :-). I don't have 4.0, but 4.0.3. And I can run 4.0.3 with tablet skin. – Mar 29 '12 at 09:26
which skin you have selected for tablet in 4.0.3 – Nishant Mar 29 '12 at 09:29
@Nishant, I find them in the directory I mentioned. I used `WXGA800`. You can try some of them. – Mar 29 '12 at 09:32
@hai bison, WXGA800 opens the emulator in 480 x 800 but I want to open it in 1280 x 800. – Nishant Mar 29 '12 at 09:35
@Nishant Sorry I can't help you. Because I called `emulator @my_device -skin WXGA800` and it worked on my machine. – Mar 29 '12 at 09:42
let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/9461/discussion-between-nishant-and-hai-bison) – Nishant Mar 29 '12 at 09:46

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 06 '12 at 16:08

Android Emulator detects automatically in which mode to run. As I see, the main criteria is resolution and, maybe, screen density.

That's how I've created Asus Transformer emulator:

AVD Manager -> New... -> Skin, select "Resolution" -> 1280x800
Hardware Properties: Abstracted LCD Density set to 160 (actually, Transofrmer's one is 149).

After I run it, I've got Tablet UI!

How do I configure the Android 4.0+ emulator to behave as a tablet?

2 Answers2