Is there ANY android emulator that supports microphone input?

Question

So far I haven't been able to find any solution that would allow me to test voice input via microphone on the android emulator.

I have been able to get away during development by limiting my testing to cheap Android phones (sorry, I don't have much money) but now some users complain that my app doesn't work on Android 3 and 4.

So, I am desperately looking for an Android emulator (that can run on Windows 7) to help me test my microphone-based app on various Android versions (did I say fragmentation?)

Is there any android emulator that supports microphone input?

Other suggestions that can utilize the standard Android "emulator"?

Sheffy

It sounds like venting off about the limitations of the emulator... as for fragmentation, that's a "loose" word to describe the laziness of a programmer in not supporting a wide variety of screens, and android versions :) just my 2cents :) – Erotica

an alternative is to try android x86 under a VM? – Erotica

@Erotica Thanks. A good emulator is supposed to emulate everything. Any link or recommendation to a specific Android x86 that can be installed in a VM? – Sheffy

@Erotica Not a duplicate. I am asking about a different emulator, not the "emulator" that comes with the SDK. Also, I myself provided this link in my original posting, as I searched SO well before posting my question. Thanks for your understanding. – Sheffy

There's a variety of x86 ISOs available to run under VirtualBox, have look at this here The emulator that comes with Android SDK is not a real emulator per se like virtualbox or vmware, its rather ARMv7 compiled and running in a emulated mode which is quite a slow thing hence very little support for extras such as voice etc. – Erotica

Answer 1

As you noted, the live-android (with this HowTo) is outdated, so as far as I can tell, you have only one (free) option that goes up to Android 4: Android x-86 on a USB thumb drive plugged into another netbook or laptop you have.

The only problem I see is that a standard Android USB cable for connecting your debugger will not work because netbooks or laptops don't have a micro USB connector like real Android devices have.

Ouzo

Thanks but these aren't emulators per se? The first one is stuck at Android 2.2 (I need 3.x and 4.x) and the second one requires very specific netbooks or tablets. Is there something that can just run under Windows 7? – Sheffy

Wow, this "ICS on USB" shtick sounds cool but it really requires another physical device. If no one comes up with a truly full emulator that supports microphone input, I will accept your answer as "No, there isn't any android emulator in existence that supports microphone input". – Sheffy

Answer 2

This is an old question so the answers here need updating.

All of the emulators included in the AVD manager (Eclipse/Android Studio) support microphone input now, although the ARM versions don't really have a sample rate that matches reality. The microphone inputs x86 based emulators work really well, but only at 8kHz.

Bandoleer

Is there any resource that you can point me to in order to configure the emulator so it can access the host microphone? – Flugelhorn

It should just work unless Google has broken this support. – Bandoleer

I can't get microphone input working on my emulator (the microphone input switch is greyed out). – Marcelina

Answer 3

There is a new kid on the block called Buildroid for VirtualBox (formerly VirtualBox-AOSP). This may be what you are looking for.

Spotless

Thanks for letting me know about this promising project. Unfortunately, it suffers from all the problems VM-based emulators suffer: No microphone input. It is much faster than the SDK's emulator though, so it may be useful to others. Note to self: To properly turn this thing off, long press the End key on the PC's keyboard (it actually works now, contrary to what this comment says). – Sheffy

The Buildroid for VirtualBox link is broken. – Stoichiometric

Answer 4

Thanks to Babu for this solution. Emulator can supports virtual input and record sound same like laptop

Luciana