One of the most talked about devices of this year, is certainly the BlackBerry PRIV. This is the latest device from BlackBerry and the first one to come running and making use of the Android operating system. For those who had been waiting for the device to be released, that wait did end last Friday when the PRIV saw its official availability go live. Although, if the latest reports are anything to go by, then the demand for the PRIV, seems to be quite high. While, this is all well and good for the Android community, there is an issue for those who contribute to the Android community in terms of apps, features and software. The most notable issue being the use of the iconic Keyboard which makes the PRIV the BlackBerry device you would expect it to be.
As such, developers who would like to make full use of the BlackBerry experience, might be thinking about designing apps which do make use of the BlackBerry hardware more naturally. On that note, it does seem BlackBerry is offering some tools to try and help developers port over their wares. The tool is a PRIV emulator which will allow developers to apply a PRIV skin to the Android Virtual Device manager. For those unfamiliar with the AVD, this is a feature that allows developers to have a virtual version of a device where they can sandbox test their apps or whatever feature they are working on. The new PRIV skin will do the same but give developers the option to test their apps with more BlackBerry-like hardware in use. Essentially, virtually replicating the use of the PRIV on their desktop.
Of course, to make sure of this, you will need to have the Android SDK tools downloaded to your computer. Typically speaking as well, you did need a powerful enough desktop to be able to make use of the Android Virtual Device manager as it can be quite demanding, as you are essentially emulating the function of a smartphone. Either way, if you are interested in finding out more about the PRIV emulator, including the download link for the PRIV skin, you can by heading through the source link.