Android Studio Emulator has released a massive update to support foldable devices. You can find the full details of the update here. It also includes some significant bug fixes and performances enhances alongside its focus on support for foldables.
There has been a lot of foldable news over recent weeks as this new brand of devices begins to spread. Firstly a foldable Google Pixel phone was mentioned in a leaked document. Then reports surfaced of a budget foldable Samsung smartphone which could be on its way.
Android Emulator is the main SDK for Android applications and games. As reported by Android Police it first brought out an update to support foldable devices back in April 2019. However, now it properly simulates the hinge sensor properties added in Android 11 amongst other important features.
Important Android Emulator foldable support update
In the update announcement, Google wrote “the emulator now sends hinge angle sensors updates and posture changes to the guest.” This means that “existing foldable devices will now update hinge sensor angle and posture when the toolbar’s fold or unfold buttons are pressed.”
However, this does require an Android 11 system image that is yet to be released.
Performance updates come alongside foldable support
Coming with the foldable support is a number of performance updates as well as bug fixes. Google has added initial support for Virgil3d virtio-gpu. In theory, this should improve speed and compatibility when emulating graphics. This will be once the proper integrations are present in device images.
INVTSC is also enabled by default on macOS. This should improve the accuracy of time measurements in some cases. Something that many users had found a bit of a problem in the past.
Google has also claimed to have fixed over three dozen bugs, so in excess of 35 issues. These effect areas such as the clipboard, emulated devices with rounded corners/notches, audio, and other features.
The announcement also mentioned that that support for Macs with Apple Silicon is in progress. There was no word on when this support may launch so we could be waiting some time.
All in all, this looks to be a very positive update from Google. Foldable support is something companies are going to have to work hard on in the future. Currently, the wait is on to see just how successful these foldable devices are commercially.
Before companies sink money into providing top-notch support for them they will want to see that they are going to be around for a long time. If that is the vibe then expect to see continued updates to further support foldable devices.