Installation and setup

1 Install Java SDK. Add system environment variable JAVA_HOME C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_92

2 Install android studio 2 (which contains the studio IDE and the Android SDK). Add to Path C:\...\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools and C:\...\Local\Android\sdk\tools thus that we can access the command line for the Android SDK.

Test with emulator

1 Create a new project.

2 From the SDK manager, install the HAXM, which accelerate the x86 emulator (since I am using windows). Not the HAXM ram should be bigger than the VAD virtual device ram.

3 From the AVD manager, build a virtual device. Choose the phone model with very low ram (For instance, Nexus S. Otherwise, the AVD may fail to load, and keep a black screen forever). In the advanced setting, choose the graphics to the software GLES 2.0.

4 The first time to successfully load Nexus S (with kitkat) took several minutes-----and Nexus 5+ took something like 20 minutes!