Would you like to test drive the latest version of Google’s Android OS without buying a new mobile device?  Here’s how you can run Android on your PC for free with the Android SDK Emulator.

Android is the latest mobile OS to take the world by storm, but everyone doesn’t have access to the latest mobile devices.  Thankfully, there’s an easy way to run Android on your Windows, Mac, or Linux computer.  Google provides an Android emulator with their SDK, which is designed to let developers test their apps on Android before running them on handsets.  We can use this to test drive Android on our computer, here’s how to do it.

Getting Started

The Android Emulator requires Java to run, so if you don’t already have Java installed on your computer, download it and install as normal.

hen, download the Android SDK from Google , and make sure to select the correct version for your computer.  Once it’s downloaded, unzip the files as normal.

In Windows, run the SDK Setup.exe program to get started running Android on your PC

The SDK will check Google’s servers for available packages.

If you see an SSL error message, click the Settings tab on the left in the SDK and AVD Manager window that opened in the background.  Here, uncheck the Force https box, click Ok, and then reopen the setup.

Now, the Package Installer will open.  You can choose what you want to install, and then clickInstall to begin installing the Android emulator on your computer.

By default, all of the SDK platforms, samples, and APIs will be selected for install.  This can take quite a while to download, as several versions of Android are currently available.  If you only want to play around with Android, choose the version you want.  You’ll want the SDK Platform Android your.version.  Then click the Reject bullet on all the other entries, and click Install.  We wanted to try out the latest Android 2.2 as well as the older 1.5, so we downloaded both of them.

Once you’ve started installing, you’ll see a window showing the download and installation progress.  This may take a few minutes, depending on your Internet speed.

Setup an Android Emulator

Once the download is completed, you can setup an emulator to test drive Android on your computer.  Select the Virtual Devices from the left menu, and then click the New button on the right.

Enter a name for your virtualized Android, and select the version of Android you want to use from the drop-down menu.  This will only show the version you installed previously, so you may only see one version listed depending on your selection.

Enter a size under the SD Card entry; this is a virtual SD card that’s actually an IMG file that Android will use to store your settings and files in.

Click Create AVD when you’re finished.

The program may appear to freeze while it is creating the AVD, so just wait until you see the confirmation window.

You’re now ready to run Android on your PC!  Select your new virtual Android, and click Starton the right

You can choose to scale the display if you’ve chosen a larger screen size than your monitor will fit, and then select Launch.

Android will now begin to load in your emulator.  Several command prompt windows may open, and then you’ll see the emulator itself.  Notice that the default, large screen size will display a keypad and virtual buttons on the right side of the emulated device.

Android may take several minutes to load, especially on your first run.  After a while, the boot screen will switch to an Android boot animation.

Finally, you’ll be presented with your new Android home screen!  Use your mouse as you would normally, though remember that you don’t need to double-click to open apps.

You can open pre-installed apps from the launcher menu, though unfortunately these emulator images do not include the Android Marketplace.

View your favorite websites in the browser, and they will render just as they would on an Android device.

We did experience a few crashes in our tests, and the emulator felt somewhat sluggish, but in all, it’s fun to try  out a new mobile OS without spending money on a new phone.