The most useful tools for mobile web are emulators and simulators. In Chapter 4 of Programming the Mobile Web I’ve made an extensive description and installation guideline for creating a desktop mobile testing environment. And in Chapter 13, I’ve also reviewed other solutions for mobile testing, including four device remote lab solutions.

I’ve mixed all this information to create this ultimate guide to 37 download resources for hundreds of emulators and simulators. Enjoy!

This list includes content from Programming the Mobile Web book with frequent updated information & links.

 
List of mobile and tablet emulators for mobile web design & development testing
Name Official Platform Type Browser testing Native testing Compatibility
iOS Simulator
Official iOS Simulator Safari only Objective-C
Download
3.7Gb (login required)

Devices: iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch, iPhone 4, iPad (Tablet)
Comes with XCode and Native SDK. You can’t emulate Accelerometer/Gyroscope (DeviceMotion API). You can’t emulate URI-schemes, such as click-to-call. As a Simulator, it doesn’t provide an AppStore; you can’t install other browsers for testing, such as Opera Mini or Skyfire.
Android Emulator
Official Android Emulator Android Browser – others Java
Download
20Mb and 60Mb per platform package

Devices: Generic devices using 1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.0 O.S. platform
We need to download images of the platforms after downloading the SDK. Look at Chapter 4 of the book for details. After downloading the platform, you can install Firefox, Opera Mini, Opera Mobile, Skyfire and UCWEB in your Android emulator for testing. You can download Motorola, Samsung and Nook add-ons (see below). Now it includes tablet support in HoneyComb (3.0)
HP webOS Emulator
Official webOS Virtual Machine webOS Browser JavaScript – C++
Download
260Mb

Devices: Palm Pre, Palm Pixi, Palm Pixi Plus
Comes with SDK
Samsung Galaxy Tab Add-on
Official Android Add-on Android Browser – others Java
Download
52Mb

Devices: Samsung Galaxy Tab (Tablet)
Requires Android SDK with 2.2 package. The download is done using the Android 2.3 SDK searching for third-party packages.
Motorola Xoom Add-on
Official Android Add-on Android Browser – others Java
Download
2Mb

Devices: Motorola Xoom (Tablet)
Requires Android SDK with 3.0 package. It’s only a skin for the emulator.
Nokia Symbian Emulators
Official Symbian Emulator S60 Browser – others Java ME / WRT webapps / C++
Download
500-750Mb each (requires login)

Devices: All Symbian devicesincluding: 3rd edition FP2 (such as Nokia N96), 5th edition (such as Nokia 5800 XpressMusic), Symbian^3 (such as N8) and an specific N97 emulator
Large download and installation. You need to check previous requirements to be installed first. You can install Opera Mini, Opera Mobile, Bolt Browser and UCWEB on Symbian emulators.
Nokia Series 40 Emulators
Official Nokia OS Emulator Nokia Browser – others Java ME / Flash Lite
Download
30-100Mb each

(requires login)

Devices: All devices including: 2nd edition, 3rd edition, 3rd edition FP1, 3rd edition FP2, 5th edition, 5th edition FP1, 5th edition FP1 Lite, 6th edition, 6th edition FP1
You can install Opera Mini, UCWEB, Bolt Browser and OVI Browser Beta on Series 40 emulators.
Motorola Add-ons SDK for Android
Official Android Add-on Android Browser – others
Download
30-60Mb each device

Devices: Motorola: Atrix, Bravo, Cliq 2, Dext, Milestone, BackFlip, Devour, Qrty, i1, Droid2, Droid X, Flipout, Defy, Flipside, Cliq, Citrus, others
Requires Android Emulator. There are 20 different downloads.
BlackBerry Simulators
Official RIM OS Emulator RIM Browser – others Java
Download
50-170Mb each

Requires login

Devices: 35 different models including series Bold, Curve, Pearl, Storm, Storm2, Style, Torch & Tour. Every model has different emulators combining OS version and operator firmware.
For web browsing testing you need to install and open a proxy service. See Chapter 4 for a full compatibility table and installation guide. You can install Opera Mini and Bolt Browser on BlackBerry emulators.
BlackBerry PlayBook Simulator
Official Tablet OS Virtual Machine Internal Browser Adobe AIR
Download
105Mb

Requires login

Devices: BlackBerry PlayBook (tablet)
HTML5 browser support. Adobe AIR & Packaged HTML5 WebWorkers app support.
Windows Phone 7 Simulator
Official Windows Phone Emulator Internet Explorer Silverlight
Download (Visual Studio Express included)
500Mb

Devices: Generic Windows Phone 7
Comes with Visual Studio Express (free version) or as an add-in for commercial versions
Sony Ericsson SDK for Android
Official Android Add-on Android Browser – others
Download
50Mb

Devices: Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
Requires Android Emulator.
Nook SDK for Android
Official Android Add-on Android Browser – others
Download
130Mb

Requires Login

Devices: Barnes & Noble Nook Color
Requires Android Emulator.
Opera Mobile Emulator
Official Symbian / Android / Windows Simulator Opera Mobile No native
Download
15-25Mb

Devices: Multiple devices & OS emulation support
You can also use emulators (Symbian, Android) and install the real Opera Mobile inside.
Opera Mini Simulator
Official Many Online emulator Opera Mini No native
Use Online
Use online v.4

Devices: Generic Java device – No Opera Mini for iOS emulation
You can also use emulators (Symbian, Android, Java, BlackBerry) and install the real Opera Mini inside.
Firefox for Mobile Simulator
Official Generic Engine Simulator Firefox Mobile No native
Download
20Mb

Devices: Multiple devices – beta version.
You can also use emulators (Android) and install the real Firefox Mobile inside. The desktop simulator is very basic and it’s in beta state.
Qt Simulator
Official Symbian & Maemo Simulator No Browser support Qt
Download
500-900Mb

Devices: Maemo (such as Nokia N900), Symbian Touch (such as Nokia N8) and Symbian non-touch (such as Nokie E71)
It does not support web browsing testing. You can test and create QtWebKit apps (hybrids) with HTML5 and CSS3.
Nokia Web SDK Simulator
Official Symbian & Maemo Simulator Webapp testing WRT and webapps
Download
200Mb

Requires Login

Devices: Maemo (such as Nokia N900), Symbian Touch (such as Nokia N8) and Symbian non-touch (such as Nokie E71)
It does not support direct web browsing testing. You can test and create webapps & widgets.
PhoneGap Simulator
3rd-party Generic Simulator WebKit-based PhoneGap hybrid testing
Download
15Mb

Devices: Apple iPhone, Generic Android, and others
The rendering engine is a simulation. You can use it for hybrid PhoneGap testing or for simple WebKit-based browser simulation.
Adobe Device Central CS5
3rd party Several Simulator Generic browser support Flash
Included with Creative Suite (commercial) Devices: Device Library with more than 100 devices.
The web browsing support up to CS5 version is very basic (just a sized webkit browser for every device) and non-accurate.
Bada Simulator
Official Bada OS Simulator No Browser Support Bada C
Download
200/400Mb

Requires Login

Devices: Maemo (such as Nokia N900), Symbian Touch (such as Nokia N8) and Symbian non-touch (such as Nokie E71)
It does not support direct web browsing testing. You can test and create webapps & widgets.
Garnet Emulator
Official Garnet OS (formerly Palm OS) Emulator NetFront Garnet
Download
200/400Mb

Devices: Old Palm OS devices
Windows Mobile 6 Emulator
Official Windows Mobile Emulator Internet Explorer .NET / C++
Download
600Mb

Devices: Generic Windows Mobile Devices – Standard and Professional versions
* This emulator requires special attention for using the browser. Look at chapter 4 of Programming the Mobile Web for detailed instructions on how to use it. You can install Opera Mobile and Opera Mini inside the emulator.
Windows Mobile 6.5 Emulator Images
Official Windows Mobile Add-on Internet Explorer .NET / C++
Download
250Mb

Devices: Generic Windows Mobile Devices – Standard and Professional versions
Requires Windows Mobile 6 SDK
Windows Mobile 6.1 Emulator Images
Official Windows Mobile Add-on Internet Explorer .NET / C++
Download
400Mb

Devices: Generic Windows Mobile Devices – Standard and Professional versions
Requires Windows Mobile 6 SDK
Device Emulator with Windows Mobile 5
Official Windows Mobile Emulator Internet Explorer .NET / C++
Download
60Mb

Devices: Generic Windows Mobile Devices – Standard and Professional versions
* This emulator requires special attention for using the browser. Look at chapter 4 of Programming the Mobile Web for detailed instructions on how to use it.
i-mode HTML Simulator
Official Native Simulator i-Mode Browser (Japan) No native
Download
38Mb

Devices: Generic Windows Mobile Devices – Standard and Professional versions
Simulator for Japanese’s i-mode browsers
MITE 2.0
3rd-party Generic Simulator Generic No native
Download
75Mb

Requires login

Devices: Generic Browser Testing with a library of hundreds of devices.
The rendering engine is not real. This tool simulates network requests as some mobile device and it renders the response on a generic webkit with some customization per device.
Sony Ericsson SDK for Windows Mobile 6.1
Official Windows Mobile Add-on Internet Explorer .NET / C++
Download
7Mb

Devices: Sony Ericsson Xperia X1
Requires Windows Mobile SDK
Samsung Device Emulator Skins for Windows Mobile
Official Samsung Add-on Internet Explorer .NET / C++
Download
7Mb

Devices: GT-B7300 Omnia Lite, GT-B7330 Omnia Pro, GT-B7620 Armani, GT-I8000 Omnia II, SPH-i350 Intrepid
Requires Windows Mobile SDK
Sony Ericsson PhoneGap Simulator
Official Generic Simulator PhoneGap apps PhoneGap hybrids
Download
2Mb

Devices: Generic Android (such as Xperia X10) and Symbian (such as Satio)
Requires Windows Mobile SDK
LG SDK for the Java Platform
Official LG Simulator No Browser Support Java ME
Download
60-100Mb

Devices: All propietary-OS LG devices
Only for Java ME testing
Sony Ericsson SDK for the Java Platform
Official LG Simulator No Browser Support Java ME
Download
120Mb

Devices: All propietary-OS Sony Ericsson devices
Only for Java ME testing
Samsung Java SDK
Official Samsung Simulator No Browser Support Java ME
Download
150Mb

Requires login

Devices: All propietary-OS Samsung devices
Only for Java ME testing
Samsung Mobile Widget Emulator
Official Samsung Simulator Only Widgets Widgets
Download
150Mb

Requires login

Devices: All propietary-OS, Symbian and Windows Mobile Samsung devices
Only for widget testing
Motorola Java ME SDKs
Official Motorola Simulator No Browser Support Java ME
Download
40-150Mb each

Requires login

Devices: All propietary-OS Motorola devices
Only for Java ME testing
WAC Emulator
3rd-party Several Simulator Only Widgets Widgets
Download
150Mb each

Devices: Generic Widget platform
Only for widget testing
Brew SDK
Official Brew Simulator Basic browser Flash / C++
Download
200Mb

Devices: Generic BREW platform
 

Installation and Usage Guide

In Chapter 3 there is an installation and usage guide for mobile web emulators, including how to open local files, keyboard shorcuts and proxy configuration. On Chapter 13 you will find more information on debugging and testing apps using emulators, virtual labs and other tools.

Emulators and Simulators
Generally speaking, an emulator is a piece of software that translates compiled code from an original architecture to the platform where it is running, such as the great MAME. In the mobile development world, a device emulator is a desktop application that emulates mobile device hardware and operating systems, allowing us to test and debug our applications and see how they are working. There are also operating system emulators that don’t represent any real device hardware but rather the operating system as a whole. These exist for Windows Mobile and Android.

On the other hand, a simulator is a less complex application that simulates some of the behavior of a device, but does not emulate hardware and does not work over the real operating system. These tools are simpler and less useful than emulators. A simulator may be created by the device manufacturer or by some other company offering a simulation environment for developers.