Hello,
I am currently developing a game using Unity that will be intended for mobile device publishing (iOS and Android). However I currently do not have an Android phone. I was planning on buying one from my friend as he just switched to iPhone. His Droid X was activated and such already but now obviously he no longer uses it.
I was wondering if I could develop and test my app on the device without having a contract with Verizon or even having that phone service. I know I would not be able to access the Android Market or any other service but would the phone still be able to install the app manually through USB, exported from Unity.
Yes, I have the SDK/JDK set up and right now i’m using the Android TRIAL offered in Unity 3.3.
The only downside if this all works is that i wouldn’t be able to use Unity Remote since i would not have a way of accessing the market.
You are perfectly fine doing so. I developed some games using a Samsung Galaxy without any SIM card in it. Via WiFi you still have access to the Market, so that part is fine too…
Also, I know myself and a number of others picked up the virgin mobile optimus. 149.99 at target, walmart, radioshcak, etc.
It’s cheap and you dont even have to activate it.
You can still use the wifi and download stuff form the app market.
I have a Droid X and a Droid and they both work well. The X moreso obviously.
Just kill the contract and use it on WiFi, you may need to reset the phone to use your own Google account, but you’ll be able to access the Market fine.
Hey thanks everyone. I was planning on getting the Optimus on Virgin Mobile as my phone anyways. >_> hopefully virgin mobile isn’t that bad haha. So now I can invest on two different phones and test both.
If your search the forums, there is direct download link for the unity remote apk. You’ll have to plug your device via USB, enable USB debugging and push the apk via adb to your phone (via command line by “adb install unityremote.apk”)
thanks a lot! great information. sorry if i seem misinformed, i just want to get my facts straight before investing money into the android license and the device.
So does the optimus run unity apps at all? I picked up an LG Vortex and i get a crash on load so i was assuming that the device was too low end, but i think the optimus is in the same class as the vortex (320x480, 600mhz processor, etc) and was curious how stuff ran on it.
@Tseng: You just need to enable the setting for installing from apk file not from the market. Besides, you can download unity remote from the market anyway. No reason to fuss with using “non-supported apk install”.
@bpritchard: You have to build it for ARMv6 w/VFP for it to work on the Optimus phones. I’m not sure if the vortex has VFP. The optimus seems to be one of the few v6 phones with vfp enabled. I can confirm that the Optimus V does work with unity. I’ve made my own program using the pro trial, and I also used remote, all with no issues. Well, except a unity issue with java and having the android sdk for 1.5,1.6, 3.0, and 3.1 installed, but that would have happened no matter what phone was used.
@Everyone else: The Optimus V (virgin mobile version) is great to use. It doesn’t have much in bloat ware, and runs fine with unity. As far as the network,Virgin Mobile USA uses the Sprint CDMA Network.Only problem is there is some kind of issue between the Optimus V phone and network to where the 3g drops out. Have to put it in airplane mode for 15 or so seconds and put back to normal and it works fine. Supposedly there will be an update to fix it, some time… maybe. But, it’s unlimited internet/text for $25, so can’t really complain.
Anyway, yeah, you don’t have to be on any carrier network to use unity on the phone, unless it’s a crappy network locked phone that won’t let you get into the phone at all unless connected to the network, like the G1 phones. You can get around all of that by installing a custom rom though. (I used Cyanogen mod for the G1 to be able to use mine, but Unity isn’t supported on that old of a device.)
