Physical phones come with a variety of sensors to detect motion, orientation, and other environmental conditions. These sensors let apps interact with the world around you; looking around and hearing with the camera and microphone sensors, detecting their physical location with GPS, and sensing motion and position with environmental sensors like a gyroscope and accelerometer.
Starting today, we're bringing all of these sensors to our virtual Android devices. Spin up an Android device and head over to the peripherals tab and give them a go!
Cameras and Microphone
Normally virtual devices running in the cloud don't have much of a view. But starting today, virtual Android devices on Corellium can see the world, thanks to our new webcam and microphone passthrough features.
Camera passthrough works via the webcam on your own computer, accessed entirely through your browser. Enable the virtual device's camera, grant your browser the camera permission and your webcam's video stream will be seamlessly relayed to the virtual device as if it were its own. Apps on the virtual device can then scan QR codes, take photos, or even record live video!
For audio, we've got you covered too. Once you've given your browser the microphone permission, audio is relayed from your microphone to the virtual Android device. So now you can take audio memos, record podcasts, or combine it with video streaming and make an entire video call, all from your browser inside a virtual device!
And the best part of all? Video and audio relay are done directly from your browser. There's no complicated software to install on your laptop or fiddly setups required.
Location Support
Corellium virtual devices run in the cloud. But for some apps, "the cloud" is a little bit too abstract; they want a location they can plot on a map, to set country-specific settings, or to track your location as you move from A to B.
For this reason, today we're also adding GPS support to virtual Android devices. On the device's new "peripherals" panel, set some GPS coordinates, and away you go. Apps with the GPS permission can then access this data, placing your device at a physical location of your choice. You can even modify the GPS time offset and altitude settings too, so, if you like, you can even set your virtual device to see itself up in the sky with the real clouds too.
Battery Level
Everyone knows the feeling of being out and about and keeping an eye on your battery level. Slightly less well known is that smartphones often keep track of this too, and change behavior when the battery gets too low, or when the phone is plugged in.
Starting from today, you can now test how your apps change under these different battery conditions. The peripherals pane is home to these options too, where you can set the battery charge level, plug or unplug a virtual power cord, and even change the battery health status of the device!
Environmental Sensors
Finally, we're also adding new realism to our virtual devices with an array of new environmental sensors. These let you configure the accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetic sensor, as well as orientation of the device. So while you can't hold a cloud device in your hands, you can still make the device behave as if you can.
Full List of new Android sensors added in today's update
- Charge level
- Health
- Connection Type
- Status
Environment
- Temperature
- Light
- Pressure
- Humidity
Location
- Latitude
- Longitude
- Altitude
- Time Offset
Motion and Position
- Acceleration
- Gyroscope
- Magnetic
- Orientation