Should I buy an android phone to learn development

[Kevlar1]

Hi all,

I'm really getting into improving my programming skills since I became a junior developer. I would like to develop android apps and I'm wondering if its a good idea to buy an android phone for learning development.

I'm looking at the wileyfox sparkx (I want to support uk phones ) now it runs Cyanogen 13.0.

Do you think this is a good place to start? Would this be easy to root etc and install beta OSs on?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[N4Newbie]

When I was developing apps for PalmOS and Windows Mobile devices, I owned probably a dozen different devices, most all purchased used on eBay. So, yeah, it can't hurt.

But... I presume you are aware of the various device emulators which are available for Android OS devices, right? Not 100% perfect, but probably 99.98%.

https://developer.android.com/studio/run/emulator.html

 

[Kevlar1]

Okay cool, I don't think I'll buy that many ha.

I've heard of emulators and would probably use it to build the app but still want to have a physical device to play with. Also, to test out new developer previews. That's what I'm wondering if the wileyfox is okay for, Its no nexus, but could be a good starting device?