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Windows Phone 7: Detect device type

The Windows Phone 7 Emulator is a great way to test your applications before deploying them. However there are obvious limitations, such as working against the GPS system where the emulator just can’t quite cut it. In those situations it is common to create some sort of simulation to mimic the desired behavior.

But once you have deployed your application to a real device you do not want your simulation routines to execute. Fortunately you can check for the DeviceType and avoid calling any emulator specific code you may have embedded.

Checking For the WP7 Device Type

The System.Devices.Environment.DeviceType property returns either DeviceType.Device or DeviceType.Emulator indicating what platform the application is running. Notice that reading the Microsoft.Devices.Environment.DeviceType property generates garbage, causing garbage collections when you don't want them.  Therefore it’s better to call it once at the start of your app and save the value.

Here is a simple example how you can do this:

   1:  public class Settings
   2:     {
   3:         public static Settings Instance = new Settings();
   4:   
   5:         private Settings()
   6:         {
   7:             IsRunningInEmulator = CheckIfRunningInEmulator();
   8:         }
   9:   
  10:         public bool IsRunningInEmulator { get; private set; }
  11:   
  12:         private bool CheckIfRunningInEmulator()
  13:         {
  14:             return Microsoft.Devices.Environment.DeviceType == DeviceType.Emulator;
  15:         }
  16:     }
  17:   
  18:   

So instead of calling the DeviceType property each time you needed it you would call the IsEmulator property which would rely on the _isEmulator variable after the first call.

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