The “Manual control” interface of the Stb-tester Portal now supports using ADB to control Android devices; and the Stb-tester Node hardware now supports ADB over USB.

We have supported ADB from your test scripts for many years, but only over the network. The new features are:

• ADB over USB: This is more reliable than Network ADB, and doesn’t require any configuration (with Network ADB you need to configure the device-under-test’s IP address). Simply use a USB cable to connect the Android device to the Stb-tester Node.

• ADB for remote control from the interactive web interface of the Stb-tester Portal. (Previously ADB was only accessible from your Python test scripts.)

We still recommend using infrared, HDMI CEC, or Bluetooth for remote control when possible, as these are more representative of real-world usage. Using ADB for other purposes (such as collecting logs with logcat) is, of course, a good idea, and now it’s more convenient if your Android device supports USB.

For configuration instructions see Remote Control Configuration: ADB control.