The Windows Dev Center crew has announced on its blog that app developers can now download new emulator images for Windows Phone 8.0 Updates 2 and 3 from the Microsoft Download Center, and install them on existing Windows Phone SDK 8.0 installations.
The Windows Phone 8 Update 2 (8.0.10322) emulator images have been updated to support development environments that only have Visual Studio 2013 RTM installed. Developers who already have the original Windows Phone 8.0 Update 2 emulator images on their machine don’t need to download this update. The only change is that the installer has expanded Visual Studio targeting to include the RTM release of Visual Studio 2013.
Windows Phone 8 Update 3 Emulators offer a new set of emulator images.
In addition to updating the current emulator resolutions (WVGA, WXGA, and 720p) to 8.0.10512, Update 3 also includes a 1080p emulator that can be used to test how an app renders on a 1080 x 1920 resolution screen, whether to deliver HD media (video or images) or to provide an app layout tailored to the larger screen.
As with earlier Windows Phone emulator installations, these emulator updates are optional downloads for Windows Phone developers, and they require either (a) Visual Studio 2012 Update 3 or (b) Visual Studio 2013 RTM, with the Windows Phone SDK 8.0 installed.
Installing a Windows Phone 8.0 Update 2 or 3 emulator set does not replace or update earlier instances of Windows Phone 8.0 emulator images already installed.
This way developers can keep multiple versions of the Windows Phone 8.0 operating system on their machine and Windows Phone 8.0 emulator images can be removed at any time.