Responding to our latest smartphone rant, reader lolumad writes,
Why not just use a smartphone emulator on your desktop? http://www.emoretech.com/best-android-emulators-windows-mac-os-x-linux-free-download/ That way you can participate in the "majority's experience."
So we checked it out and look, the article is so smart it recognized our operating system (it's Mint, not Ubuntu, but close enough):