I use my captivate more for games tgan anything. However not all the games I want are on the marketplace.

This specific instance Im talking about the ports of id games classics like quake, doom, etc that were pulled for some reason but still available and legal. (they are based on free source code nerd stuff from id games)

In this modern era of digital age tomfoolery is there any way to emulate android or test the apps before installing them? I like my phone and dont want to use it as a method to take the wobble out of my coffee table.

I'm not sure what you mean by testing apps... there's only a handful of apps that have ever been reported as dangerous. And if the app doesn't require root access, there's really not much they can do to the phone.

The most you need to worrty about when installing apps from "unknown sources" is data logging. There's one virus that was going around but I am pretty sure its almost eradicated. Lookout mobile is a good antivirus program as well as anusegul tool to locate your device if it was ever stolen or missing. Check it out.