Makefile

.PHONY: run

# certs and output
OUTPUT_FILE=apkname.apk
ALIAS=youralias
KEYPASS=yourkeypass
KEYSTORE=certs/yourcert.keystore

UNSIGNED=platforms/android/build/outputs/apk/android-release-unsigned.apk
# or, if you're using Crosswalk:
# UNSIGNED=platforms/android/build/outputs/apk/android-armv7-release-unsigned.apk

PACKAGE='com.yourcompany.yourapp'

# create a signed apk
sign:
	rm -f ${OUTPUT_FILE}
	cordova build android --release
	jarsigner -verbose -sigalg MD5withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore ${KEYSTORE} -storepass ${KEYPASS} ${UNSIGNED} ${ALIAS}
	zipalign -v 4 ${UNSIGNED} ${OUTPUT_FILE}

execute:
	adb shell am start -n ${PACKAGE}/${PACKAGE}.MainActivity

# install a signed apk on a device
install:
	adb install -r ${OUTPUT_FILE}

# monitor logs and filter by package name
log:
	adb logcat | grep `adb shell ps | grep ${PACKAGE} | cut -c10-15`

run: sign install execute log

thanks, very useful. Only one thing:
When you build a release the name of the file is app-release-unsigned.apk, NOT android-release-unsigned.apk

this took a few hours of my life..