I wont say it is impossible to go without chrome debugger but it is really, the only method I have used at runtime. Ive always ignored the Android images that dont include the Play Store because I have no intention of supporting devices without it. Do you need chrome debugging while the tests are running or are you trying to ‘debug’ the application in order to use an inspector (so you can write tests agains xPath for example)? If its the latter, do you have any access to chrome on Android? Do you have access to the hybrid app’s source code? You could host the app as a website using NodeJS and use desktop Chrome’s inspector to get you through.
