Note: After several month, Andy start to give me issue. Cannot uninstall it. Broken. Please be careful.
Have you ever feel that your android phone and tablet in some case works better than your PC?
I think GMail Apps in Android is amazing. I wish I have that in my laptop. I don’t like to assign a browser tab constantly open just for email.
If you feel the same way, I think you need to at least try Andy.
It’s not only for Windows, It also support Ubuntu and OSX
Andy, Android Emulator?
Andy is an Android emulator. Well, it’s more like virtual machine using VMware. It’s very simple to install and configure.
How to install Andy?
I just run it like a regular installer. It took longer than expected, but no hiccups.
Minimum Requirements?
Their current minimum system requirements are
- Dual core AMD or Intel CPU with Virutalization support
- 3Gb of RAM; Andy uses less than 1Gb while running apps
- At least 10Gb of free disk space
- GPU with OpenGL 2.1 support
- Windows 7 SP1 / Windows 8.1 / Ubuntu 14.04+ / OSX 10.8+
It run very smooth using my Laptop with 6GB RAM (i3 Processor). But practically crippled when I tested it using 2GB RAM Laptop with the same spec. even when I lowered the “virtual tablet” spec.
How to Start the App?
Simply run “Start Andy” shortcut in desktop after installation. You can also configure your “tablet” spec:
It seems that it uses custom ROM and the android is already set up. Ready to run.
Android Version?
It run Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean (thank god it’s not 4.4 Kitkat)
Google Play?
Yes. It also have google play pre-installed. Simply login to your google account and ready to install apps. No issue when installing app, updating, etc.
File manager?
ES Explorer is pre-installed. Nice.
How to copy file from PC to Virtual tablet?
Place your files in:
Windows: %userprofile%\Andy\
OS X: ~/Documents/Andy/
Linux: ~/Andy/
Launch Andy and open ES File Explorer
Your files will be in /storage/sdcard0/Shared/Andy/
How About Copy-Paste Text etc.
It Works ! you can copy a text or URL from your PC and paste it to any app in Andy. Vise versa.
Camera?
It can detect and use my webcam. No Issue.
Wifi?
No problem.
Storage?
I think It simply maxed out the possible storage in Android. In the settings I see:
- 32 GB Internal Storage
- 128 GB SD Card
I don’t know if I can change them or not.
Scrolling, User Experience, etc?
I have to admit, not all apps works well. Not because it didn’t work but it’s hard to use in Landscape mode, and some app didn’t recognize mouse wheel to scroll, so you need to click and drag (like touch screen).
Working Apps?
Here’s the list of apps I tested. I have to admit even though the apps works it’s not without issue. The biggest problem is that we have to use keyboard and mouse to navigate.
I wish they have ROMS using Remix OS instead of stock Android. I think it would work better using keyboard and mouse.
GMail
Works well. You need to “Swipe” using mouse a lot. But Overall no problem.
Somehow cannot view profile page. Unusable.
Cannot scroll using mouse scroll wheel. Unusable.
Facebook Lite
Force to use portrait mode. Unusable for me.
Slack
Working well, but in landscape mode it’s too wide. Not comfortable to use.
Youtube
Works well. No Issue.
Minecraft PE (Pocket Edition)
Runs well. But very hard (and not comfortable) to use using keyboard and mouse.
Naked Browser Pro
No Problem. Works well.
MX Player Pro (Video Player)
No Problem. Works well. Volume up and down buttons in my keyboard even works.
Use Android Phone As Remote Control
Andy have a feature to use your phone/tablet as controller for your virtual android tablet via Wifi. I tested it and It didn’t work. I read somewhere in the forum it didn’t work for Windows 10. But here’s a video of people using the feature for gaming.
Any app you want me to test out? Let me know in the comment.