Run Android Applications in Windows

 Android is an Linux based kernel and it is developed using Java. Android is limitless and it can be in anyplace. You can find Android even in unusual places. This post tells you how to run Android Application in Windows. Installing it in Windows helps developers to test without smartphone and try apps before installing in smartphone. Here is a trick to run Android application in Windows. There are two ways to do..

#1. Use Android Emulator
An emulator is an application software which visualize the platform. There are many Android emulators available for free. Two best Android emulators are Bluestack and Youwave.

Bluestack

BlueStacks was launched in 2009. It is the best android emulator to run android apps in Windows.  The company is funded with 15M from Andreessen-Horowitz, Radar Partners, Redpoint, Ignition Partners and Qualcomm. BlueStacks was the winner of “Best Software” at CES 2012 for its App Player software.

Bluestack is rich in features, it supports all apps and messagers with Google Play. Bluestack is available for Windows and Mac OS. But it is slightly disappointing with the user interface of Bluestack.

Official Site: http://www.bluestacks.com/

Youwave

Youwave runs on Android 4.0 and also Android 2.3. The special feature of Youwave is the Simulated SD card functionality. The user interface is also very good as it looks exactly like the Android interface.

Official Site: http://youwave.com/

#2. Install Android OS
By this method, you need to install the whole Android Operating System into an Virtual Machine like Virtual Box and VMware. Not all Android versions can be installed in Virtual machines. Only Android versions which are optimized for virtual machines can be installed in VMware.

Steps to Run Android in VMware
Download the Android OS from https://code.google.com/p/android-x86/downloads/list. I have chosen android-x86-4.0-RC2-eeepc.iso for the test. Also download the virtual machines like VMware(http://www.vmware.com/in/) or Virtual Box(https://www.virtualbox.org/).

Open VMware and select “Create a New Virtual Machine”

Now point android-x86-4.0-RC1-eeepc.iso file you downloaded.

Rename the Free BSD and choose a installation directory.

Increase the size according to your wish.

Click Customize Hardware and increase the RAM capacity. I recommend a maximum of 2GB.

Click the Finish button. Android is now created and is ready for installation. Click the “Install Android-86 to Harddisk“. You can also run the Android as a live CD but it need the .iso file every-time. So I recommend installing it.

Now select Create/Modify partitions and press Enter. The following window appears.

Select sda1 and press Enter. Choose any one File allocation. Also install the GRUB Bootloader.

Create the disk image with 512 MB.

You have completed installing Android. Choose Run Android-x86.

Wait for Android to boot and Enjoy.

This version of Android does not support Audio and Ethernet.