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Android Apps on Windows 11

blogs.windows.com

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Re: Android Apps on Windows 11

#161

Post by smileybarry »

sudosysgen wrote: post #123
babypuncher wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is really unlikely. PC gaming is an increasingly important market for Windows in the consumer space. As more casual users abandon conventional PCs for increasingly capable tablets and smartphones, PC gaming is only becoming and even bigger piece of the pie. The day Microsoft announces that the next version of Windows will be wholly incompatible with player's existing libraries is the day Windows ceases t…

The ace in the hole is TPM. What happens when Microsoft starts shipping a TPM based anticheat and DRM? That would destroy Proton forever and allow them to lockdown Windows.

That's already a problem with kernel-based anticheats, they can't run in Wine/Proton.

For that, you have Valve stepping in and working with anti-cheat companies to find some middleground for Linux: https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/valve-making-linux-anti-c...

Re: Android Apps on Windows 11

#162

Post by smileybarry »

treesknees wrote: post #42
criddell wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows has essentially always been free. There have been something like two billion PCs sold running Windows. The number of people who purchased a non-OEM copy is relatively small.

But I believe upgrades have always been an extra purchase until Windows 8? Nowadays it's free OS, free upgrades to get you in the door and buy their services (M365 for Microsoft, iCloud/apps for Apple.)

Until Windows 10 IIRC, Windows 8 was also a paid upgrade. Windows 8.1 acted like a service pack so it wasn't until 10 that upgrades became free, in a way. (Unless you're an enterprise customer, in which case 10 wasn't free either)

Re: Android Apps on Windows 11

#163

Post by smileybarry »

anaganisk wrote: post #158
kyriakos wrote: post #4

> You can see notifications from Android apps notifications in the Action Center or share your clipboard between a Windows app and an Android app. This is a very interesting feature. Integrated notifications means you can run any android messenger and keep it minimised.

So like run a VM on HyperV with another OS just to use WhatsApp? How much spare ram and cores does your PC have?

Android can run on <1GB RAM devices, and I'm willing to bet WSL's port runs a lot less background services. Couple that with Hyper-V VMs being able to release memory back to the host and it probably won't be too bad. (Maybe even lighter than some Electron apps)

Re: Android Apps on Windows 11

#164

Post by smileybarry »

neogodless wrote: post #33
wyldfire wrote: post #2

> To enable these types of experiences, we are introducing a new component on top of Windows 11 called Windows Subsystem for Android™, which powers the Amazon Appstore and its catalog. The Subsystem includes the Linux kernel and the Android OS based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) version 11. > The Windows Subsystem for Android is available across the full spectrum of Windows processor types (AMD, Intel, an…

> The Windows Subsystem for Android is available across the full spectrum of Windows processor types (AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm). But scroll down to see "Feature-specific requirements for Windows 11" > Apps available at Amazon Appstore. Additional requirements apply, including 8 GB of RAM, a solid-state drive (SSD), and a supported processor (Intel® Core™ i3 8th Generation, AMD Ryzen™ 3000, Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 8c, o…

IIRC "WSA" does ARM translation instead of relying on x86 builds like (classic) BlueStacks. Seems like BlueStacks 5 added ARM compatibility and also recommends a powerful CPU. (Microsoft's are basically "recommended" system requirements, and IIRC WSL2 also requires some large amount of RAM)

Re: Android Apps on Windows 11

#165

Post by smileybarry »

MikusR wrote: post #132
intack-choi wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can't

Microsoft makes Surface Duo. A Google certified Android device. Google forbids companies that make Android devices to make devices on Android forks.

I guess the technicality they can use here is "we're not shipping a device based on AOSP, but a software feature based on AOSP". Even Surface hardware is technically a Windows-based device with AOSP features.

Re: Android Apps on Windows 11

#166

Post by anaganisk »

smileybarry wrote: post #163
anaganisk wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So like run a VM on HyperV with another OS just to use WhatsApp? How much spare ram and cores does your PC have?

Android can run on <1GB RAM devices, and I'm willing to bet WSL's port runs a lot less background services. Couple that with Hyper-V VMs being able to release memory back to the host and it probably won't be too bad. (Maybe even lighter than some Electron apps)

Are you comparing a wrapper around a native app(chromium) to an app running on an OS emulated on a VM, with non-physical connection to a physical drive? I guess the drive bandwidth itself would punish an app enough. Random disk reads and writes are no where near native performance. Android over vm is much worse than electron, for wide usage.

Re: Android Apps on Windows 11

#167

Post by kyriakos »

kumarvvr wrote: post #150
nikolay wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows is not macOS - it supports touchscreens and most Windows notebooks have touchscreens!

Personally I don't know a lot of people who would like to touch their Laptop screen. Its just not convenient. I am saying that as someone who got excited by the thought and actually bought a Dell touchscreen laptop. In laptop mode, its just not worth it.

This is one of those things that once you use it you wonder why it's not more common. Especially for scrolling having touch on a laptop is very convenient and you get used to it quickly it becomes muscle memory to the point that you start touching non touch enabled laptops. Had a lenovo yoga with touchscreen and replaced it with a thinkpad, until I switched I hadn't realised how much I was using the touchscreen before.

Re: Android Apps on Windows 11

#168

Post by kyriakos »

anaganisk wrote: post #158
kyriakos wrote: post #4

> You can see notifications from Android apps notifications in the Action Center or share your clipboard between a Windows app and an Android app. This is a very interesting feature. Integrated notifications means you can run any android messenger and keep it minimised.

So like run a VM on HyperV with another OS just to use WhatsApp? How much spare ram and cores does your PC have?

I bet you Microsoft teams on android takes less memory than the bloated electron based desktop version.

Re: Android Apps on Windows 11

#169

Post by anaganisk »

kyriakos wrote: post #168
anaganisk wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So like run a VM on HyperV with another OS just to use WhatsApp? How much spare ram and cores does your PC have?

I bet you Microsoft teams on android takes less memory than the bloated electron based desktop version.

You’re not understanding my point, VMs will never have native performance as long as there is a a pass through layer.Running a apt-update on wsl2 is much much slower than running apt-update on my ubuntu laptop.

Re: Android Apps on Windows 11

#170

Post by smileybarry »

anaganisk wrote: post #166
smileybarry wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android can run on <1GB RAM devices, and I'm willing to bet WSL's port runs a lot less background services. Couple that with Hyper-V VMs being able to release memory back to the host and it probably won't be too bad. (Maybe even lighter than some Electron apps)

Are you comparing a wrapper around a native app(chromium) to an app running on an OS emulated on a VM, with non-physical connection to a physical drive? I guess the drive bandwidth itself would punish an app enough. Random disk reads and writes are no where near native performance. Android over vm is much worse than electron, for wide usage.

Would you say WSL2 apps are meaningfully heavier than "native"? Because I'm not sure that's the case, and this is just the same. And just like WSL2, you're running a VM with much less background services and bootstrappers.

Drive bandwidth is really no concern here, you have so many Android phones with I/O much worse than computer SSDs. Not everything is a flagship with UFS 3.0+.

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