It's Not Dead Yet - AMIDuOS Lollipop Pro (trial) out now

[PGHammer]

The first Android emulator (as opposed to native platform) that runs as a Windows application has dared show up - a Lollipop version of the existing AMIDuOS is now available form the AMIDuOS home page.  (As I did with the previous version, I'm comparing it heads-up with BlueStacks - however, I'm ALSO comparing it to the RC1 of *native* Lollipop (especially since native performance has been the bugbear of any and every emulator for Android so far) and with my Lenovo Android tablet (still on KitKat, as is BlueStacks).

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I really suggest rethinking the structure of this post. It made no sense to someone who doesn't already know what you're talking about, and I think you're missing a closing bracket (for anyone that would be able to follow the information you're putting forward.)

What is AMIDuOS?

[PGHammer]

I really suggest rethinking the structure of this post. It made no sense to someone who doesn't already know what you're talking about, and I think you're missing a closing bracket (for anyone that would be able to follow the information you're putting forward.)

What is AMIDuOS?

AMIDuOS is an Android platform (like BlueStacks) that runs as a Windows application.  It's not new (except that a version that specifically emulates Lollipop is now generally available) - however, that it specifically emulates Lollipop does separate it from everyone else.  Like BlueStacks, it is preferable to run on Windows 8 or later -however, unlike Bluestacks, 32-bit Windows is an option.  There is one other minus compared to BlueStacks as well - you have to add the Google PlayStore separately.

I have been using BlueStacks as an alternative to an Android tablet -and, since I got my tablet, I still use it when said tablet is charging.  (That will likely be the biggest current use for either BlueStacks OR AMI DuOS - hence my evaluating it on that basis.)

That use is also why I am comparing it to true native Android - not just my own Android tablet, but the live USB stick I have running Android 5.1 RC1 (basically, Lollipop-x86 RC1) - which is gaining native-application traction, due to Intel Atom-based hardware running Lollipop being available today.  (My quibble with the RC1 image is that it can't be installed, unlike previous ISO images, to a blank HDD - and such an install is, in fact, viable, due to real Android software existing for Intel-compatible hardware; remember, Atom is fully x86 cross-compatible with Core 2 - in both directions.  You can install it in vmWare or Oracle VirtualBox - but not natively - or to Hyper-V; native would CERTAINLY have a graphical advantage compared to a VM.)

[dragontology]

BlueStacks is crap, and has always been crap. I checked it out again recently, and the site made no mention of cost. When I used it before, it was free, but very limited. As BlueStacks is not so much an Android emulator, as app player. Still, you can get on the Play Store now (not before), you can install a launcher of your choice, and voila, you have an Android tablet on your PC. However, after several hours, it told me that my trial was up and that I needed to subscribe, $2 a month. I could almost get behind paying for it, but it's an old Jellybean version, and you don't get the full Android system, though functionally it works well enough. If they were keeping it up to date I might have been tempted.

Genymotion doesn't work at all on my machine, even with VT-x or whatever it's called on Intel. I know I have it because I had to emulate it for a virtual machine before. Yet even with it enabled, Genymotion won't run, telling me to enable it again.

AMIDuOS is not free either, but at least they tell you up-front what it will cost, and it appears to be a one-time fee. $15 for Lollipop is certainly cheaper than one year of Bluestacks, and even if you like Bluestacks, which uses Jellybean, you could save $5 and just buy that. 

Watching the videos on the DuOS site, I recall that I once installed it before. It hung on the splash screen. Tried again (uninstall, reinstall) and still no go.

Bluestacks works well, but I don't want to pay them perpetually and I don't just want half of Android.

I downloaded something called Nox but have yet to try it.

And for the person asking "What is...?", if your browser is Chrome, you might not be aware, but you can highlight something (double click to highlight one word), then right click and, "Search Google for...". I'm not trying to be a jerk and tell you that you could just Google it. Though I guess I sort of am. I just think people who ask questions like that might be aware that there's an easier way than going to Google.com and searching. Since I found this feature, I use it a lot. Anything I see I don't know about and want to, I search it. Opens in a new tab and everything. Really cool. Firefox and other browsers probably have something similar.

[Cute James]

I have been using BlueStacks as an alternative to an Android tablet -and, since I got my tablet, I still use it when said tablet is charging.

Could you not simply use the tablet while it's charging?

[PGHammer]

BlueStacks is crap, and has always been crap. I checked it out again recently, and the site made no mention of cost. When I used it before, it was free, but very limited. As BlueStacks is not so much an Android emulator, as app player. Still, you can get on the Play Store now (not before), you can install a launcher of your choice, and voila, you have an Android tablet on your PC. However, after several hours, it told me that my trial was up and that I needed to subscribe, $2 a month. I could almost get behind paying for it, but it's an old Jellybean version, and you don't get the full Android system, though functionally it works well enough. If they were keeping it up to date I might have been tempted.

Genymotion doesn't work at all on my machine, even with VT-x or whatever it's called on Intel. I know I have it because I had to emulate it for a virtual machine before. Yet even with it enabled, Genymotion won't run, telling me to enable it again.

AMIDuOS is not free either, but at least they tell you up-front what it will cost, and it appears to be a one-time fee. $15 for Lollipop is certainly cheaper than one year of Bluestacks, and even if you like Bluestacks, which uses Jellybean, you could save $5 and just buy that. 

Watching the videos on the DuOS site, I recall that I once installed it before. It hung on the splash screen. Tried again (uninstall, reinstall) and still no go.

Bluestacks works well, but I don't want to pay them perpetually and I don't just want half of Android.

I downloaded something called Nox but have yet to try it.

And for the person asking "What is...?", if your browser is Chrome, you might not be aware, but you can highlight something (double click to highlight one word), then right click and, "Search Google for...". I'm not trying to be a jerk and tell you that you could just Google it. Though I guess I sort of am. I just think people who ask questions like that might be aware that there's an easier way than going to Google.com and searching. Since I found this feature, I use it a lot. Anything I see I don't know about and want to, I search it. Opens in a new tab and everything. Really cool. Firefox and other browsers probably have something similar.

  AMIDuOS has two "SKUs" (Home and Pro), and Pro itself is in two versions - KitKat and Lollipop.  Home is ad-supported (nagware, basically).  BlueStacks is now based on KitKat - the earlier version was based on JellyBean; Nox is based on JellyBean (not KitKat) and unlike either BlueStacks or DuOS, it emulates a tablet (BlueStacks and DuOS emulate phones - thus both have better app compatibility than Nox).  One niggling problem with most emulators is that they rely on VT-x - which doesn't co-exist well with Hyper-V (one of my testbeds was my development notebook - which normally uses Hyper-V for that very reason).  Genymotion requires either Oracle VirtualBox to be installed, or you can install the version that includes it.  (Currently, it includes VirtualBox 5.0.4 - the current version of VirtualBox is 5.0.8; if you install the version of Genymotion that includes VirtualBox, update it to 5.0.8 before downloading your first emulated hardware.)  Unlike any other Android emulator outside the SDK, Genymotion DOES include emulated hardware supporting Marshmallow; however, Marshmallow requires OpenGL ES 3.2 support; while discrete AMD R9 and discrete nVidia GPUs (back to Fermi) support it, only the latest Intel CPUs (fifth and sixth generation) support this specification.  My discrete nV GPU in my desktop is fine; however, the GPU in my development notebook is sorely lacking.  Mom's AIO has plenty of CPU (fourth-generation i3), but the integrated Intel graphics is the problem.  What was the GPU in the hardware where DuOS hung?  My desktop tag-team of Q6600 and GTX550Ti was fine with DuOS Pro Lollipop; Q6600 also lacks support for Hyper-V.

[PGHammer]

Could you not simply use the tablet while it's charging?

That is not all that possible when the tablet in question is at five percent or less.  While the tablet doesn't take long to get to full charge, even from nearly drained (two hours at worst), you still have to allow that charge time for the tablet to even REACH full charge.  Also, the Galaxy Tab 2 and its clones (my Lenovo tablet falls into the "clone" category) do not charge as quickly - or retain a charge as long - as the newer tablets.