bluestacks - Android Community

BlueStacks Android app player gets 550,000+ downloads

By Michael Crider
on 6 Dec, 2011

Just in case you were wondering, yes, ore excited about the prospect of running Android apps on their full-sized computer. BlueStacks, the startup software package that lets you easily run and sync Android apps to any Windows computer, has racked up more than half a million downloads since its October debut. 550,000 downloads is an impressive achievement for a program that was only released in alpha form seven weeks ago, and at the time lacked support for anything other than Windows 7.

BlueStacks Android emulator expands to Windows XP and Vista

By Michael Crider
on 22 Nov, 2011

If you're still holding on to your ancient Windows XP machine and you've got a hankering to try out the impressive BlueStacks app emulator, today is your lucky day. The software is expanding support to older Windows versions, XP and Vista, and it already supported Windows 7. Other than the expanded platform support there isn't much new, since the premium version and the OS X version are still in development.You can download the software from their website. BlueStacks got a lot of attention when they debuted their Android emulator, which allows quick and easy access to free Android apps. Users can also move apps from their Android phone to BlueStacks on their computer using a software portal. The performance isn't great at the moment - you'll need a powerful computer to run games smoothly - but the ability to run Android apps relatively painless ly on desktop hardware is alluring. It'll only become more so as Windows moves into the tablet realm with Windows 8.The software is already showing up on at least one ViewSonic tablet. AMD agrees. The processor company invested 5.6 million dollars into the company to spur its development, and help create a viable base of touch-enabled apps for x86 netbooks and tablets. With all this interest comes some very exciting times for BlueStacks - we'll probably be seeing them at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. We'll be on the lookout for more feature and platform updates.

AMD invests in BlueStacks to bring Android apps to Windows tablets

By Michael Crider
on 20 Oct, 2011

Android and Windows users had something to cheer about last week when start-up BlueStacks released the first version of their Android emulation software, which makes running and syncing Android apps on Windows easy. Now hardware giant AMD and virtualization software maker Citrix are investing 5.6 million dollars into the small company, hoping to spur development and expand x86 hardware's capabilities to include the wide range of Android apps. BlueStacks says that they'll use the cash to quickly bring feature-complete versions of its Player software to desktop computers. The potential for BlueStacks is promising to say the least. Windows doesn't have a lot of touch-optimized software at the moment, and with the tablet-friendly Windows 8 on the horizon, that's a definite handicap. Opening up Windows and other desktop operating systems to hundreds of thousands of Android apps can only help, and considering that x86 tablets tend to be 2-3 times the price of current Android slates, it wouldn't pose a threat to Honeycomb or upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich tablets. Not only does BlueStacks run Android software on Windows, it can also sync apps with users' phones, though this early in the development cycle the selection and support is rudimentary at best. The Pro version, which will run paid Android apps, is expected before the end of the year. [youtube Nus9-Tu_J9k] AMD could use whatever help it can find at this point. The company has been trailing behind Intel in the processor market for years, and while its Fusion low-power netbook chips have been well-received, they're still not making a significant dent in the desktop market. Both AMD and Intel are having trouble finding traction in the tablet market, with ARM processors being the internals of choice at the moment. Citrix, a professional virtualization company that already supports the iPad and Android tablets, is also investing in BlueStacks. [via SlashGear]

Android Community Weekly : June 4, 2011

By Sam Koutroulakis
on 4 Jun, 2011

Welcome to another edition of Android Community Weekly! This past Sunday some press photos surfaced with a breaking leak to the Asus Padphone. Later on, as it becomes official, the group AlwaysInnovating accused Asus of copyright infringement. Notion Ink Adam sales open again, and this time the promise of Honeycomb June 27 is there to sweeten the deal.