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This is really cool from a technical perspective, but what's the use case? I can't think of a single Android app that I use that doesn't have an equivalent desk

This is really cool from a technical perspective, but what's the use case? I can't think of a single Android app that I use that doesn't have an equivalent desktop/web app that's optimized for a mouse and keyboard. I can't imagine the UX nightmare of using touch-optimized apps on a regular PC.

butz 10y ago
Nice way to try out suspicious looking apps in safe environment, before loading them up in your phone.
6DM 10y ago
If you can debug in this, it's got to feel a lot faster than the emulator. Though I admit I haven't used the emulator in so long that I don't know if they ever fixed how slow it was.
- RussianCow 10y ago
  That's a great point; I hadn't even thought about development. If that is indeed the case, this could be a godsend for Android devs!
- HillaryBriss 10y ago
  the emulators got faster about a year ago https://infinum.co/the-capsized-eight/say-hello-to-a-faster-android-emulator https://infinum.co/the-capsized-eight/say-hello-to-a-faster-...
- bitmapbrother 10y ago
  >Though I admit I haven't used the emulator in so long that I don't know https://developer.android.com/studio/run/emulator.html https://developer.android.com/studio/run/emulator.html On my MacBook it's actually faster than the iOS simulator.
yebyen 10y ago
I'm not sure you need a use case for this to be a sensible addition to the tools we have in the box. IMHO if this machine is linux, and that machine is linux, and both machines are fully open, then why can't you run this app on that machine? Because reasons, that's why... no more!
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
untog 10y ago
> I can't imagine the UX nightmare of using touch-optimized apps on a regular PC. You'd be surprised. Android has full mouse and keyboard support - you can click on buttons, tab between text boxes, use scroll gestures... it's not perfect (and some apps are awful) but I've been very surprised by how much I can do.
- icebraining 10y ago
  Yeap. You can even alt-tab between apps (even if the UI is worse than on Windows).
vamur 10y ago
For example, app development - virtual machines running Android are dreadfully slow and cumbersome to use. Also, Linux doesn't have many apps and small games. For example, if this works, Linux users can run Word and Excel, as well as Angry Birds.
- zamber 10y ago
  In current state it will probably crash on more complex stuff. In two years if there's no widespread adoption it will still crash because it's just another potential platform for QA to test on. Also if I'm not mistaken it will only run apps that are compiled for x86 Android.
- bitmapbrother 10y ago
  I can tell you haven't used the new emulator in some time. It's just as fast as the iOS simulator.
kingosticks 10y ago
I've been interested in something like this since Spotify pulled all support for their cross-platform libspotify library and left us with just their iOS and android SDKs. Nothing I could see specifically mentions audio support but surely it's a given.
kodablah 10y ago
> I can't think of a single Android app that I use that doesn't have an equivalent desktop/web app that's optimized for a mouse and keyboard. I can. E.g. my phone settings manager, my TV provider's remote app, my main screen of multiple widgets, my local TV station's weather app w/ notifications, etc. Also, in many cases for web apps w/ mobile app equivalents, the latter are easier to use and snappier. Finally, though less useful, this can give an app developer a sandbox in which to embed his app upon distribution and be able to target Android and Linux assuming the app is simple.
beagle3 10y ago
WhatsApp. I have several phone numbers, despite having just one phone - and I need separate WhatsApp accounts for each, but the official (essentially, only) client insists on only being connected to one.
- arthurfm 10y ago
  > the official (essentially, only) client insists on only being connected to one. You might be able to work around that limitation by using an app like AppCloner [1] or Parallel Space [2]. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.applisto.appcloner https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.applisto.a... [2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lbe.parallel.intl https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lbe.parall...
- squarefoot 10y ago
  +1 WhatsApp is the only reason I keep an Android phablet with data only plan which I would happily get rid of since I do everything on a laptop or small netbook when possible. I know about the WA web client, but it doesn't solve the problem as it requires the phablet to be on, connected and not in sleep mode which is a huge limitation.

butz 10y ago

Nice way to try out suspicious looking apps in safe environment, before loading them up in your phone.

6DM 10y ago

If you can debug in this, it's got to feel a lot faster than the emulator. Though I admit I haven't used the emulator in so long that I don't know if they ever fixed how slow it was.

RussianCow 10y ago
That's a great point; I hadn't even thought about development. If that is indeed the case, this could be a godsend for Android devs!
HillaryBriss 10y ago
the emulators got faster about a year ago https://infinum.co/the-capsized-eight/say-hello-to-a-faster-android-emulator https://infinum.co/the-capsized-eight/say-hello-to-a-faster-...
bitmapbrother 10y ago
>Though I admit I haven't used the emulator in so long that I don't know https://developer.android.com/studio/run/emulator.html https://developer.android.com/studio/run/emulator.html On my MacBook it's actually faster than the iOS simulator.

yebyen 10y ago

I'm not sure you need a use case for this to be a sensible addition to the tools we have in the box. IMHO if this machine is linux, and that machine is linux, and both machines are fully open, then why can't you run this app on that machine? Because reasons, that's why... no more!

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

untog 10y ago

> I can't imagine the UX nightmare of using touch-optimized apps on a regular PC. You'd be surprised. Android has full mouse and keyboard support - you can click on buttons, tab between text boxes, use scroll gestures... it's not perfect (and some apps are awful) but I've been very surprised by how much I can do.

icebraining 10y ago
Yeap. You can even alt-tab between apps (even if the UI is worse than on Windows).

vamur 10y ago

For example, app development - virtual machines running Android are dreadfully slow and cumbersome to use. Also, Linux doesn't have many apps and small games. For example, if this works, Linux users can run Word and Excel, as well as Angry Birds.

zamber 10y ago
In current state it will probably crash on more complex stuff. In two years if there's no widespread adoption it will still crash because it's just another potential platform for QA to test on. Also if I'm not mistaken it will only run apps that are compiled for x86 Android.
bitmapbrother 10y ago
I can tell you haven't used the new emulator in some time. It's just as fast as the iOS simulator.

kingosticks 10y ago

I've been interested in something like this since Spotify pulled all support for their cross-platform libspotify library and left us with just their iOS and android SDKs. Nothing I could see specifically mentions audio support but surely it's a given.

kodablah 10y ago

> I can't think of a single Android app that I use that doesn't have an equivalent desktop/web app that's optimized for a mouse and keyboard. I can. E.g. my phone settings manager, my TV provider's remote app, my main screen of multiple widgets, my local TV station's weather app w/ notifications, etc. Also, in many cases for web apps w/ mobile app equivalents, the latter are easier to use and snappier. Finally, though less useful, this can give an app developer a sandbox in which to embed his app upon distribution and be able to target Android and Linux assuming the app is simple.

beagle3 10y ago

WhatsApp. I have several phone numbers, despite having just one phone - and I need separate WhatsApp accounts for each, but the official (essentially, only) client insists on only being connected to one.

arthurfm 10y ago
> the official (essentially, only) client insists on only being connected to one. You might be able to work around that limitation by using an app like AppCloner [1] or Parallel Space [2]. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.applisto.appcloner https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.applisto.a... [2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lbe.parallel.intl https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lbe.parall...
squarefoot 10y ago
+1 WhatsApp is the only reason I keep an Android phablet with data only plan which I would happily get rid of since I do everything on a laptop or small netbook when possible. I know about the WA web client, but it doesn't solve the problem as it requires the phablet to be on, connected and not in sleep mode which is a huge limitation.