If you're an Android fan, the name BlueStacks and the product may seem a bit familiar. Named Best Software at CES 2012, the App Player allows you to play the same Android apps you might enjoy on your smartphone or tablet full-screen on your desktop PC.
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The alpha version of the software launched October 11 of last year, and was downloaded more than a million times during its 3-month alpha release. While the alpha could run many Android apps, the player was more a proof of concept and couldn't run many popular titles such as Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja.
After winning its CES award back in January, BlueStacks made the alpha unavailable January 20 in anticipation of its improved beta release.
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The beta-1 version of BlueStacks App Player incorporates the company's Layercake technology to enable Android apps to run on x86-based PCs. “
“LayerCake is a disruptive technology that enables PC manufacturers to bring the best of the Android ecosystem to their customers. It also leverages the advanced graphics capabilities of AMD APU and GPU platforms,” said Manju Hegde, corporate VP, Content, Applications and Solutions at AMD.
The beta version of the app offers much more app compatibility, and new app partnerships with HalfBrick (the company behind Fruit Ninja), StumbleUpon, Evernote, and HandyGames. App partner's apps are available within BlueStacks App Player out of the box, and the player also now offers the ability to download Android apps directly onto your desktop.
The beta version also offers accelerometer support in the form of a virtual Android tablet in the corner of the screen that can be controlled using the arrow buttons on your computer.
“A billion PCs is a huge potential market for any developer," says HandyGames CEO Markus Kassulke. "There is potential to make good money from the additional app discovery and usage.”
Using BlueStacks App Player, Android apps you use on another device can be synced onto your home computer as well, allowing you to use an app that you've purchased for your phone on your PC--without having to pay for a desktop version.
BlueStacks hopes that the player will be disruptive to PC gaming, by allowing you to purchase and play much less expensive mobile versions of popular games on your computer. For instance, the Android-version of Angry Birds Space can be played full-screen on a PC using the player. If you already purchased the game on your smartphone, you would have to pay an additional $6 for the PC-version of the game. Likewise, the PC-version of the Sims is $30, while the mobile version of the game just $6.
The beta-1 version of BlueStacks App Player supports Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 and is available now as a free download.
Have any of you tried BlueStacks App Player out? Tell us what you think about running Android apps on your Windows PC in the comments.
This story originally published on Mashable here.
