AMD, BlueStacks Team Up for Android Apps on x86
The BlueStacks App Player for Windows is getting support for AMD's APU platforms.
Thursday AMD said that it has teamed up with BlueStacks to help bring Android applications to Windows-based devices. The chip maker will lend a hand in optimizing the BlueStacks App Player for Windows so that the more than 200,000 apps currently available in the Android Market will perform at their peak when running on APUs powered with AMD VISION technology.
"BlueStacks is a visionary software company that is, seamlessly, making the emerging Android mobile apps market part of the broader computing ecosystem and enhancing such experiences on our award-winning APU platforms," said Manju Hegde, corporate vice president, AMD Fusion Experience Program. "AMD is committed to support such game changing innovators through investment and other activity as we work together to usher in new experiences that allow consumers to enjoy the full capabilities of the brilliant graphics and computing performance enabled by AMD."
As reported last week, BlueStacks launched an alpha version of its App Player that allows Windows 7-based PCs and tablets to run Android apps within the Windows environment without having to install the Android SDK or modify the original software. The App Player also allows PCs and tablets to install apps synced from an Android device thanks to the company's Android-based Cloud Connect technology.
The current alpha version of BlueStacks' App Player comes packed with free Android apps including Words Free, Aporkalypse, Talking Tom 2 Free, Bubble Buster and seven others. Users can also download an additional 31 free apps from the BlueStacks website, but given that the software is still in alpha, users will discover some problems running the apps. For example, Talking Tom doesn't actually talk, but spurts out a garbled electronic mess instead.
Support for premium apps like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja is still in the works, BlueStacks said.
Using HTML based apps also largely solves platform compatibility. The only compatibility issue is what the various browsers support. No need for recompiling or emulating.
Because they might be using an Intel IGP. Not sure why AMD would want to bring this forward considering all their IGPs are capable of much more.
WHAAAAAAAAT?! What the hell do IGPs have to do with this? The problem HERE is developers pushing tablet mentality on the desktop: instead of big, near-omnipotent programs or browser-based interaction, we get a TON of useless "apps" which all do one or two things only.
I had a thought about a similar program for the iOS App Store, but then realised that we're more likely to see U2 go bankrupt.
Maybe it's for x86 tablets?
A x86 tablet is a useless thing for the most part, because there are no touchscreen-designed apps for it.
Being able to use Android apps would turn a x86 tablet into a proper tablet while still being able to run all the productivity software written for x86 Windows.
Doesn't solve the price/battery life problem of x86 tablets though.
True, 4 hours idle isn't great, though it's not exactly a weak tablet.
perhaps you dont need angrybirds or that fart app, but for some people having a calendar or being able to easily merge contacts between the 2 is beyond essential, and having the same "app" manage it means you dont have to worry about conflicting issues or buying the same thing twice, or having to learn how to use 2 different "apps" for the same thing.
It's ALL inside your browser, Google provides all these services. By the way... calendar is INBUILT into any OS. You don't need an "app" for that.
Having played with BlueStacks i've found that Android apps that are pure Java/Dalvik work fine. However, Android apps that include a native ARM library won't install. This move by AMD will encourage developers to include an x86 native library as well.
If AMD was thinking of picking up some ARM licence and wanted to pump out products like Nvidia, this might be a way for them to perfect the graphic portion, and to get a better understanding about the scope of development needed to cross over.
They might not want to cross over, but instead want to licence out the graphic architecture to be paired up with ARM cores by a third party? I remember seeing this on a slide a while back, and proving at least in part that AMD can make a compatible video card might be another approach.
Last idea... they just want to make a really cheap product, that has the capability to deliver a rich environment... I have no idea how this would work... but its not a stretch. they are making a nice package for the mobile market with there APU, and I can see people coding for 3D acceleration more in the developing Droid market, then the already matured Desktop/Laptop world. In which case, I could see this as there strategy to compete against Intell's superior CPU architecture.
If this is a sing that AMD might move away from x86 for at least a small portion of there production line, I would be a happy camper.If there sharing the same CPU architecture, but go into a war on the graphic side, we can only benefit especially since its not only green and red in this frontier.