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AMIDuOS review: run Android apps and games on your Windows device

AMIDuOS review: Run Android apps on your Windows PC, laptop or tablet, complete with full support for video-intensive software and games.

We’re big fans of dual OS systems here at Recombu Towers, which give you the option of running a huge range of software all on one device. AMIDuOS is a bit of Windows software that lets you install and run any Android app, and it’s a feature-packed dual-booting service that’s well suited to touchscreen machines.

Download and install the AMIDuOS package from the company’s website, which will most likely require some battling with your chosen anti-virus software, and you’ll find yourself going through a typical Android set-up process. You can sign in with your Google account and restore your previous Android account and there you have it – an Android desktop on your Windows device.

The Android virtual machine runs in a window, so you can quickly and easily swap between Android and your Windows desktop. You can also share files between the two operating systems, which is handy if you’re using both Android apps and Windows software to work. And it’s good to see that you can pin your Android apps to your Windows desktop too, for swift access.

AMIDuOS is best experienced on a touchscreen tablet or laptop, which allows you to directly interact with the touch-optimised Android apps. If you have a touchscreen laptop then it’s all the better, as you have the convenience of a keyboard and aren’t dependent on a virtual board.

Of course, the one problem with running AMIDuOS on a laptop is that some apps run in portrait mode, which means they appear sideways on the screen. You’ll need to flip your laptop on its side to see what’s going on, or risk a bit of neck ache. And if you don’t have a touchscreen, clicking around with a touchpad or mouse can be quite fiddly (although there are keyboard shortcuts too, for the main Android functions).

This is what you get if you’re running some Android apps on a laptop

At the moment, AMIDuOS runs Android 4.2.2, so there’s some catching up to be done. Still, it’s a fully featured version of Android, complete with all of the usual settings, a working notifications bar and full gesture support. You also get Google Play and Amazon’s apps store, so you can download any app or game you fancy.

We tested out some of the latest titles such as Relic Run and they ran perfectly on our simple Acer Windows laptop, with the touch controls responsive enough even for fast-paced games.

While the ability to run Android apps and games on a Windows Phone handset would be a much bigger draw than Android support for standard Windows, AMIDuOS is a flexible solution that packs all of the features you’d expect. You can grab a free 30-day trial, after which you can unlock the full version for a one-off payment of $10.

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