If you have been thinking about trying a android emulator for windows but you can’t decide which one, here you go the seven best, all of them free and that you can have up and running in a couple of minutes.
The official Android Studio emulator
If your goal is test new android features, there is nothing like the official Android Studio emulator. Installing it is not as difficult as we might imagine and the latest versions, together with a sufficiently powerful PC, have great performance.
with him you can both the latest version and old versions of Android and emulate various elements such as the camera, calls or GPS. The best thing is that it is pure Android, without preinstalled strange things, something that is common in other emulators.
BlueStacks
Bluestacks is one of the most popular and veteran Android emulators for Windows. It specializes in games, for which it includes some special features like key mapping or the possibility of opening several instances of a single game or being able to broadcast the games to Facebook Live, Twitch and Twitter.
Unlike the official emulator, Android on BlueStacks has little to do with the one present on your phone. The latest version, BlueStacks 4 is based on Android Nougat (or Pie), which guarantees compatibility with most current games.
BlueStacks X
BlueStacks is great, but what if you didn’t even need to install it on your PC? That is precisely BlueStacks X, a free online android emulator where you don’t need to install anything. All you need to do is open their website in a browser.
BlueStacks X is somewhat more limited than the installable version, as you only have access to a closed list of games. The good thing is that being a website, it is compatible with Windows, Linux, Mac, iPad, iPhone and basically anything with a modern browser.
MEmu Play
MEmu Play is another emulator specialized in games. It is a concept similar to BlueStacks, with which you can use various versions of Android emulated, from Android KitKat 4.4 to Android Nougat 7.1.
Its benefits include the ability to easily transfer files between the PC and the emulator, Google Play integration, key mapping or GPS simulation with your own tool.
GenyMotion
GenyMotion was the emulator of choice for developers for many years and although it has now been superseded by the Android Studio emulator, it primarily survives. like a cloud emulator, allowing applications to be tested on countless devices with a couple of clicks. Yes, upon payment.
For personal use, GenyMotion still has a free versionyou just need that before register a user account. With the version for personal use you have access to many profiles with different versions of Android, from Android 4.4 to current versions.
NOx
In the field of Android emulators for Windows, it is easy to have a certain deja vu, as many of them are suspiciously identical. This is the case with NOX, KO Player and MEmu Play, although at least NOX has the advantage to be in spanish.
As for emulation, the latest version is based on Android Pie 9.0 (in beta version) and several tools are included to map all kinds of touch controls so that you can use the mouse and keyboard instead.
gameloop
GameLoop, also known as Tencent Gaming Buddy, is a Windows emulator where you can play mobile games on PC. Tencent is the Chinese company behind great games like PUBG and various licenses from Ubisoft, Activision or Square Enix.
This emulator is obviously intended exclusively for games, with performance as the main objective and the possibility of broadcasting the games online on various services. In addition to its own games, you can use applications like Twitter or even Google Play.