Android emulation on a PC is not a new trick. BlueStacks does an ok job at it. WindowsAndroid is another option with a slightly more up to date version of Android. Apparently there’s more demand for this type of emulation. At least Mobile Media Ventures, Inc. hopes there’s still a market for it. They’re the company behind Console OS, a new Android fork that gets Android running on 25 different Intel-based PC’s.
Console OS is an Android fork, not just the Android OS running in an emulator. The project is being funded through a Kickstarter campaign that is open now. It closes on the Monday, August 11. If Console OS can raise $50,000 between now and then, backers will get some perks and the company will be able to produce the OS. The developers are stating that Console OS can run from a hard drive installation or from a USB thumb drive. There will also be options to dual boot your Windows machine, so you can run Console OS from its own partition. This is an implementation that we haven’t seen before from an Android OS, and it could be interesting. Console OS will also allow you to run two Android apps side-by-side, if you ever find a need to do that.
The plan is to release two versions of Console OS. One will be free, and have a limited feature set. There will also be a Console OS Pro that will cost $20 per year. The Pro version will include support for running Android apps in Windows using an emulator, remote access to your PC from and Android device, and support for additional media codecs and DVR features. The company will probably pack even more features into the Pro version, too.
Because it’s a fork of Android running on its own stack, Console OS won’t be getting approval from Google for Play Store access. That means you’ll have to side load any .APKs you want to run. The developers are building their own app store that will supposedly y allow you to import your Play Store apps, though. They are also packing Amazon’s Appstore into the OS, so at least you’ll have that.
Implementations of Android like this answer a question that no is asking. Even so, it’s interesting. You can get Console Pro OS for a $10 Kickstarter pledge. Console OS is supposed to ship by December.