Windows adds a layer to run Android apps

Test releases of Windows 11 (Dev and Beta) added the first release of the WSA (Windows Subsystem for Android) layer, which provides the launch of mobile applications created for the Android platform. The layer is implemented by analogy with the WSL2 subsystem (Windows Subsystem for Linux), which provides the launch of Linux executable files in Windows. The environment uses a full-fledged Linux kernel, which runs in Windows using a virtual machine.

More than 50 Android apps from the Amazon Appstore are available to run - installing WSA is as simple as installing the Amazon Appstore from the Microsoft Store, which in turn is used to install Android apps. For users, working with Android applications is not much different from running regular Windows programs.

The subsystem is still presented as experimental and supports only a part of the planned features. For example, Android widgets, USB, Bluetooth direct access, file transfer, backup, hardware DRM, picture-in-picture, and shortcut placement are not supported in the current view. Support for audio and video codecs, camera, CTS/VTS, Ethernet, Gamepad, GPS, microphone, multi-monitor, print, software DRM (Widevine L3), WebView and Wi-Fi is available. Keyboard and mouse are used for input and navigation. Arbitrary resizing of Android application windows and landscape/portrait orientation is allowed.

Source: opennet.ru

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