Google adds stream Android apps feature to Android 13

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Microsoft previously built the Your Phone application in Windows 10, which can run Android applications on the computer after pairing with a supported Android device. This technology relies on streaming rather than virtualization. Microsoft actually streams the Android application interface to the computer but also supports mouse and keyboard operation. However, only a few Android devices support streaming, so most users cannot use it.

Although they are all streaming in essence, Google and Microsoft have different implementations. Microsoft originally streamed the screen of an Android device directly to a computer for operation. However, in subsequent iterations, Microsoft also supports launching multiple applications at the same time, and each application occupies a different window, that is, running in parallel will not interfere.

Google’s solution is that when streaming is required, Android generates a completely separate virtual display, and then only streams this virtual display to the computer. The advantage of this is that you can use the computer and the Android device at the same time, for example, while the Android device is doing other content without being streamed to the computer and vice versa. Another highlight is that Google provides a list of installed applications through a virtual display, which means that users can choose any application to start and run on the computer. This means that the user can completely control the Android device on the computer without picking up the Android phone, so relatively speaking, the degree of freedom of use is still very high.

At present, the news unearthed by 9to5google is that it can only be used with Google Chrome OS devices and can only run the message application because the function is still under development. 9to5google said it can be sure that this feature will support all applications in the future, after all, Google provides a list of applications in the development version for users to choose freely. As for system support, 9to5google said that this feature should eventually support other systems because 9to5google found some content related to Windows 11. In addition, the streaming function only supports Google Pixel series devices, and it is unclear whether it will support more brands of devices in the future.

Source | Image: 9to5google

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