Android-x86 vs AnVirt Emu

Android-x86 ports the Android Open Source Project to x86 devices, providing a complete Android system for common x86 platforms. Its universal android_x86 and android_x86_64 targets cover 32-bit and 64-bit hardware, and images are intended for physical devices as well as virtual machines such as QEMU or VirtualBox. Listed capabilities include Wi-Fi with a graphical interface, suspend and resume, battery status, audio, camera, Bluetooth, and G-sensor support. It also lists native netbook resolutions, mirrored external-monitor output, external keyboards, a software mouse cursor, and mouse-wheel support. External storage can mount automatically, and the project documents ways to save user data to USB or hard disk. Releases include ISO images and RPM packages for Linux installation on a standalone ext4 root partition; source and build instructions are provided. Android-x86 is free, under Apache Public License 2.0, with some components under GPL 2.0 or later. The newest named release line is Android-x86 9.0 (pie-x86); release 9.0-r2 is dated 2020-03-25. Multiple-display support, better power management, and Miracast remain on its to-do list.

AnVirt Emu is a paid macOS desktop emulator for running an Android environment without installing Android Studio or the Android SDK. AnVirt says its runtime uses modified versions of Android Emulator and QEMU. The included Android system images depend on the Mac processor: Apple Silicon supports apps built for arm64-v8a, while Intel Macs support x86_64 applications. The original system includes neither a store app nor a browser, so apps cannot be downloaded from inside the environment. Users can obtain APK or XAPK packages themselves instead. When creating a virtual machine, memory size and data partition size are configurable. The app costs $9.99, paid once and requires macOS 11.0 or later. It supports English and Simplified Chinese. The developer indicates that no data is collected, although Apple says this privacy information has not been verified. Installation, usage, and configuration questions can be sent to [email protected].