Re: any opinions on Genymotion?

[Andy Burnelli]

kantraa wrote:

> i use Artix Linux. i wanted to get an android emulator to play brawl stars
> w/ my friends so i tried looking for one. i knew about Anbox but when i
> tried looking at the install page it seemed fairly complicated and they
> only had instructions for Ubuntu. so i started looking for an alternative
> and i found Genymotion. first of all, it seemed fairly commercial,
> marketing it as "the #1 android testing platform". emphasis on "testing
> platform". unlike stuff like Bluestacks which was the emulator i used on
> Windows, Genymotion seemed to be more geared towards developers and not
> end-users. that all changed when i actually installed GM though. first, it
> was proprietary and required an account. okay. WAIT, IT'S PAID?! nvm it's
> free for personal use. it also required virtualbox. would be cool if it
> used QEMU but okay. after installing, it wanted me to run this command to
> enable a kernel module. did that. rebooted. launched genymotion and
> created a device. ran flawlessly. probably enough for brawl. idk
>
> any thoughts? their website is https://genymotion.com.

I wrote a separate detailed step-by-step cut-and-paste tutorial for _each_
and every free Android emulator on _Windows_ a few years ago which you can
look up on the Android permanent Usenet archives if you're interested in
them (since they covered _every_ detail required to get them working).
<http://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android>

There are about ten or so emulators that I tested because there are more
than you think when you take into account microsoft, arm, & Google offerings
in addition to the commonly known emulators {google, arm, ms, geny, andy,
blue, nox, ko, mumu, remix}, etc (let me know if I had missed any of them).

I liked Genymotion, but bear in mind you _must_ provide them an email
address (which the others don't require) as it's for personal use only.

Here is a short cut and paste from one of the many tutorials I posted here.
C:\app\editor\android\emu\{google,arm,ms,geny,andy,blue,nox,ko,mumu,remix}
Google (Android ?, fails on older AMD CPUs but is the default for AS)
Arm (Android ?, nobody recommends these as they are too slow to be usable)
Microsoft (Android 6, works great on older AMD CPUs, integrates into AS)
Genymotion (Android 7.1, everyone recommends this for speed & compatibility)
Andyroid (Android 7.1.2, simple setup where AS instantly recognized it)
Bluestacks (Android 7.1.1, simple setup & runs fast, but AS didn't see it)
Nox (Android 4.4.2, targeted to gamers)
Ko (Android ?)
MeMu (Android Lollipop)
Remix* (Android Marshmallow, incompatible with AMD)

*Google Emulators* (Android 9)
Google Emulators are the cat's meow, all the way to Android 9
But they don't work on older AMD CPUs (on Windows only, apparently)
One great thing about the Google emulators, is some have Google Play
That allows people to run other software, e.g., NewPipe as one example
Comes pre-integrated with Android Studio

*Arm Emulators* (Android 9?)
They are too slow on my machine to be worth the trouble
Most people suggest ARM eabi-v7a for older AMD CPUs it's slow
Does not appear to come with Google Play (which is important)
Comes pre-integrated with Android Studio

*Microsoft Emulators* (Last version, forever, is Android 6)
The Microsoft Emulators are fantastic - but they stop at Android 6
The Microsoft emulators don't appear to have Google Play installed
They're the only emulators that work with Windows 10 Pro Hyper-V enabled!
Very easy to integrate into Android Studio (as an external tool)
<https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/msft-android-emulator/>
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/aW64zYeBtF0%5B1-25%5D>

*Genymotion Emulator* (Android 4 to 7 - and maybe 8 & 9)
Generally considered superior to all other emulators on Windows!
Most complex to set up (if things fail) due to Win10 & VMWare needs
Very well integrated into Android Studio (even has its own plugin)
I don't see Google Play (yet)
<https://www.genymotion.com/fun-zone/>
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/ix9empN-mxg/07ZmH2AWAQAJ>

*Andyroid Emulator* (Android 7.1.2)
This is very simple to set up (turn off Windows 10 Hyper-V!)
This installs Bonjour and VMWare bundled "services"
Comes with Google Play & F-Droid NewPipe came up, ran, but failed
Android Studio recognized it instantly so it's nicely integrated
<https://www.andyroid.net/> <https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/FkZu5vAswYo/wISRtpUUAQAJ>

*Bluestacks4 Emulator* (Android 7.1.1)
This is very simple to set up (turn off Windows 10 Hyper-V!)
They seem to be very focused on running Android games on Windows
Comes with Google Play & successfully ran F-Droid NewPipe tests
I need to learn how to integrate it into Android Studio
Drawback is that it has ads
<https://www.bluestacks.com/bluestacks-4.html>
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/JBRjZ39w4Ok>

*Nox* (Android 4.4.2)
Targeted to gamers
No ads
https://www.bignox.com/

*MeMu (Android Lollipop)
Targeted to gamers
Good support for AMD & Nvidia chips
https://www.memuplay.com

*Ko Player* (Android )
Targeted to gamers
Ad supported
Said to be buggy
http://www.koplayer.com/
Updated: Nov 26, 2018 Version: 2.0.0
http://down1.koplayer.com/Emulator/koplayer-2.0.0.exe

*Remix* (Android Marshmallow)
Incompatible with AMD chips
Jide Technology has stopped supporting this
It's an Android boot system
http://www.jide.com/remixos
Version 3.0.207 Release date: November 25, 2016
It doesn't seem to be available in 2018

Bear in mind Linux runs native on Android and Windows nowadays (sort of),
where I wrote tutorials on those also, where the Andronix software is here:
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=studio.com.techriz.andronix>

[Andy Burnelli]

Theo wrote:

> Interesting - I've always found Android emulators somewhat lacking in the
> past. That one looks better, although it appears to be Android for x86
> which means it can't run Arm native code. There is binary translation, with
> caveats:
>
> Using ARM translation tools with Genymotion Desktop is not officially
> supported and may corrupt your virtual device. We cannot guarantee
> Genymotion operations nor provide technical support in this case - do it at
> your own risks!
> For Intellectual Property reasons, we cannot distribute any ARM
> translation tools.
> There are no ARM translation tools for Android 10 and above.
>
> Which probably in practice means a good chunk of recent apps won't run,
> unless you're prepared to run an older version of Android.

I would agree with both Theo and kantraa that Android emulation, while it
has it's place for developers of Android code, is often problematic when
used simply to run Android apps on the Windows or Linux big screen.

Like both Theo and kantraa observed, each emulator has its quirks, which you
have to figure out on your own for the most part (I lasted tested them on
Android 7 and now I'm on Android 12 so I don't know how they've progressed).

There have been a few new options which came up since those extensive tests:
1. You can easily _mirror_ your Android phone on Linux & Windows nowadays
(actually thanks to Genymotion who donated the src code apparently!)
<https://www.genymotion.com/blog/open-source-project-scrcpy-now-works-wirelessly/>

2. Windows 11 (supposedly) runs Android native (my machines are all Win10).

3. Windows 10 can run the Linux shell (sort of) native.

4. Android can run all the common Linux distro's along with Android
(you can run both Linux & Android at the same time on an Android phone)
<https://andronix.app/>

Most of that won't help the OP directly but the _mirroring_ works perfectly
on both Linux and Windows so that's an option that works around emulation.

As an example, the Android "NewPipe" & "Aurora" FOSS tools are fantastic.
<https://newpipe.net/
<https://auroraoss.com/>
Yet, there is _nothing_ whatsoever on Windows/Linux to replace them.

Those are, IMHO, probably the finest two tools in all of Android history,
BTW, as their functionality isn't even on Android (other than the apps
themselves), let alone on Windows or on Linux.

While you can emulate Android to use those tools with a keyboard and a huge
monitor, it's easier to simply use them on Android fifty feet away from you
and you just mirror the Android phone onto your huge monitor.

As an example, my 6.5" Android phone is 20 inches by 9 inches on my screen.
The point is that a lot of tools just work better when they're huge, and
when you have a mouse and keyboard to work with them, and there's no
emulation to slow things down (however you also don't get your PC CPU
power).

Recording is trivial (video or screenshot) as is operating the hardware
buttons (kind of like flight simulator was in the early days of PCs).

Hope this helps even as it's an _alternative_ suggestion to emulation.