Will Android be universally supported?

[wonder]

Rumor has it that Android is becoming more and more mainstream and that in the coming months (years?) we won't need any emulators anymore to run our apps on the PC.

For those who use Chrome's Arc Welder like me, you might have noticed there was a major compatibility fix a few weeks ago. It now runs practically everything I create with B4A, including OpenGL, online MySQL and local SQLite apps. Moreover, it was rumored that Windows 10 will be also able to natively support Android apps and that the new Nintendo console would be based on Android.

While the last rumor was already denied by Nintendo, I'm starting to wonder if there is a hint of truth behind all of this.
So what do you guys think? Will we be writing PC / Windows Phone / Videogame Console apps and games with B4A in 2016/17?

 

[thedesolatesoul]

Just to nit-pick on your words.
Android is already support on x86, you can get PCs/laptops that run Android.
I think you mean that Android apps will run natively on a PC on a different OS...almost. To run Android apps natively on another host, you need to implement the full Android API translation to the host API.

 

[wonder]

I think you mean that Android apps will run natively on a PC on a different OS...almost.

Exactly!! Thanks!

So... do you see this coming in the near future? The implementation of the full Android API in future Operating Systems?

 

[Erel]

My guess is that this is mostly a marketing gimmick. Android is a mobile OS. Android applications are expected to run on a touch based mobile device with limited processing power, mostly small screens and limited battery power.

Even if Windows will support Android applications they will feel very different than the native Windows applications. A bit similar to rich internet applications.

 

[thedesolatesoul]

Normally I would have thought not, but Microsoft has actually announced Astoria which will take an apk convert it to appx and run it without the need to cross-compile it. This is related to a thing they called 'subsystems' (they dont called it a VM or emulator). In the past they have tried with Unix subsystems, I'm not sure how successful they were. They are able to convert Google Play Services API calls int MS Services calls as well.
If the performance is good enough, I guess this will be nice for games. However I feel there will be more limitations for e.g. accessing storage etc.

 

[wonder]

Chrome's Arc Welder is working pretty nice as well. Two weeks ago, I created a small companion SQLite B4A app with the sole purpose of using it on my PC.
No issues or what so ever. Works like a charm!

I can't wait to see what Microsoft is up to!

 

[sorex]

I wonder why Samsung started shipping that other OS while Android made them kind of big.

 

[ilan]

I wonder why Samsung started shipping that other OS while Android made them kind of big.

The answer is in your question

Because they are big enough today thanks to android the can make their own OS

Btw: samsung phones offers the most feauters in their phone so they know what they are doing. the most phones run a very boring android os like nexus, lg,.. but samsung is really different.

Endless possibilities and great functions. I have a nexus4 at home and bought me 2 weeks ago a samsung s5 and its much much better.

 

[sorex]

well, that the point. it's not their OS at all, it's an open source one if I recall right.

 

[ilan]

But they make something much different then the basic android os.

I believe they dont want all google apps in their os like gmail, google play, ...

They want their own aps and like this they can make lot of money. The samsung store is not so popular right now maybe after making their own os it will be much popular and their is lot of money in those stores.

Thatswhy we r in this business

 

[thedesolatesoul]

Samsung has always been part of various OS consortiums and always has an alternative OS ready. Before Tizen there was Bada and many more.
I dont think Samsung think they owe anything to Android, and neither did Android make them big. What made Samsung big was the downfall of the other players i.e. Nokia, Motorola etc who failed to get on the smartphone bandwagon.

 

[sorex]

also the big range of phones in different price classes. iPhones are just too expensive for a "regular" smart phone.

 

[RandomCoder]

also the big range of phones in different price classes. iPhones are just too expensive for a "regular" smart phone.

Too expense and don't forget what I consider the most important reason for not choosing an Apple device... too locked down!!!
They don't believe that a user is actually capable of managing they're own device.

 

[sorex]

they must've known your ms-dos history

 

[RandomCoder]

they must've known your ms-dos history

One small error a long time ago!

 

[wonder]

Too expense and don't forget what I consider the most important reason for not choosing an Apple device... too locked down!!!
They don't believe that a user is actually capable of managing they're own device.

Indeed, we should control the machine and not the other way around.

 

[ilan]

Indeed, we should control the machine and not the other way around.

even if we will control the machine, google will control us...
i dont know what is better be controled by a machine or by google...

 

[wonder]

even if we will control the machine, google will control us...
i dont know what is better be controled by a machine or by google...

How about the forked versions of Android? They're supposedly free and open source, right?