AMD and BlueStacks have teamed up to release software that lets you run Android apps on computers with AMD processors. It’s called AMD AppZone, and in addition to letting you run Android apps, the software lets you find and install apps by searching app stores — including the Google Play Store.

AMD AppZone is available as a free download, but it will only work on computers featuring the latest AMD graphics chips.

AMD AppZon

I tried installing the AppZone software on a Dell Zino HD with AMD Radeon HD 4200 graphics, and received an error message suggesting that the graphics core is either unsupported or my drivers are out of date (which they’re not).

Of course, BlueStacks offers similar software for pretty much any Windows or Mac computer with Intel or AMD processors. But the reason the AMD AppZone checks your graphics card is because this build has been optimized to take advantage of modern AMD Radeon graphics to offer better performance of Android apps on large, high resolution displays.

Whether you’re using BlueStacks or AMD AppZone, you can not only find, install, and run Android apps on a PC — you an also use the BlueStacks Cloud Connect  app synchronization tool on your phone or tablet to send apps you’ve already installed on a mobile device to your PC.

Most Android apps are designed for use with a touchscreen rather than a keyboard and mouse, but many games, utilities and other apps work reasonably well in a laptop or desktop environment — especially apps that are designed for tablets and other devices with large screens. Some tablet apps may not be available though, since BlueStacks basically provides an Android 2.3 emulation layer. That version of Android was designed for phones, not tablets.

But I think BlueStacks and AMD AppZone would be even more useful on a Windows 7 or Windows 8 tablet, since there are hundreds of thousands of touch-friendly apps available for Android, and just a few thousand Windows 8 apps in the Windows Store so far.

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5 replies on “AMD, BlueStacks launch AppZone, bring Android apps to PCs with AMD graphics”

  1. Works well with my phenom 9750 with 6670 gcard, now i just need to try it on my E-300 apu laptop

  2. Someone needs to get this application to work on Win8 RT. I know the processors are different, but Android apps on a Windows tablet would be great.

    1. Well, this particular one is to take advantage of AMD’s x86 graphics. So isn’t applicable to a ARM system running RT.

      However, mind AMD is about set to release a 4.5W Hondo, the mobile APU set to replace the 5.9W Desna.

      Tablet’s based on Hondo will still be a bit bulky like earlier ATOM based tablets but should run pretty cool and provide more GPU performance than the Tegra 3… Anandtech has a youtube video showing a Hondo tablet in a rendering comparison benchmark with a Asus Transformer Prime and it clearly got around double the FPS as the Tegra 3 system.

      Considering the Hondo tablet was running Windows 8 and the Prime was running Android makes it particularly impressive.

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