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On top of this, an emulator running on top of Windows only becomes increasingly more inefficient. Unfortunately, Windows is horribly inefficient. Eventually, the OS loads the User Interface (UI), and allows the Windows –> Android user to load an Android application. When the device “boots”, it loads a ROM image, and the CPU (virtual CPU) begins to process instructions. It starts by building a virtual hardware layer, and then it emulates a virtual CPU. When you install the android developer kit (ADK), it comes with a hardware emulator that runs on Windows.Ī hardware emulator emulates literally every function. The final app “efficiency” on native hardware is about 0.5:1, or about 50%. If we look at the bare Android hardware and its operating system stack:Īndroid runs a proprietary operating system, and all android “apps” runs on top of Java, leveraging android libraries for device and hardware access, as well as look and feel.Īn Android app runs on the native CPU at a ratio of 1:1, but Java is inefficient, and all Android apps run in Java.
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The appeal of an “app player” is that it’s about 3 times more efficient than an emulator.
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