BlueStacks offers a solution for Windows based computer systems. It was first only compatible with Windows 7, the latest version released a few days ago added support for XP and Vista as well.

When you install BlueStacks on your computer an icon is added to the upper right screen of the operating system. This icon acts as the central hub. Here you can start Android applications, open the help file or the BlueStacks website to load additional apps on the computer.

The free version ships with ten preinstalled apps. It offers room for additional apps (The (changing) start page states the free version is limited to 26 additional apps) that can be installed from a list of featured apps on the BlueStacks homepage or by installing a BlueStacks client on the Android mobile which can then be used to push Android apps directly to the Windows PC. These apps appear in the hub listing after a short period of time.

Available preinstalled are mostly game apps like Aporkalypse or Drag Racing. The featured apps section on the BlueStacks homepage, only accessible after connecting a Facebook account with the service, lists more games and some news related apps.

More interesting that the featured or preinstalled apps is the ability to push existing Android apps from your phone to your PC to access them on Windows. The developers say that not all apps may work at the current point in time.

Apps that work are launched in fullscreen. Take a look at the following videos to get a better expression.

The developers are continuing to work on the application. It will eventually reach beta and then final status. The plan of the company from what I can see is to keep offering the free version of the software with limited app storage space, and a professional version with unlimited space that is likely going to cost either a flat sum of money or a subscription fee.

Windows users can download the latest version of BlueStacks from the project website. Windows XP users should take a look at the prerequisite page before they install the software to make sure they have all the software installed on their system that is required to run BlueStacks.

Android users, have you tried the BlueStacks App Player yet? If so, what’s your opinion?

The Android application store got some great feedback last year when the application competition ended which produced more than 1000 different applications for the Android phone. It is usually not possible to see what the Android application store has to offer unless you already have an Android phone. Not very practicable for evaluation.

That’s why the guys over at Cyrket have implemented the Android application store on their website.

The Android store mirror divides all Google Android applications into categories. The main page is divided into games, applications and newest contents. A click on games or applications will load a new directory level displaying subcategories. For Android applications those are Communication, Finance or Travel among others. A click on any subcategory will display a file browser (like in the image above) that will list ten Android applications per page. Applications can be sorted by popularity or date. The ratings, names, developers and versions of the Android applications are displayed in each line.

A click on a line will open a detailed view that contains a short description of the application, user comments and additional information about the selected Android appl.

Impatient users can use the search on top to see if the Android application store contains an application or game with the functionality that they need. The Cyrket website provides a great overview over all Android applications for non-Android users.