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Bluestacks, which allows you to emulate Android apps on your desktop, has announced Bluestacks 2, a major upgrade with a ton of new features. Touted as their biggest upgrade ever, Bluestacks 2 features a new interface that is more like a web browser, allowing users to run more than one app at a time. This allows you to keep one app running in the background while playing a game in another.
Bluestacks 2 also features a new toolbar interface that allows easy access to major Android controls such as volume controls, screen shaking commands and location settings. The toolbar can also be hidden if desired for full screen play. Bluestacks is acknowledging that this is a lot of features and a major upgrade to release all at once but they’re excited about all the new features and wanted to get them in the hands of users. There’s no doubt they will do their best to make sure any issues are corrected quickly. The company was founded in 2011 and by 2012 it was winning awards for innovation and software accomplishments, and they are financially backed by some heavy hitters including Intel, Qualcomm and AMD. The software comes pre-loaded on some Lenovo, Asus and MSI computer systems as well, putting it directly into the hands of new computer owners.
Bluestacks 2 release coincides with their announcement that over 100 million users have downloaded the app. The application has gotten a warm reception by PC and Mac users everywhere and those users account for over one billion application uses per month! Bluestacks regularly uses feedback from users to update the application and make the experience for popular apps the best it can be in the computer environment. Bluestacks also claims a 96% application compatibility overall and says that 86% of games are compatible, which more than likely means your favorites are going to work with the program. It’s free to download, so there’s no harm in giving your favorites a try. There are instructions provided for moving your applications over from your device, or reinstalling them from popular app stores. Currently, Bluestacks 2 is only available for the PC, and unfortunately there is currently no word on whether it will be updated for the Mac as well.