Android Apps

[Burgerman]

As many know I dont have a smart phone. Because I cant stand their operating systems, and short batt life, and a lot of other issues.

But I do have a bunch of smart sockets, thermostats, adapters and other "smart" devices on order. I want to run these things and control them from my windows laptop. I also dont have or want a smart speaker...

But I came across a huge problem. All hese smart devices have reuired software that is Android or Apple phone only. No problem I thinks... Theres dzens of emulators hat allow you to open a phone shaped window on a PC and run the phones software and then download the phones Apps...

I installed the best 15 of these over a 5 day period. And uninstalled all of them. They are all SHIT. And they all push games, ads, and other nonsense in your face, require all sorts of other messy things setting up and non of it is simple. So those are a waste of time.

Win 11 runs Android apps (at least some) directly in windows natively. But I dont like windows 11 either.

So I found a project that is EASY to install. That adds a full, invisible and low overhead Android subsystem to windows 10 LTSC. And it works beautifully.
So now after a little downloading, and installing, I can run any android app. And it just runs it like windows. With normal start menu options, no ads, nothing visible at all in fact. I downloaded several Apps. The main one I needed was Smart Life. And this allows me to control everything natively from my laptop.
I also have Play Store (where I added the Smart Life, and and Tuya Smart etc.

So I did some further looking. Theres a easy way to download both Google Assistant, and Amazons Alexa. These both turn your PC into a stupid smart speaker. So now I can tell alexa (on my PC) to turn things on and off, or turn up the thermostat. I can also use all these wall on/off plug socket switches to count the Watt Hours eact device uses. So I can see how much solar I generate, or my fridge uses etc.

Anyone thats interested, I can give links to the:

PC integrated Android subsystem making it super easy to run any android app... Almost 1 click! https://github.com/MustardChef/WSABuilds
PC based Google Play. Easy once you installed the android subsyste. Just point your browser to google play and download it...

PC based ALEXA https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9N12Z ... n-gb&gl=US
PC based GOOGLE ASSISTANT doesent exist officially but theres is one... https://github.com/Melvin-Abraham/Googl ... top-Client

[Burgerman]

Who needs a google or amazon smart speaker, or an android phone? I got that all on my laptop.

[martin007]

I take note of your suggestion.
And it is also open source software...

[martin007]

Do you know any way to download apps from Play Store without the need of a registration?

[Burgerman]

I installed it on my PC and it just works.
You are forced to sign up to a google account, but just log out once you leave the store.
I downloaded the required home automation apps, to run on the android subsystem running on my laptop.

So now the subsystem loads in the background. 1
Then the program I choose runs, and here is play store 2
And then here is the home automation app, that counts watts on each plug, or solar, or whatever. 3

So when you click on the Automation app (smart life in this case) a phone shaped window appears! And it runs as if its an actual phone app.

[martin007]

Technically, it is a virtual machine...

[Burgerman]

True. But seamless, no ads, no annoyances, it just works.