Did you know you can wirelessly link your smartphone to your PC using a pre-installed Windows app? This feature simplifies file transfers between devices!
While smartphones are essential for both work and play, PCs and laptops still play a crucial role in daily tasks. Apple has long integrated iPhones and Macs into a seamless ecosystem, and Microsoft is catching up with a feature called Mobile Connected. It comes pre-installed on Windows PCs and allows you to wirelessly connect your phone and computer.
Once connected, you’ll have access to numerous features, including reading and sending text messages, making calls, checking notifications, and browsing your phone’s photos. You can even mirror your smartphone screen on your computer and use mobile apps with your mouse and keyboard or drag and drop files just like in Windows Explorer.
Mobile Connected also offers unique features like text extraction from photos, making your phone ring remotely when misplaced, and sharing clipboard content between devices. Future updates may even let you use your phone’s camera as a webcam for video calls on apps like Teams or Google Meet.
To get started, open the Start menu on your PC, search for Mobile Connected, and follow the pairing instructions. Android users will need to download the Link to Windows app, while iPhone users can find it pre-installed in their settings. Once set up, your devices will automatically connect when on the same Wi-Fi, making it easier to transfer files or even play mobile games on your PC.
For those looking to run the full Android operating system on their PC, Genymotion is a useful emulator. It’s mainly for developers, but there’s a free version for personal use. It uses VirtualBox to emulate Android, so you’ll need to install that if you don’t already have it. Genymotion lets you explore Android’s interface, but it doesn’t offer customized versions like Samsung’s One UI. You can, however, add Google Play Store using the Open Gapps feature. For more integration with PC, BlueStacks might be a better option for running individual apps.
Run Your Favorite Apps With BlueStacks
If you’re only looking to run a few apps without needing a full Android interface, BlueStacks is an excellent choice. It’s one of the top Android app emulators, particularly for games and apps that don’t have desktop versions.
BlueStacks 5 takes up around 5GB of space on your PC, plus any additional storage for downloaded apps. When launched, you’ll see a custom home screen and access to the Play Store. Once you download an app, its icon will appear on both the BlueStacks home screen and your Windows desktop, allowing you to launch it directly.
For gamers, BlueStacks X offers a cloud-based option that lets you stream Android games without needing to download them, so there are no storage requirements.
BlueStacks also includes pre-configured keyboard and mouse controls, which you can tweak to match the touch inputs of Android games. You can adjust the resolution, DPI, frame rate, and the amount of CPU or RAM allocated to optimize performance and graphics quality.
Since BlueStacks uses virtualization to run Android, you might want to enable Intel VT-x or AMD-V in your BIOS for better performance. Alternatively, you can search “Turn Windows features on or off” and enable the Virtual Machine Platform in Windows settings.
While BlueStacks does show some ads and has a bit of clutter, the trade-off is minimal considering its wide range of features and Android version support.