Leapdroid is a relatively recent emulator for running Android games on PC (but quite suitable for other applications) in Windows 10 – Windows 7, collecting positive user reviews (even in the comments of the post The best Android emulators for Windows), highlighting the relatively high FPS in games and the simply stable performance of the emulator with a wide variety of games.
The developers themselves are positioning Leapdroid as the fastest emulator and compatible with the available applications. I don't know to what extent this corresponds to reality, but i suggest you take a look.
Emulator Features and Benefits
First, briefly about what Leapdroid can please the user who is looking for a good Android emulator to run applications on Windows.
- Can work without hardware virtualization
- Google Play (Play Market) pre-installed
- Presence of the Russian language in the emulator (activated and works flawlessly in Android settings, even the russian keyboard works)
- Convenient gaming controller settings, for the most popular applications there are automatic settings
- Full screen mode, manual resolution adjustment
- Is there a way to change the amount of RAM (to be described later)?
- It is said to be compatible with almost all Android apps.
- High performance
- Supports adb commands, GPS emulation, easy apk installation, shared folder with computer for quick file sharing
- Opportunity to run two windows of the same game.
In my opinion, not bad. Although, of course, it is not the only software of its kind with this list of features.
Using the Leapdroid.
After installing Leapdroid, two shortcuts will appear on the Windows desktop to run the emulator:
- Leapdroid VM1: runs with or without VT-x or AMD-V virtualization support, uses a single virtual CPU.
- Leapdroid VM2: uses VT-x or AMD-V acceleration and two virtual processors.
Each of the shortcuts runs its own Android virtual machine, which means if you have installed an application on VM1, will not install on VM2.
When I start the emulator, you will see a standard Android tablet screen with a resolution of 1280 × 800 (Android is used 4.4.4 at the time of writing this review) with shortcuts to Play Market, the Navigator, the file manager and some shortcuts to download games.
By default, the interface is in english. To enable the Russian language in the emulator, go to the emulator window itself in applications (button at the bottom center) – Setting – Language and input and in the Language field select Russian.
To the right of the emulator window there is a set of buttons to access useful actions when using it:
- Turn off the emulator
- Volume increase and decrease
- Take a screenshot
- Return
- Start
- View running applications
- Setting keyboard and mouse controls in Android games
- Install an application from an APK file from a computer
- Specify a location (GPS emulation)
- Emulator Settings
During the tests, the games worked fine (setting: old Core i3-2350m laptop, 4GB RAM, GeForce 410m), Asphalt showed playable FPS and there were no issues launching any app (the developer claims that the 98% of Google Play games are supported).
The tests in AnTuTu gave 66000 – 68000 points, and curiously the number was lower with virtualization activated. The result is good: as an example, it is one and a half times more than the Meizu M3 Note and almost the same as the LG V10.
Android Leapdroid Emulator Settings
Leapdroid settings are not packed with features: here you can set the screen resolution and orientation, select graphics alternatives -DirectX (if higher FPS is needed) u OpenGL (if compatibility is a priority), enable camera support and set a folder location with your computer.
By default, the emulator has 1 GB of RAM and you cannot adjust it with the program's own settings. Despite this, if it goes to the Leapdroid folder (C: N- Program FilesN- LeapdroidN- VM) and run VirtualBox.exe, you can determine the desired RAM size in the system parameters of the virtual machines used by the emulator.
The last thing to pay attention to is the configuration of the keys and buttons of the mouse to use in games (key mapping). In some games, these settings are loaded automatically. For others, you can manually set the desired areas of the screen, assign individual keys to press and use the mouse to “point” in the shooters.
Conclution: if you are not sure which Android emulator on Windows is better, it is important to emphasize try Leapdroid, it is very possible that this option works for you.
Empower: The developers have removed Lepadroid from the official web portal and have said that they will no longer support it. It is feasible to find it on third party sites, but be careful and verify that the download does not contain viruses. You can download Leapdroid for free from the official web portal http://leapdroid.com/.
