The service went live for Windows users earlier in 2022 after the Android maker made a surprise announcement late last year. However, it was only available for folks in South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

And in case you are wondering, no, Google has not partnered with Microsoft for this effort that is specifically focused on games.

Redmond has its own solution in the form of Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) that it continues to refine as a dedicated feature for its Windows 11 operating system.

As announced, Google is now ready to bring in more testers, which is why it has expanded this beta program in eight more countries. United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore are now in.

“In the last few months, our Google Play Games catalog growth has been accelerating with many popular mobile titles including 1945 Air Force, Blade Idle, Cookie Run: Kingdom, and Evony: The King’s Return. All of these titles and dozens more can be played on Windows PCs via a standalone application built by Google.”

Right now, there are 85 titles that users on the two Microsoft platforms can try out on their PCs.

That being Windows 11 and Windows 10.

This means that Google’s free application will enable Windows 10 users to run Android games on their computers natively, unlike Microsoft’s implementation, which is exclusively supported on Windows 11 devices.

This also means that since this is a home-grown project by the search engine giant, it is powered by the Google Play platform. This lets you earn Google Play points and achievements and sync your game data across multiple devices seamlessly.

For Windows users who are fans of Android games, this gives Google an upper hand as WSA does not support Google Play at this point in time.

Speaking of time, we should not be too far away from the formal launch of this solution now that Google has expanded things to more regions, including its home turf.

As a result, WSA is not only significantly faster but also packed with new additions that make running these types of mobile apps natively on the desktop a pleasant one. And it seems that it is about to get even more pleasant.

That’s because, Microsoft has confirmed that it is bringing Android 13 to the platform shortly.

Google officially announced this latest version of the mobile OS on August 15, 2022, and it includes new theming options, icons, and more.

And, in a surprise move, Redmond has quietly published the first roadmap for WSA on its GitHub page, officially confirming that it is working on upgrading the subsystem to this latest version of Android, likely at a quick pace.

The road ahead:

The latest version of WSA was released last month, and it brought with it a number of new features, such as advanced networking, better gaming performance, enhanced support for mouse and keyboard input, and additional improvements to gamepad controls, along with superior integration with OS features.

At launch, the Windows Subsystem for Android was only available on home turf, and only users in the United States were allowed to officially try the integration.

Since then, things have picked up speed, and an expansion late last month enabled folks in several new countries to try things out. This includes 20+ new regions in Europe. That done, a global rollout covering Asian markets is now expected in early 2023.

Hopefully, with Android 13.

You have changes that enhance security and camera functionality, along with general reliability and performance upticks in several needed areas.

The update you are looking for goes by 2209.40000.26.0.

And as Microsoft notes, this October update improves everything from Linux kernel to Chromium WebView and a range of features and components between to make for a much more secure and performant experience than before:

A complete list of what’s new in this update is as follows:

• Improvements to the Camera HAL
• Improvements to clipboard stability
• Improvements to multi-threaded (>8 core) performance
• Improved security for graphic streaming
• Reliability improvements for package launches
• Security updates for ANGLE and GSK
• Annotated telemetry with package installation sources
• Window with legal information has been fixed
• Security updates to the Linux kernel
• Enhancements to platform stability
• Updated to Chromium WebView 105

Whew!

Of course, this being beta-quality software, expect to see some bugs. If you do, Microsoft recommends that you submit your feedback via the Feedback Hub, which is located under Apps > Windows Subsystem for Android.

Redmond also has a dedicated troubleshooting and FAQ webpage up for you to scan if your problem is addressed.

The launch of the Windows 11 2022 Update was the perfect opportunity for expansion, and the company has taken advantage of it.

It has announced that it is bringing Android application support to users in 31 countries, a substantial increase from the initial testing exclusively in the United States, which was recently expanded to Japan.

Users in these countries will be able to enjoy more than 20,000 Android apps and games, with the software titan taking steps to make discovering them even simpler.

Microsoft claims that the preview phase generated much interest from customers and developers, with users excited to see their favorite Android apps natively supported on their Windows devices, even though the OS does not support the Google Play Store and its services.

This is why the company is working around the clock to expand the availability of the Amazon App Store and engage with developers to ensure that all apps run properly on Windows 11 while improving performance along the way.

The words:

“The Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) continues to get better each month thanks to developer feedback. In the latest release, you will enjoy 2-3 times faster graphic performance with hardware acceleration, DRM video support, improved input handling across touch, mouse and keyboard, and several network and security improvements.”

You can scan the current list of countries where the Amazon Appstore Preview is available here.

The list includes a range of countries and regions, including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Monaco, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Hopefully, the next step is worldwide availability.

But with the good came the bad.

And the bad news is that the operating system will not support Android apps at launch.

Native support for Android applications was billed as a major selling point for this new platform. While Insiders were really looking forward to testing the feature as part of the preview run, that never happened.

Likely because the Windows team did not manage to get things ready in time.

This is why, in the blog post, the software titan makes clear that this highly anticipated feature will only be added to the operating system at a later date. Testing of the Android app support in Windows 11 is set to begin in the preview for Windows Insiders in a month or two.

“We look forward to continuing our journey to bring Android apps to Windows 11 and the Microsoft Store through our collaboration with Amazon and Intel; this will start with a preview for Windows Insiders over the coming months.”

It is also possible that Google’s switching to a new delivery format for these applications delayed the arrival of this feature in the operating system.

We do know that Amazon is making the necessary changes in this regard.

Of course, Microsoft will continue collaborating with Amazon and Intel to integrate support for Android apps into Windows 11. Even with a hopeful new direction for the Windows Store, the repository still has a long way to go to catch up with other app stores and mobile platforms.

At least when it comes to the selection of applications and games.

That’s because an enterprising developer has managed to deploy the official Google Play Store on Windows 11, unlocking the full potential of this new feature.

The feature in question is WSA, also known by its full name of Windows Subsystem for Android.

It is something that Microsoft is finally testing ahead of its eventual launch. Insiders in the United States were allowed to try out a limited number of Android apps on their Windows 11 devices last week, in a bid to collect feedback and optimize further.

While the end goal was to make a selection of Android apps and games available on Windows 11 on the Microsoft Store via a partnership with the Amazon Appstore, someone has found a way around this.

Developer ADeltaX revealed on Twitter that they found a way to install both Google Play services and the Google Play Store on the Windows Subsystem for Android. This essentially makes almost any app available on Windows 11.

This is how things look:

The project has been detailed on GitHub, under the name of WSAGAScript.

Sweet!

That said, it is clearly not something for beginners. Unless you know exactly what you are doing, you are advised to stay away from it. But the instructions are available for those who can wade their way through this technical domain.

If you can wait, the readme section will soon be updated with simpler instructions and more details.

Lastly, the developer notes that the script is still a work in progress, so bugs and issues are to be expected as they are ironed out.

This is coming good on the promise that it made in May of this year.

Japan is the first country to begin this expansion.

First of five.

Insiders in this Asian country can now test drive this handy new functionality in the OS, test out native Android apps on their system, play the coolest games, and then provide their feedback to Microsoft.

The official way to install Android apps on Windows 11 is via the Amazon App Store. Users in Japan can access it by first signing up for the Windows Insider program and then updating the Microsoft Store to version 22206.1401.6 or higher.

They also need to be on Windows 11 version 22H2 or newer, which needs to be running on devices that meet the hardware requirements for the Windows Subsystem for Android.

That said, although Microsoft supports Android apps only in Japan and the USA, various tools and methods allow users to sideload APK files directly and avoid installing the Amazon App Store on their system.

In fact, eager enthusiasts have even found a way to install the Google Play Store on Windows 11.

But in the meantime, Microsoft continues to build, add new features to, and update WSA.

These include improved gaming, multimedia, scrolling, and networking support with a range of quality-of-life enhancements. These new features are still only available to Insiders to test, but things are definitely building towards a big launch.

For now, folks in Japan have something new to try out.

It is mostly focused on adding a number of small enhancements, ranging from improved input compatibility in games to networking and windowing improvements and other reliability updates for the subsystem.

You can gather the full details in the release note here.

The most notable new changes are reserved for games, with lots of new settings to add compatibility for playing titles with joysticks and gamepads. Redmond has also included compatibility for aiming and sliding in games with arrow keys.

There are a whole range of smaller fixes, including the following:

• Scrolling improvements
• Networking improvements
• Android minimum window size defaulted to 220dp
• Improved dialog when unsupported VPN is detected
• New toggle to view/save diagnostic data in the Windows Subsystem for Android Settings app
• Security updates
• General reliability fixes, including improvements to diagnostic sizes
• Graphic improvements

As typically happens with releases like these, Microsoft acknowledges that one known issue has crept in, explaining that in some cases, users could end up encountering VPN problems with Advanced Networking.

To get around this, the company suggests disabling Advanced Networking in the Settings app of Windows Subsystem for Android if you are using a VPN and find Android apps lacking network connectivity.

Unfortunately, all these goodies are still only available exclusively for users in the United States, as the feature itself is not yet available to folks in other countries.

According to details, this mystery device just leaked out and made its way to eBay last month.

According to the information provided, this handset was supposed to offer a plastic exterior with a simpler dual camera setup and a slightly more rounded exterior with a matte finish. Flat displays similar to the ones on the original Surface Duo were also part of the package.

The device was dubbed as the Surface Duo 2 dev unit on the eBay listing, which has since been removed after the gizmo was sold to an unknown buyer.

Unfortunately, the deleted listing did not offer details other than the handset images.

Here are the images:

People close to the matter have confirmed that the device was real and legitimate. The product itself was codenamed Cronos. It was supposed to ship later this year as a lower-cost lite version of the Surface Duo 2.

Under its fully plastic exterior, the device housed an upper midrange Qualcomm SoC, a dual camera array on the back, and non-curved displays sans the glance bar.

In comparison, the flagship Surface Duo 2 features a Snapdragon 888 SoC, a triple camera array on the back, 90Hz curved displays with a glance bar, and an exterior made of plastic and glass.

As you would imagine, these changes were designed to lower the price of this form factor. It is not known how much Microsoft was planning to sell Cronos for, but it would definitely have been much cheaper than the $1,000+ it asks for the Surface Duo 2.

Redmond canceled Cronos in late 2021 after it decided to focus on the next Surface Duo flagship instead, which is currently slated for a launch sometime in late 2023.

And while its existence suggests that Microsoft is serious about the Surface Duo and wants to bring this new form factor into the hands of more people by releasing different models at varying price brackets, it is clear that the company is not ready to do so just yet.

But an expansion of the lineup seems to be on the cards.

We will, in all probability, hear more about this in the near future.

Insiders in all channels have access to it, but only if they reside in the country.

The prime highlight of this update is official support for AV1.

This is one of the most important codecs out there, offering notable savings in bitrate and bandwidth for video. Depending on content, file sizes can be reduced by 30% to 50% compared to current standards like HEVC.

This open and royalty-free standard is already in use across the industry, with several companies offering support for it, including popular browser makers and sites YouTube and Netflix.

And now, Microsoft has also jumped in, baking support for this new multimedia technology in WSA.

Read up on the blog post announcing this release for the full details.

The update in question is version 2205.4000.14.0. In addition to AV1 support, it refreshes the Settings app with new options and offers advanced networking that enables app access to local devices for ARM computers.

Also enabled is IPv6 and VPN connectivity to enhance the networking functionalities in the subsystem.

This latest release also comes with a known issue that you might want to take a look at before you deploy it on your test system for a run.