ExaGear - Win Emulator Tip

As the name suggests, it is a Windows emulator that allows you to run your Windows OS on your mobile device.

With this, you can access your PC applications on a smaller screen.

Exagear Windows Emulator works similarly to Wine, a popular cross-platform Windows compatibility layer. However, it does add the x86 emulator to the modified Wine version. Plus, it combines all the Start Menu items into one easy-to-access screen. Although, this app is very simple and misses a lot of functionality. Not to mention, the applications it supports are old games.

How do you use Exagear Windows Emulator?

As mentioned, Exagear Windows Emulator is very simple. Like some other front ends for Wine, it divides each application into its virtual installations. However, it does combine all of the Start Menu items into one easily accessible screen. The side menu includes shortcuts for Desktop, Start menu, installing new apps and managing virtual containers. Like Wine, you can also change various settings from the container manager.

This application provides two ways to install Windows applications. First, you can choose from a predefined list. Although, the list of supported apps is short, and most of the choices are older games, such as Civilization III, StarCraft, and Fallout 2. The second option is to select an EXE file from your Downloads folder. Note, however, that most programs require some minor tweaking to work.

Users should also know that if your app or game is not in the official list, there is a high probability that it will not work. You also cannot change the Windows version or change DLLs because the main Wine control panel is not available. Finally, there is no option to mount the ISO as the D: drive. With this, you cannot install disc-based Windows games.

Should you buy it?

From a technical point of view, Exagear Windows Emulator is an impressive emulator. This app is the only port of Wine that can run Windows x86 software on ARM devices. However, technical achievements aside, there is a lot of missing functionality that could be a deal breaker for most users. First, it only has limited supported apps and games to justify its price. Not to mention, Windows apps are impossible to use on a phone-sized screen.