Remix OS is a Windows-like Android you can run on a PC

Jide Technology has released Remix OS 2.0, a multitasking, mouse-friendly version of Android which comes ready to run on a PC.

The alpha build is available as a 700MB ISO, which the company recommends you run from a "USB 3.0 flash drive that supports FAT32 format, with a minimum capacity of 8GB and a recommended writing speed of 20MB/s".

You can try the release in VirtualBox, too, although be careful to select a 64-bit operating system when first creating your VM (VirtualBox will probably hang after the Guest/ Resident mode screen if you choose a 32-bit option).

However you launch Remix, it won’t take long to notice a problem: this build doesn’t have the Play Store. If you just want an easy way to run Android apps on your PC then you’re still better off with an emulator.

There are icons on the desktop, a taskbar, a Start Menu available if you click bottom-left, a Windows 10-style notifications panel if you click bottom right.

The File Manager will also seem familiar to Windows users, its left-hand panel of common locations (Documents, Pictures, Music, Desktop, more) taking them wherever they need to go.

Launch an app and it appears in a resizable window, with PC-like minimize, maximize and close buttons.

Fire up another and you can multitask, just as you’d expect, and app management is similarly familiar: buttons appear on the taskbar, click or use Alt+Tab to switch between them, or maybe right-click for more options.

This didn’t always run smoothly -- as you’d expect, for an alpha -- and it’s definitely not ready for serious use. But if you’re curious what a desktop version of Android might look like, Remix OS 2.0 is a good start.