ARC Welder

In a short amount of time, Google's Android platform has proven itself as one of the most popular operating systems around. The Apple iOS has long dominated the phone market, and Microsoft's attempt at breaching the marketplace has proven unsuccessful. While Android has proven itself as the stiffest and perhaps only reasonable competition with Apple in the mobile space, it hasn't seen as much traction with desktops. While iOS coordinates nicely with the infrastructure of Macs, making cross-platform app integration, debugging, and testing simple, Android isn't scaled up to work effectively as a desktop operating system. While the Chrome OS is available for non-mobile devices, the operating system is esoteric and doesn't have the install base other OS' do, primarily serving as a stripped down alternative for netbook owners. ARC Welder looks to change that by emulating the Android infrastructure on a dedicated non-mobile device. And since ARC Welder runs as an extension within your browser rather than as a standalone app in your operating system, that means you can get the same effective results whether your computer runs on Windows, MacOS, or a Linux distribution. Any device that can run Chrome efficiently should be able to run ARC Welder. Developers are going to get the most use out of ARC Welder. The simple fact of the matter is that a tablet or phone is not a useful tool for testing and debugging even simple apps. Letting users emulate their software on any Chrome device is a game changer, letting them make full use of their keyboard, mouse, and larger screen to run the tests they need to. The process is incredibly simple. Once you've downloaded ARC Welder through the Chrome extension store, you can find it just by clicking on the apps tab in your browser. The interface itself is bare bones, but that's fitting for the very simple purpose of this software. You can load your APK directly into ARC Welder and run it exactly as you would on your phone. When you first load up your APK, you'll have to choose the orientation and form factor. You can change these at will, simplifying the process of testing your software out to the specs of a variety of different tablets and phone. You'll also have to configure your keyboard and mouse to decide how you want them to function in relation to the touch screen interface your users will be interacting with. It's also a useful tool for casual users who want access to all the games and apps available exclusively on Android devices. APKs for most modern apps can be found online, and you can set a chosen directory for ARC Welder to search for apps so you can have easy access to multiple apps at any given time.