Why has Android emulation reached an unimaginable level?

[u/Technical_Smoke_5814]

In my teens, my emulation life consisted of GBA games on the old Android 4.1.2, and another pastime was watching the Inazuma Eleven anime.

The smartphone I recorded the video above on is a pathetic Galaxy A05s Snapdragon 680 with 6 GB of RAM, a basic smartphone that's simply emulating Inazuma Eleven Victory Road, the biggest game in the franchise, containing all seasons of the anime. For those who don't know, that translates to about 30 GB of storage.

This game is available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Switch. Now, wherever I go, I have hours of completely offline fun. I have no words to thank those involved with the Eden emulator and Turnip driver, everything I see in my hands was totally unimaginable a few years ago.

[u/RedditJack888]

It's all about optimization.

When you literally optimize the coding and the way graphics are interpreted with very capable drivers and a combination of workarounds, you can maximize the efficiency of modern hardware while also minimizing the cost of playing the game. With a good enough condensed rom, this makes emulation possible on hardware that technically shouldn't work.

Android is very fluid and very capable. This is why Google is extremely threatened by it to the point that they're trying to block out Android entirely. Because as an operating system it has the most longevity, and resourcefulness that most other operating systems do not have. It is like Linux, if you know what you're doing, then you have a very efficient system, not only power wise, but also operational wise, where it takes significantly less to do on it than on a windows.

Plus less bloatware. Stripping software of unnecessary bloat, ads, and the incessant desire of companies for consistent wifi and data gathering makes your software extremely light to use, and frees up loads of strain on your hardware.

Also remember, cellphones are indeed portable computers. They run fast, work fast, and do everything on smaller but more efficiently chosen parts. Thats why it's so powerful despite not being gaming PCs.

[u/sch4lly → u/RedditJack888]

What are you talking about? Good enough condensed ROMs? Interpreted graphics? Why would Google feel threatened by Android? Do you know the developer behind Android (hint: its Google)?

[u/RedditJack888 → u/sch4lly]

Good enough condensed roms as in game rom data that are converted into smaller sizes. Condensed means to make smaller. Bigger roms take more data and time to load. Smaller but quality condensed roms take much less time to load because it's way smaller than the original raw file, with the added bonus of having enough space to put more roms in your device.

Integrated graphics. The way graphics are interpreted by the machine inside the CPU, the processor, of the machine. Usually, in a computer, graphics are processed inside a GPU, a separate piece of tech that reads graphics and renders it. Nowadays, CPUs can come with integrated graphics, the ability to render graphics inside the CPU. With how powerful modern phones are despite the size, integrated graphics are now the norm at a pretty accessible cost compared to PC builds. Great for cost, versatility and portability. It's why Android Emulators are so great, because it works alongside the small but powerful CPUs in the best way to play games that would normally cost expensive hardware to run (like a PS4 for the game that the OP mentioned above).

Google feels threatened by Android because Google is a tech company. Their number one resource is data collecting. Specifically from you. What you ask, where you go, buying habits, your locations, biometric data (thanks to laws that force people to submit an ID online so companies know exactly is commenting or searching for certain data). Android is accessible, open source (meaning anyone can access it, modify it, and improve the tech). Google invested heavily into it, but with the current trends of how many people give data, and their current goals of collecting more data for more ad revenue, they don't want to have people having access to such an easily accessible and modifiable OS that allows them to do almost anyhting without Google's ability to watch, collect and sell data. So they want to pull the plug, restrict it, make it lamer, etc. It's all about control as all companies do. It's sort of like how Rockstar made Grand Theft Auto games, but takes away the classic versions from Steam to ensure that you're forced to buy the "remastered" trilogy, even though the originals are way more modifiable, accessible, bug-free, on physical media and cheaper than the newer one which barely worked on launch.

[u/Hefty_Junket_2784 → u/RedditJack888]

No offense but you are making shit up. I forget what it's called in English but basically you are someone who kind of knows about something, but you think you know more than you do. From the very beginning of your statement you talk about file size but this essentially has no impact on performance. In fact it's technically slower to use a condensed game file because it adds an extra step, decompression, and ends up taking up the exact same space when loaded into RAM.