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Overall Rating
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Performance
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Features
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Price
Pros : Works like an Android device
User-friendly UI
Simple to setup
Cons : Running on Android Nougat
Not compatible with some of the latest apps/games
Bottomline : The new version of BlueStacks lets you play numerous games. Running on old Android Nougat, this supports are limited as most of the latest apps and games won't run on Nougat. It doesn’t harm your PC performance and lets you enjoy mobile games on bigger screens.
Do you want to play your favourite android games on your PC? Recently BlueStacks released its latest version 5 (GA) emulator. The latest version has got new features and upgrades. So let's have a look…
Installation and UI
Download the latest version from its BlueStacks’ official website and run the ‘exe’ file and follow the simple steps, and it's done. If you have used the previous version of BlueStacks, upgrade your existing emulator with the new one. It takes hardly a few minutes.
/pcq/media/post_attachments/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/BlueStacks-5-GA-Review.jpg "BlueStacks GA Review")
If you are new to it, then run the emulator once the installation is done and log in with your Google account to access the Play Store. It's like a smartphone within your PC environment.
The BlueStacks’s app drawer, which is essentially the home screen, has multiple options for you. The Play Store icon and a folder named “System Apps” that includes Chrome, Camera, Setting and a ‘Media Manager’ folder are available on the home screen.
On top, you can see the ‘Home’ and ‘Recent Apps’ buttons. On the left bar, you can see numerous options including Volume control, game controls, Install APK, etc. It has a clean UI that can be easily navigated. No messy layout no bloatware, however, the home experience can be changed using the ‘Device Settings’ where you can choose the device profile and network provider.
Keyboard and Touch-Screen Input
With a touchscreen PC, you would really enjoy BlueStacks. It will feel like running a large-screen Android tablet. It supports multitouch and sensor integration which will enhance your gaming experience.
/pcq/media/post_attachments/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/BlueStacks-5-GA-Review-1.jpg "BlueStacks GA Review")
On the other side, using the emulator without a touch screen could trouble you with some of the games. BlueStacks is designed for keeping non-touchscreen PCs so you get on-screen controls. Also, using the “Keyboard” icon you can customise controls with your keyboard. However, it could bother with some of the games like Extreme Car Driving Simulator.
The older Android version
Any app that supports Android Nougat will run on this emulator smoothly but apps or games that required higher or latest version Android won't run on your device.
Performance
BlueStacks does its intended job, you can enjoy different games on your PC even on an ageing laptop. I tried playing different games such as Fifa, Asphalt, Clash of Clans, etc. It managed all of them smoothly without a hitch.
The graphics look smooth and it did not eat up PC performance. Apps and games loading time was fine, around 3 to 7 seconds. We ran multiple games simultaneously, but there was no visible performance lag while toggling between the apps.
We used some of the Android benchmarking tools including Geekbench and 3DMark to test its performance. BlueStacks emulated as OnePlus 5, a three-year-old device so obviously results were not too great, however, real-life performance is good.