i don't like mobile phones and i did always prefer my laptop over mobiles.
Me too, I especially hate typing without a keyboard (that's why
my mobile posts are so short). But I've gotten used to it, especially
Type faster by sliding your finger from letter to letter helps a lot. By now we have a drawer with various old phones, and I still use some old phones for certain apps (Coinomi for instance) just so I don't have to expose my normal phone to those apps.
And as i am a crypto enthusiast, i found myself obligated to use several mobile apps just to test some services for once. Recently, a friend of mine suggested me to install an android simulator by which i can install all the android apps in my laptop without the need to buy a smartphone.
I'm going to tell you what I would do. I've used emulators in the past, but not for Android. This experience has made me weary of emulators in general, and I now only use them as a last resort.
Instead, I would get a cheap Android phone. Anything with at least 2 GB RAM should work quite okay (but may be slow). I just checked: I can choose phones from Alcatel or Motorola under €100. Xiaomi is possible too, but I don't like them. You can probably go cheaper if you accept less RAM.
just go for an Cheap Android device than using PC for installing Android apps.
you're better off buying a cheap android phone.
Why not buy a cheap phone, root it, remove all apps and install certain apps, blocking physical internet access?
You can use some old junk smartphone without sim card or internet connection
Listen to those guys
Except for the rooting, that may make it less safe.
I am using Windows10 with 4GB memory.
If it's not 32 bit, I'd see if your laptop allows an upgrade. My laptop is quite old, but runs Linux and has enough memory to still quite okay. I can't imagine running Virtualbox with only 4GB RAM. More memory (and switching HDD to SSD) is likely to make your computing experience so much better.
- Believe me, not everybody is fun with mobile smartphones. Me myself i don't have an active sim card , the two sim cards i own are for sms code authentification for few web apps i used to run frequently.
Can you share what kind of apps you want to use on the (emulated) phone?
I really wish i can try Android-86 or Anbox , but unfortunetly i am not familiar with Lunix.
Calling it Lunix instead of Linux makes saying you're not familiar an understatement
If it goes well with Android OS through dual boot, i won't bother myself checking more options. Otherwise, i will buy an old junk mobile just to avoid the headache that come from installing an emulator.
Honestly, i wish i learnd Lunix basics as it would save me a lot of time when looking for reliable apps.
What's stopping you from giving it a try? Choose a (Live) distro, burn it to DVD, and boot from it. You'll be able to run it without installing anything.
Long term use will damage your device itself.
Software shouldn't be able to damage your hardware.