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OnLive Desktop Plus comes to Android tablets

If you ever wished for Windows 7 on your Android tablet, OnLive offers an instant solution with its Desktop Plus app.

Donald Bell Senior Editor / How To
Donald Bell has spent more than five years as a CNET senior editor, reviewing everything from MP3 players to the first three generations of the Apple iPad. He currently devotes his time to producing How To content for CNET, as well as weekly episodes of CNET's Top 5 video series.
Donald Bell
 
OnLive's Desktop Plus app for Android tablets.
OnLive's Desktop Plus app puts Windows 7 on your Android tablet for a monthly fee. OnLive

OnLive's Desktop Plus service turns your tablet into a virtual Windows 7 PC. The app-based service rolled out to iPad customers last week, and today made the jump to Android tablets.

The Desktop Plus app is a free download, though the service costs $4.99 per month. For the price, you get a full Windows 7 desktop hosted remotely on OnLive's servers and connected to the Web over a Gigabit Ethernet connection. On top of that, OnLive provides 2GB of cloud storage, which can be used to back up any documents created on the virtualized Windows 7 computer.

Preinstalled applications include Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe Reader. Adobe Flash is also installed, allowing for a full desktop PC browsing experience, complete with streaming Flash videos, games, and for better or worse--ads.

Watch this: OnLive Desktop Plus for iPad

The implementation and capabilities of OnLive Desktop Plus for Android tablets is seemingly identical to the iPad's, with one exception. Google's support for Bluetooth mice in Android means that Desktop Plus users can take advantage of both a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to create a better approximation of a Windows 7 PC experience. Mouse support is limited to only one button, so quash those right-clicking instincts now.