[deanhills]

I need to make a booking for accommodation in a Hotel in the UAE.  I have a contact in their reservations department and today learned that if I made the booking from my desktop computer I'll get 5% discount, and from a smart phone 10% discount.  I don't want to use a smart phone to make the booking.

Does any one here know if it is possible to create something on the desktop that will create the appearance of the desktop being a mobile phone?

Can one do it with Virtualbox?  Like how would it work.  Can I load Android in Virtualbox and how will it effect my Windows 7?  Can one load Chrome on Android in the Virtual Box?

I still have to wrap my head around the reason the Hotel would be that weird. Like why would they encourage smart phones and discourage desktop computers?

[Mashiro]

Android x86 - http://www.android-x86.org/

Android x86 is a special Android build that has been greatly modified to work on normal x86 hardware like normal computers with an Intel or AMD 32 Bit or 64 Bit processors and other normal computer hardware. Therefore it can be installed on pretty much any computer these days (well maybe excluded very new hardware that might cause issues due to missing drivers).

Android x86 can also be normally installed in a virtual machine. Instructions for Virtualbox are available at this wiki link.


Beware that if you book through the mobile application you might receive a digital booking confirmation in form of some kind of code, probably QR or something else similar. And then you might have to provide this digital booking confirmation once you arrive at the hotel for final verification. You can compare it to a digital train ticket. When the person who checks the tickets goes around they will scan the special QR code of that ticket in the mobile app from the ticket provider (well, this is so at least here in Germany with companies like Deutsche Bahn and so on).

[Vuluts]

@deanhills using mobile browser or using hotel app?

[deanhills]

Thanks @Vuluts.  The 10% discount works with having a mobile browser (not an app).  I'm almost certain the hotel booking setup has been set up to deal differently with a desktop than a mobile browser -in the favour of the mobile browser.  So I'd like to know if it is possible to set my desktop up with a mobile browser.  Without a lot of trouble - like is it possible to do it in Virtualbox with no effect on my current Windows 7 setup?

---

Android x86 - http://www.android-x86.org/

[...]

Thanks HR.  I'll try this out later today.  As long as I know I can do all of this in my Virtual Box without any risk to my Windows 7 and browsers I feel a little more motivated.  I guess one will only learn how it works by doing it. 

[tiwil]

Try Android emulators? Like Bluestack or Nox.
It will simulate your mobile phone, and it should be, appears as Android phone.

[deanhills]

Try Android emulators? Like Bluestack or Nox.
It will simulate your mobile phone, and it should be, appears as Android phone.

Thanks @tiwil  I tried Bluestack before and found it a bit messy, but "yes" that's probably an option as well and one I know how it works.  All I can remember when last I used it is that I got rid of it almost immediately.  I'll check out Nox as well.

[humanpuff69]

if both option doesnt work you can use the hard way by installing android to your pc . Phoenix os and remix os(discontinued) is one of the example . It offer native performance no emulated at all . The drawback is that you need to restart everytime you switg the os

[Mashiro]

You can install Android x86, Phoenix OS or Remix OS onto a USB drive and boot from it without having to touch the original hard drive of the computer.

Here is a guide for Remix OS: https://www.pcmobitech.com/create-remix-...-pictures/
For Android x86: https://helloworldhelp.wordpress.com/201...ence-mode/
Phoenix OS (never heard or used it personally): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihUVYRJW5fA

[deanhills]

Thanks very much for the tips @HR and @humanpuff69. Late last night I tried the easy way which was to do it with Chrome browser development tools. That was my first attempt and it bombed out. I did OK with being a smart phone until I got to the booking Website. I remember it was already difficult to navigate the hotel booking site under best of circumstances with links not working properly, but even with Chrome browser emulating tools the links didn't want to respond well, and by the time they did, the booking Website reverted to me being from a desktop. I also tried to install Virtualbox last night, but Oracle was kind to warn me that it would disrupt my network setup and this is South Africa. If anything should go wrong with my network setup I'll probably be without Internet for a couple or more days as support is non-existing over here. So thought not to fiddle with installing Virtualbox on my desktop. I may try with my laptop tonight though and see whether that works.

[Mashiro]

@deanhills

You might be totally misunderstanding the message that you have seen when attempting to install Virtualbox.

Virtualbox like VMWare and some other virtualization suits install their own network adapter on Windows to be able to provide LAN (Local network) and WAN (Internet) access to the virtual machines and also do NAT networks, Hostonly and etc.

What happens during installation is that sometimes the process reloads your normal network adapter. So you get disconnected shortly and then connected again. It has absolutely no effect on your Internet connection. I never had it break anything.