It's getting harder and harder to pick a smartphone, with options like
iPhone OS,
WebOS,
Android, and
Windows Mobile making the choosing difficult. Life would be easier if you could pick two, and that's what virtualization giant
VMware is working on, the ability to run dual OSes in one smartphone. The company already has Android/WinMo and other prototypes running, but phones featuring the tech now aren't expected to hit market until 2012 -- a big delay from the
earlier indications of a release this year. Those prototypes rely on ugly boot menus, whereas the vision for this tech would see users switching between environments on the fly, taking and making calls in either whilst juggling chainsaws and dazzling their friends. The company pledges it'll be a seamless experience, but we're doubtful given how even stepping out of HTC's SenseUI into the OS below can occasionally result in mild nausea. The bigger question is who would want this, and it's easy to think the answer is "basically nobody," but picture the poor corporate souls who must carry one phone for work and another for play. This tech could finally let them ditch that holster, and wouldn't the world be a better place then?
posted December 7th 2009 6:43AM
*YAWN*
Android Sucks!!! WinMo Rulezzz!!!!!
This is the truth.
@mmm
Stfu stupid noob.
@mmm
I love how Engadget nukes crappy posts like yours. :)
@mmm
Microsoft's Windows Mobile phone OS is already dead. Its fallen market share shows the public has abandoned it.
@iPhoneMessenger One fanboy is getting flamed. So you jump in with another fanboy comment? Get a hint.
Great idea. But is current hardware able to handle to smartphone oses competently? I'd rather have one fast and smooth os to two slow ones.
What are the roadblocks to users deciding what OS they want on their smartphone, the way a PC can be loaded with Win7, XP, Ubuntu etc. today? Some handset makers are customizing the OS for different devices, but what about users who'd rather have generic Android 2.0 than customized Android 1.5 (for example)? It doesn't have to be dual boot, just possible to change from one to another with load from PC or network.
Love to see a "hacking-tosh" iPhone OS running on a Android device...... That would really piss of Jobs
You know, at this point I'm down with whatever as long as my damn calls come in. I love my Cliq but rarely, a call will come in while I'm playing a game or something and it will ring, but not prompt me to answer.
Before everything it's a phone :)
@shinrasboy Yeah i hope they find a way to share the phone functionality between the running osses.
@LordSauron I mean REALLY though. There are bigger fish to fry. Android (my personal favorite) needs to speed up a bit. It's a promsing OS but tends to lag once and a while.
As far as OS on all phones go, battery consumption, speed, and task managing must be improved and as always calls and text messages must come FIRST no matter what. These should be fixed before considering dual booting I think.
I got the HD2 but i am disapointet with windows mobile's losing of the software market, i would love to be able to run android to, i think the phone can handle the 2 osses.
Considering the next decade (2010-2019) will be the "mobile" decade (given we survive 2012) ... and a new Mobile OS version come every 6 month or less, i would like to have "fix" environment which you can install any mobile OS above it, this will make it easy to adapt new OS's (like i do on the PC world) instead of switching mobile hardware to change the OS. i dual boot on my PC , why not in my mobile.
Glad to see them getting into the mobile space before it's too late :P
i've got enough bugs running just 1 os thank you
MMm... 1 device, with Android, Maemo, and Ubuntu-MID. That would be dreamy. Especially if it was a 4.3" screen version of an HTC Touch Pro 2, with a dpad and Android buttons on the face.
Yup. That'd probably be my favorite phone ever.
'When all you've got is a hammer, everything is a nail'
VMWare trying to expand their horizons are going down the wrong route with virtualised mobile operating systems.
Yeah, maybe it would be nice to run Android on a WinMo phone, but other than that single case, what other value does this have? Not to mention Android can probably run on a WinMo phone natively *anyway* with a bit of XDA Developers work.
i don't care about seamless transition.
Gimme plain old dual-boot WinMo/Android right now and I'll pee hot chocolate milk!
As if phones aren't slow enough.
@Kurian
Dual-boot does not mean one OS running of top of another.
It won't slow down anything.
@fanboykiller
VMWare means OS running on top of another. So does 'virtualized'.
I love the idea and wholeheartedly support the endeavor. There are many phones I like but dislike the OS and vice versa. If I could boot into an OS of choice, then I'd be fine with many available phones. This is exactly what needs to happen... the hardware is separated from the software.
@Please forgive me
I think phones should be like PCs, all manufacturers should agree on some standard architecture on which it's possible to install any OS you want.
@(Unverified)
Completely agreed. You buy a form factor and style but the basic innards can work with any OS currently available. I'd install OS X, Maemo, Symbian and WinMo.
This is the future of smart phones. The user should have the ability to choose the OS that he/she wants. With phone like the HTC HD 2 packed with hardware this ability should be nearing. This will be a very exciting and welcome change.
does that phone exist? 'cause I want one
@(Unverified)
I wondering if it was just a doctored photo or a 'leaked' Dream 2 shot, lol.
Is that a serious question? It's a G1.
@Chefgon - Is that a serious answer? There are clearly differences. Here's a white g1 for comparison http://www.boygeniusreport.com/wp-content/uploads/white-g1-1.jpg
@(Unverified) Nope, that is just a G1. After it released here they released it in Canada as the htc Dream. Just a few minor cosmetic changes, but it is the same phone.
Having multiples OSes on the same cell phone is a geeks delight and a consumers yawn. Most people, after buying an iPhone app, do not use it more than once. Most apps are novelties. Having a multiple boot option will be a rarely used novelty for non-geeks.
@Dr Yusuf AlKindi
Thank you for saying it! The reality is that most consumers don't need or care for such things. They want quick and easy. I really don't see the mass need for this at all.
@Dr Yusuf AlKindi
But being able to choose your OS on phone hardware you like when you buy it... That will be important for everyone. It would be like wanting a Touch Pro2 but wanting Android rather than WinMo. Or liking the MotoDroid but preferring WinMo. This would give you a choice.
I also see this being important for people who have one phone for work and personal use. Android is a consumer oriented OS, but WinMo is very customizable for business and Exchange servers. Both on one device would be awesome.
Terrible idea. I don't know of anyone that dual boots in OS X, although granted, Apple only has 10% marketshare, so it's a small sample. This will probably appeal to about 1% of the population, but 100% of Engadget readers
No exactly new news. They release info on this a long time ago. See the demo below.
http://vimeo.com/3363448
Better demo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNo6pn-dnSQ
I think this is ridiculous. I also don't see how this would allow corporate types to consolidate their phones, unless these multi-OS phones came with multiple line ability via SIM cards or custom CDMA configurations. And if those corporate types are ok having one phone number, then why should they need two OS's to support that number?
My tilt was capable of running both windows mobile and android, I enjoyed that feature a lot. I think VMware is on the right path.
I see tech freedom as a good thing especially in a world where the cell phone companies dictate which rom or radio you use.
I don't think this is such a hot idea, especially not for engadgets example case. Companies are going to need to control work mobile phones more and more as they become a standard business tool. It happened with laptops it will happen with phones. What if you require encryption on the device. Your winmo side of the phone obeys your android side doesn't. Do phones really need the extra layer and work of virt.?
@(Unverified) I think you're lacking a bit of the fundamental understanding of virtual machines. I don't mean that disparagingly...
The work OS would have whatever done to it that is needed; setup on a domain, locked wi-fi, whatever, you name it. That OS is completely and totally oblivious to the 2nd OS that is happily downloading viruses via infectmenow.org.
Then, say in the event of an issue or termination, the corporate OS needs to be wiped remotely, as is an option with Exchange/ActiveSync and Crackberry. That virtual OS gets wiped while the personal OS continues on its merry way, tweeting and opening viruses.
Take this real situation: A company gets a nice volume deal through Verizon on Blackberry phones. The company somehow manages to show that moving all employee's mobile corporate e-mail is more cost effective to 'force' them all onto RIM. (Yeah I'm still confused on that, but this client did it.) Aside from that, the corp wanted to have a single, streamlined way to be able to control any internal information, a la wiping a phone in the event of a disgruntled termination, which at least that is understandable. Their IT and other tech savvy people who had everything from WinMo to iPhones, all getting corporate e-mail either via ActiveSync or POP3/IMAP had to start carrying a company-owned Blackberry. Needless to say, many of them would love this option, and their company's bottom line would too.
Phones are already a lot like PCs. Microsoft builds an OS that will work across many hardware platforms, and Apple builds an OS for only their own hardware.
@(Unverified)
Though in the mobile world Apple, RIM, Palm and Nokia are on the locked-in OS side, and Microsoft and Google are on the open-OS side. It wouldn't surprise me if Android becomes the standard OS for most mobile manufacturers, with only a small number who develop and maintain their own OS for the hardware.
I guess Android would become the Windows of the mobile world, Windows would become the Linux of the mobile world, and Apple, RIM, Palm and Nokia would become...the Apple of the mobile world?
Love the OS2 screen grab here! I just saw a Chase ATM Being serviced and that machine was running OS2 Warp. It hurt my head a little bit!
This is great...I think this is where the industry needs to go...we need to turn smartphones into mini laptops and allow us to customize them how we want. The problem though is drivers. Right now, most phones have closed proprietary APIs for touch screen, GPS, compass (samsung douchebags), camera, phone, etc.etc...
Even if you can somehow manage to trick the bootloader into loading another OS, alot of stuff doesn't work.
We need to make it clear to companies we want OPEN handsets so we can modify them how we want to. As for encryption, there are still ways to handle it on a fully open system.
@(Unverified) Unfortunately, all the iPhone, Pre and various Android owners disagreed with their wallets. They want phones that are locked down and cannot be customized any way (within reason) they see fit.
@(Unverified)
Most of the time that's not the company's fault. It is the fault of the manufacturers of the internal components who make their drivers closed source. At least that is the case on Maemo and I assume it is the case on Android too.
The iPhone on the other hand...
Posted from OS/2 Warp 4.52
How sick would it be on a phone? Lol.
@RITarded09
I know right?
I saw the picture and got all excited then read the title :(
@ArhcAngel
I'm scared that when I do a P43/C2D/8gb DDR3/GT 240 build I'm not going to be able to boot eCS. They really need to work on bringing ACPI up to speed. PAE (Physical Address Extension) support for the 32bit kernel would help, we'd atleast be able to address up to 128gb of RAM.
OS/2 Warp on mobile could save IBM!