What Would You Want On A Dual-Booting Phone?

15 responses to “What Would You Want On A Dual-Booting Phone?”

1. 

   Peter

   July 25, 2011

   No. No no no no no.

   Despite all the other fancy doodads, my phone is at its core a communication device. Dual-booting in any way shape or form just seems to detract from that. Not interested.

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2. 

   Ritik

   July 25, 2011

   I like the idea to some extent, keep in mind this sorta thing has been around for ages, there’s ppl with triple booted htc hd2s, personally just have a dual boot hd2 but I love it, android is great on it but there are some windows 6.5 apps which I need as a med student making it quite useful

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3. 

   Grayda

   July 25, 2011

   Windows Phone and Android for sure. Windows Phone mostly because (I assume) it has great support for Windows specific authentication models which would make it good for a workplace environment.

   But Windows 7 on a phone, while it is a pretty horrible idea, could have some perks. For example, if there are some Windows-based programs you want that are more comfortable to use or don’t have a mobile equivalent (say for example, a WEP cracking tool or something) then it could be useful.

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   1. 

      daniel

      July 25, 2011

      i would much prefer a ‘fuller than android’ linux distro than windows, would much buch easier to run on phone hardware and still has similar programs to windows….although linux probably wouldnt be good for a work environment with windows computers

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4. 

   John

   July 25, 2011

   Dual-booting on a laptop or desktop system is not a great experience. The time it takes to switch from one OS to the other obliterates any advantage you might have from having two OSes. On a phone it would be excruciating.

   So, not an “intriguing idea” at all. More like a stupid idea.

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5. 

   Ferret

   July 25, 2011

   I think you’re missing the awesome potential of a phone that can dual-boot into Win7. You wouldn’t run Windows when you’re carrying it around like a phone, ie it’s not a tablet-style alternative… but if you could carry a pre-configured PC setup with you wherever you want (not just a ‘portable install’ on a USB stick) and the price was right I’ll be all over it (albeit probably running WinXP not Win7). It’s certainly not for everyone but to call it a “nightmare idea” is very short sighted…

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6. 

   Mr Biggles

   July 25, 2011

   A dual booting Walkman/Commodore64 phone would be awesome…!

   I could listen to my favourite mix tape on the train, and then bang! in a moments notice I could be playing Space Invaders at Nana’s with some of her prize winning chocolate brownies and a glass of milk

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7. 

   Ferret

   July 25, 2011

   I just noticed the lack of HDMI and USB port. That is the only thing which kills its usefulness for me, unless it happens to come with some kind of ‘breakout box’ which adds these ports and doesn’t cost nearly as much as the phone itself.

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8. 

   Bob

   July 25, 2011

   Maybe building on Ferret’s points about HDMI and USB ports, these are features that are more common on tablets. I know this is a little bit off topic, but really the line between tablet and phone can get a little blurry, and most tablets are running over-sized phone operating systems (especially the iPad).
   Now I have the ASUS transformer (and I love it) but in many ways I think that it is closer to a laptop than it is to a phone. I would therefore love the ability to dual-boot an operating system like Ubuntu or the upcoming Windows 8. Both of those are full desktop operating systems but with good touch-screen support, and with the ability to plug in a monitor and a keyboard and mouse, it could turn a tablet into a real productivity device.

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9. 

   Stove

   July 25, 2011

   It’s not so much the OS (though I’d love webOS as a secondary system), but a supported multi-boot method. If you can get a decent bootloader on your phone that won’t be overwritten whenever you want updated firmware, it’ll really open up the options for us.

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10. 

    Josh

    July 25, 2011

    On my phone, I want to make calls.

    Seriously, 2 operating systems on a phone? Horrible idea, especially when one’s a desktop OS. I can see the usefulness in, say, a combination of Win 7 Mobile, Android and iOS for a developer (myself included,) but ultimately, I just want my everyday phone to work, and work for the things it does best.

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11. 

    b8two

    July 25, 2011

    First of all Hand-coded?

    If the hard coded OS was a hypervisory type with basic call functions (or android) then it would more be like launching an os as an app.

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12. 

    Julian

    July 26, 2011

    Maybe not dual boot (as yes that is also a pain on a computer)

    What about virtualising the OS? Everything else seems to being going this way, what about phones? Just throwing the idea out there…

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    1. 

       DJ

       July 26, 2011

       Good point (along with b8two’s point). Not sure what’s happening in that space currently but VMware did demo such a thing at VMworld Europe back in 2009: http://www.slashgear.com/nokia-n800-runs-android-in-vmware-video-demo-2635750/

       While it wouldn’t be for everybody, if the switch between operating systems was smooth enough it may be useful to people who want the best of both worlds (or most worlds). For a lot of people, mobile devices are becoming more smart than phone.

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13. 

    duncan

    July 27, 2011

    if you could run your phone using main phone apps.
    Then, boot into linux and plug it into a usb port on a big flatscreen HD TV for full internet access….

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