Future Watch: Multiple Operating Systems for your Cellphone
At this very moment I’m running Windows XP on my Macintosh using Parallels. About a year ago, this would have been a breakthrough in hardware and software integration but nowadays it is an accepted fact that “the war against (computing) error” will be won not by the more superior operating system but by the hardware that can be compatible with the most number of applications. Running Microsoft Windows on Windowed mode for instance reduces the OS to a mere application to launch a “plugin” like Photoshop CS. Get it?
Now think about it for a while - can the same be said for mobile phones? With Samsung and other players producing processors for Windows Mobile smartphones, will there come a time when a mobile OS like Windows Mobile 6 becomes powerful enough to support running an emulation of Nokia’s S60 for instance? Of course companies would have to debate on the legal implications of this but at the end of the day, the consumer may actually be curious enough to want to emulate a virtual operating system of choice. How useful is this?
Because the software can be emulated, this would mean that the hardware keys can be reconfigured just like the way we reconfigure our keyboard buttons to play emulated games from the Super Nintendo on our PCs. So let’s say I have a Windows Mobile device but miss the functionality of Sony Ericsson’s intuitive UI. All I need to do is run a full screen version of the Sony Ericsson user interface using an emulator and remap the necessary keys to the UI - I get a much more compact interface for my phone which I can launch anytime without having to rely on Windows Mobile’s rather “complicated UI” for telephony.
A turning point like this will definitely make hardware manufacturers rethink their philosophy with creating phones. It may even, in a rather funny way, just prove that at the end of the day the choice for phones will not be all about features - but on the form factor!
Oh, the possibilities! This concept is of course just that - a dream which I had while trying to see the possibilities that lie ahead in the mobile computing world. What this really takes is an improvement in hardware to support such multitasking functions. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how far — or near — we are to something like this.
Tags: Apps, Mobile-Monitor, SmartphoneRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Apps, Mobile Monitor, Smartphone
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