“What if your Intel desktop, tablet, Ultrabook, or 2-in-1 could rock both Windows and Android? What if you could take your $199 Windows tablet and dual-boot with it? That’s the question Mobile Media Ventures is asking on Kickstarter. In fact, they are also offering a solution in the form of Console OS.
“Introducing Console OS with Android Inside. We’ve taken Android apart, and put it back together for your PC. Console OS is a fork of Android designed to take everything that has made mobile awesome, and bring it back to your PC. This isn’t an emulator and this isn’t homebrew. This is real, Intel-licensed, native Android that can really toggle with Windows on your PC,” the Kickstarter page states.
There is no doubt that Android is one heck of a popular mobile operating system with a plethora of games available in the Google Play store. Now what if you could run all those games on your PC? The idea behind Console OS is to have Android be your primary PC operating system, with the option of switching to Windows.
Console OS can be installed on your PC’s internal hard drive. If that is too intrusive for you, it can be ran entirely from a USB external hard disk too. “You can turn your PC into an Android, and never have to touch your Windows install.Want to boot Windows alongside Android from your internal drive? No problem – we think that’s what most will do, and we fully support that. Our installer takes less than five minutes to pull that off, automagically,” the Kickstarter page states.
“You can rock through the workday with Microsoft Office, and then play your favorite Android game all night long. Same hardware, different operating systems, living in harmony.”
Console OS enhances Android 4.4 with the ability to run Android apps side-by-side, similar to Windows 8’s Snap mode. A familiar app launcher and swipe motions are much more natural in Console OS. In fact, Android has been re-mastered for the desktop with Console OS. Here are some of the key features of Console OS Pro:
- WindowFlinger – A true window manager for Android – run Android apps in windows (Console OS will run two apps side-by-side without Pro)
- InstaSwitch – Building a new hypervisor to instantly toggle between native Android and native Windows
- Console Remote Access – Remotely access your Console OS device from any old Android
- Additional codecs and media playback support
- Native DVR support (planned ATSC, DVB, QAM/CableCARD, and DTCP-IP)
- Built-in media serving (UPnP and DLNA)
- Console Files – A new file manager built into the desktop
- Console Maps Pro – Premium Maps with Enhanced Turn-by-Turn
The idea of a dual-booting Android and Windows device has surfaced in the past but it has really never come to fruition. If your heart is set on dual-booting Android with Windows, give this Kickstarter a look. Console OS Developer Release 1 will be made available within 30 days of the Kickstarter’s conclusion, and a final release in December of 2014. Console OS Pro will run for $20 a year and covers all the PCs you own. If you back the Kickstarter now, you can get Console OS Pro free for life.
You can check out the Kickstarter page here.
