Can’t make up your mind whether you want an Android or Windows Phone device? According to The Times of India, Karbonn Mobiles, a handset maker based in India, is set to launch dual-OS smartphones which will support both Android and Windows Phone by June. Karbonn targets mainly the Indian market, but they also have presence in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Middle East.
The company’s chairman Sudhir Hasija told The Times of India:
“Microsoft has eased the regulations and is opening up its platform for other players. We signed the agreement two days ago and will launch a range of Windows Phones in about three months.”
Karbonn is one of the new Windows Phone hardware partners announced at Mobile World Congress. They also join LG electronics, Lenovo, HTC, ZTE, among others.
Pricing hasn’t been mentioned yet, but the devices are targeted for “office-going professionals and techies.” Do you like the idea of having both Android and Windows Phone on your device? Sound off in the comments!
Via The Times of India; Thanks for the tip, Lakshman G.!
Reader comments
Karbonn plans to launch devices that support both Android and Windows Phone by June
I saw some renders on Techspot, and it looks like the went the hardware key route for WP, and on-screen keys for Android. That's a terrible mistake. They should have gone with on-screen keys only.
I used hd2
If I need to reboot for dual boot, it's too annoying for me :-(
This makes no sense but for the techy crowd. The average person isn't going to want to learn two different OSes.
However, assuming Android runs as it did when I last had Android, on my HTC Evo and Moto Droid, people will quickly see how much better WP is than Android. Imagine while using Windows Phone you get 12+ hours battery life, on Android you get 4.
No..just no...if your last phone ran gingerbread then you can't speak about android. This lag thing is insane and a mute argument. My 520 lags all the time but I don't constantly talk about it and tell people all wp lag based on that one phone. So yeah get over it, problem was solved long ago.
Not my 520!Actually it is smooth as ever!
Micromax is known for Shitty cheap phones.Why is it even trying to step on WP???
They have grown up very well but.They are emerging
Learn to read idiot, where does it say Micromax?? And cheap phones resulted in 80% marketshare of Android, pray that such cheap phones take window phone over 10%-15% in 2-3 years, or else you favourite expensive windows phone will also die when they kill off the project just like zune and kin due to less market peneteration.
And which world are you living in???Do you notice who has the best build quality in WP and who is selling the most WP phones.You compare Micromax to Nokia and Samsung and HTC and Sony???Brush your teeth first.The market share you are talking abt is in India and also the most market share of Wp phones is alos in India and that too by Nokia.So you are saying that you'll buy a Shit and cheap phone of Micromax instead of a Nokia 520 like budget phone???
Only One OS please
Stupid!.......would apple dual boot? Would google dual boot? But maybe there not as desperate
From the article, it appears they plan to release devices that can run both OSs, not necessarily dual boot to both. I don't like the idea of dual boot, but am fine if WP runs on a device originally designed for Android (minus any physical keys), if this will help drive more WP sales.
I always had this idea in my mind :-) finally, this cmpny took initiative! :-) gud fr Karbonn n WP!
I have only 1 question, how will they share one memory card?
But people go to windowsphone because it doesn't lag,, dual boot is good,, they will discover the smoothness of apps ,,and the design if windowsphone..
They'll like using WP more, specially after wp 8.1
What kind of blasphemy is this?
So... did everyone forget this?
http://www.wpcentral.com/who-ripping-windows-phone-now-android-karbonn-a6
Hope OneNote,,, IE can send web pages to OneNote without changes the text ..on windowsphone.
That's the best windows phone will surpass IOS,, hope they promote and advertise windows phone because Samsung didn't promote their windows phone devices,
You know the original article doesn't actually say dual-boot, but dual-OS. I take it to mean that the device is ready to accept either Android or WP without ANY modification - which was what MS was aiming to get the OEMs to do. Also pretty sure MS didn't want any dual-booting either because that might actually allow people to boot back into Android and never go back to WP, I think the original idea was that you can change the OS but it is one way only. eg you can install WP over Android without any hacks/tweaks but once you've done that you cannot revert back.
Finally a thing I planned n dreamed for is becoming real. They shud make a blankphone that when a user buys it they turn one n the phone ask them to choose what OS they want n than the user can select desired OS.
May b a mash up of WP Android bb n iOS should be created which will contains all top features of each OS n that will be indeed the ultimate phone with Nokia pure view technology carlzies lens n Nokia camera app, apples touch id with 64 bit processor n dedicated gpu n Samsung's display
This is heresy! Treason ! Sacrilegious! Abomination! :)
That's pure poppicock! :)
To make things a little clearer, these are going to be the first dual-OS phones as far as I can tell.
This concept is awesome but the sale will depend on the price of the phone
Not interested.
It would be great
Fantastic,!!! it's just what Indians need,a WINDROID phone,the best way to controll demografic growth in India is to keep them busy with complicated phones :)
By Q3 the 520 running the latest version of WP 8.1 should cost $100-$120 unlocked in most emerging markets rather than $140-170 right now. The elimination of device certification, lower license fees + hardware restrictions & the qualcomm reference design should allow MS to flood the zone this year on the lowend via Nokia, Zte, Lava, Huawei, Karboon, Xolo ect.. WP still runs better than Android on entry level hardware, especially OEM customized & skined Android.
For those that would have gone Android and NEVER considered a windows phone, hopefully Nokia's brand attracts them to the budget X line or one of these dual OS devices instead. At the very least, those users are introduced to the GUI and start to rely on MS services, even if their next phone is Android they will seek out MS services in the play store.
Meanwhile the WP store continues to grow & close the app gap due to increased marketshare via lowend phones. If they like the GUI on the X or these Dual OS devices maybe that next purchase in 1-2 years is a similar or cheaper priced WP.
With dual OS it better have at least 32GB of internal storage because of the footprint made for both OS and their respective files. Maybe each OS will take a significant chunk of space for swap files.
cant imagine how will it do.
i mean, if it runs one OS at a time, then, what the use of another OS? just to play games?
if it runs both OS at a time and can shift with some key / code / method, then what the hell use of it anyway? i am using WP, and do require a few apps which are not available on WP yet, (and wont be there in near future, as they are basically apps for some local applications in India, such Govt. of Maharashtra apps, or similar kind of), but only for them if i need Android, i would have shifted to Android already.
i cannot imagine a person using both the OS (there are many) but on one phone.
there will be hell with the battery backup, which may make this whole scenario a failure.
Would the android within the phone cause the Windows side to lag, and would it be able to get viruses due to the android side?
No, viruses made for Android won't run on Windows Phone or vice versa. Just like a program for Linux or Mac OS won't run on Windows. I would imagine you can only boot to one OS at one time, so it won't lag Windows Phone :)
Latest news. Anyone can hack android kitkat phones of any user . This may result in banning Android
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I'm wondering how these 'wp', likely without deeply integrated Bing, HERE, OneDrive, etc., would help improve the Microkia ecosystem.
Good work
Do you mean Dual Boot like 2 OSes at the same time, or Dual Boot like 1 OS at a time? :O
Because if 2 OSes at the same time, that would be great but kinda confusing especially when talking about apps (file extensions and all). I'm not into mobile though, but I say, let's try it. No harm in trying :O
Will HP make a phone??
This is a smart move. One for serious business phone, the other for grindr.
Wish it was only wp os .....
This concept can boost the WP sales in India and other south east Asian countries... And the other established players like LG, Lenovo can launch the WP devices worldwide...
Dual booting serves no actual purpose, except apparently bridging the "app-gap"
All of that which will be counteracted by the fact that you'll have to decide between user experience or apps and most likely, users will boot into the apps half of it. Dual-booting is clunky business anyways and for the average person, it serves no real purpose. Just ends up being a marketing gimmick for Karbonn to move handsets (much like the dual-SIM business).
Admittedly though, Karbonn understands the Indian market way better than most other manufactures so I have no doubt that they'll move a few handsets just by marketing a dual OS capability.
Personally, I'd rather just have them churn out cheap WP handsets. It'll run just as smoothly and allow people to actually experience something that's future looking as opposed to laggy Symbian 2.0.
Yeah I'm pegging this as the same hardware with the option of buying an android or a WP version. It would be so much simpler to just get WP running a Dalvik virtual machine for Android (same as every other phone running Android apps does it).
That's your point of view. I like Windows Phone for it is smooth, harmonized and beautifull, but I also like to mess up with custom roms on Android. Customization possibilities are endless.
I would have a stable functionnal OS (WP) and the ability to switch to an "experimental" android on which I could "play" with the UI.
Also, Windows Phone doesn't allow JIT compilation which prevent applications such as psp emulator to be EVER available on the platform.
A dual boot enabled Android-WP device would IMO be the perfect phone.
Woah
And how come you guys haven't posted about what evleaks posted about the new Lumia, code-named the 'Martini'?
There you go. Someone called Kyle posted it
That's me. :)
Posted via the WPC App for Xbox One!
Oops. No idea you have a dual personality. :)
Dual-boot OSes are something I've been looking forward too. I would really love a WP8.1 device that has the ability to dual boot android. It would probably be a non Nokia Lumia though. I could see HTC doing this. For those who don't want it, they don't have to use it. :)
No, I don't like this idea! Since the apps excuse has been widely used to keep users away from WP, I think that, on a dual OS device like this, they will just stick to the Android side of it.
Ya rightly said. Besides, won't it be a pain to switch from os to os time to time. Eventually, some ppl will just stick to one os. Anyway, only ttime will tell if this idea pays off.
Yeah, bro, you're right on that one.
If its anything like the Asus transformer... then switching from one os to the other is pretty quick... It doesn't shut down one os and boots the other... It just switches over like multitasking 2 apps...
^this would be awesome but doubt if this OEM can pull this...i wish Nokia chooses this path instead of X
I would guess we will be seeing a dual boot of android os on X and windows phone. That would be awesome for boosting market share although I would stick to windows.
I was under the impression that Microsoft said NO to dual boot ? Anyways , to be fair Karbonn is a mass scale manufacturer when it comes to mobile. they are cheap and easy to buy. hopefully WP would come to more hands but not a very big fan of this manufacturer
It's hard to tell whether 'dual-OS' means dual-boot, or just that they will sell Android and Windows variants of the same hardware.
That's what I got out of it.
I read it as being dual os, you setup either/or on config.
I would like the idea if it was on Nokia phones instead of some unknown OEM in India...oh well.
they are successful in India and wellknown too
They r wellknown bt nowhere near nokia in quality..its good for platform apart from that it doesnt matter..
Want lenovo to launch Windows phones now. Lenovo can prove big as Nokia
m also waiting for dat, lenovo products are gud
Please stop saying gud for good, getting on my nerves. Thanks.
noted
+1 This texting lingo like m for I am, gud for good, dat for that gets on my nerves. Why can't people type in English?
+1 because fashion...
Because, typing English is just too mainstream for them.
Not trolling, guys, but if you look around in the CrackBerry forums and blog comments, this doesn't really happen there, auto-correct is just too "gud". I write this from a desktop, I like Windows Phone, but there is not native WP Central app for BlackBerry yet. Might load the Android apk. Hope to be here more often. Windows Phone is an interesting platform.
Just put it on my wife's Moto G. :-)
(PS, shush.... My next phone is gonna be WP, what should I get?)
well in windows phone world, you only have Nokia. Unless other OEMs load windows phone to their android phone, i say Nokia and maybe htc one running wp8! Funny how i moved away from windows phone to blackberry ha.
If Sony won't come on board, I'd like to see LG come instead with WP. I think of late, LG has come out with compelling Android phones, I'd like WP versions of those!
I cant get away from nokia now, the epic hardware and the software, apps. not to mention the support. Karbonn is known for its pathetic service centres and no technical support.
Yeah youre right. In after sales services nokia gives the best after sales services. The worst are Samsung and micromax.
Exactly... But its not unknown here... But very low end and cheap phone... I'm disappointed with this news... Much better if it would be micromax as they said before...
dats a gud news..
definitely gonna boost the wp sales as they place the products in a gud price range.
This is excellent news, if HTC did this with their HTC One - they could see phenomenal growth. I have no doubt that people would prefer WP anyway once they see how much better it runs on the exact same hardware.
exactly
We need a true HTC HD2 successor.
As the owner of a One and a 520, that is my dream right there
I don't agree, have dual os in my eyes shows MS are struggling with wp8 and need android to boost sales. Shame as android kind of suck on tablets.
Unfortunately it's like that. It's not a secret to anyone that android sales are much more higher and that's why WP has to come up with new strategies!!!
Thats a new idea,infact rising of new thought,new idea in mobile world;)