We've rebuilt Android™ to be a primary operating system for your PC, 2-in-1 or PC Tablet. Over 100 new features built-in already.
Console OS Pro - Android Remastered for the Desktop
(With InstaSwitch, WindowFlinger, Hundreds of Features & Free Upgrades for Life!)
What if your desktop, x86 tablet, or 2-in-1 could rock both Windows® and Android? What if you could take your $199 Windows tablet and dual-boot with it?
Android on the PC. Android taking on the desktop. Lots of people have talked about it -we’re delivering.
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, native Android that can really toggle with Windows on your PC.
How Console OS stacks up to the emulators and other Android PC initiatives...
Our Vision
Imagine if your PC could run all the million-plus Android apps that your phone and tablet could? And, what if those apps started to scale up, and make your PC feel right at home with Android? Console OS is all about raising Android up to be your primary PC operating system.
Android is the most popular operating system in the world today. More new devices are born with Android, than anything else. We're taking the next step, and bringing Android back to the desktop.
Now, with that in mind, what if you could toggle between native Android, and native Windows? That’s what this Kickstarter is raising money to pull off.
Production-grade Android on the Desktop
This is not like the hacker or homebrew Android-on-PC efforts of the past. It’s real Android, that really works.
We’ve worked for the past 18 months to make sure everything from (optional) multi-touch to Miracast™ works great, and no, you don’t need a multi-touch display for Android to be awesome on your PC. We’ve made the UX multi-touch friendly, and non-touch friendly too.
Of course, you can use multi-touch displays too. We fully support many popular multi-touch displays, that can turn both the smallest, and largest desktops, into giant multi-touch Android devices.
It's painless to install - For end-users and system builders alike
How do you use Console OS? That’s what makes Console OS so great - you either can install it on your PC's internal drive, or run it entirely from a USB external hard disk.
We’re not talking a demo (or "live") version either; all your apps, documents, even encryption can work boot directly from a USB hard disk. 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.
Built for The Mainstream
Every thing in Console OS is built for a mainstream audience, and is designed for OEMs to have a drop-in, native Android solution for their PCs. We’re going to be both Secure Boot and dm-verify - which means trusted computing that OEMs can ship alongside Windows.
For Tablets Too
Tablets today come on x86 and ARM. But, they only run Windows. Or, they only run Android. You shouldn’t have to buy two identical tablets to do one job.
Console OS solves this. We’ve built a version of Android that we completely control. So, we can drop it in and run Windows and Android side-by-side.
The benefit? Say you have an x86 tablet or device that doubles as a tablet and a laptop. 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.
But we’re doing more, including enabling Android apps to run side-by-side, baking in a familiar app launcher, and swipe motions that are more natural.
From the application store process, to the user experience, we’ve been working for the past 18 months to remaster Android for the desktop.
Now, we need your help to make it a revolution.
For Gamers Too
People don’t think of Android today as a true console-quality gaming experience. But that’s changing. Live at GDC, we showed off how OpenGL ES 3.1 (and eventually the full OpenGL 4 stack) will enable Console OS and Android to become a mainstream gaming platform.
And we do expect Console OS to support OpenGL 4. Why would you need another gaming OS when Android is already the most popular OS in the world.
Console OS Pro - Taking Android Even Farther
Console OS Pro will add over twenty killer premium features, including InstaSwitch. InstaSwitch will eventually facilitate switching instantaneously between native Windows and native Android, on your x86-based tablet or PC.
Typically $20/year, we’re going to make Console OS Pro free for life for select Kickstarter backers! That’s right, back us now, get free upgrades for life to Console OS Pro.
InstaSwitch will leverage cutting-edge XenGT technology. It's the one feature that we know will be the most challenging, but will eventually deliver instant toggling between native Android, and other operating systems. Imagine editing a document in Microsoft Office®, playing Half-Life 3™ in SteamOS™, and reviewing your Gmail™ inside Android... all from the same tablet or gaming rig.
Console OS Pro, more specifically, is set to include the following:
- 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, & DTCP-IP)
- Built-in media serving (UPnP and DLNA)
- Console Files – A new file manager we’re building in to the desktop
- Console Maps Pro – Premium Maps with Enhanced Turn-by-Turn
Console OS Pro will typically cost $20/year and covers all the PCs you own. But, if you back the Kickstarter, you can get Console OS Pro free for life! Check out the support tiers on the right and help us make this happen!
Requirements
As you may know, Android is built differently from Windows, OS X, and even traditional Linux platforms.
We have to build Android for one device at a time, to make sure it works awesomely. That’s a huge chunk of the benefit behind Console OS - you get Android built just for your PC.
We support Android for devices based on demand - and when you back the Kickstarter, you’ll help tell us what devices you want us to see Console OS with Android Inside to land on.
Out of the gates, we will support 25 iconic Laptops, PCs, x86 tablets and convertible devices with Console OS. And, here they are:
- ASUS: Transformer Book T100
- Dell: XPS 11, XPS 12, XPS 13, and XPS 15, Venue 8 Pro, Venue 11 Pro
- Intel: Next Unit of Computing (all NUC models except for 847DYE)
- Lenovo: Miix 2 8-inch, Miix 2 10-inch, IdeaPad U430p, ThinkPad X1 Carbon, Yoga 2, Yoga Pro 2
- Sager: NP2740
- Sony: VAIO Tap 11, VAIO Pro 11 & 13
- System76: Galago UltraPro
- Toshiba: Protege R30 & Z30, Tecra A50, Z50 & Z40
- And, of course, all of our own iConsole-branded hardware like iConsole Unit 00 (and more, new hardware coming later this month)
Support for additional systems will be steered by OEM backing and by the community.
Want to see your PC up there? Back the Kickstarter – and your vote will count in telling us what PCs to support next.
As to Macintosh, and Surface Pro – See above. We’ll support them if we get enough backing to do so.
Our App Store, Our UX, Our Android™
One of the reasons homebrew versions of Android have failed, is the lack of Google Play. Google doesn’t let you install Google Play on Android without the device being certified. So, over the past year, we’ve lined up all the apps and tools needed to make you not miss Google Play.
We’re going to stay true to the Android code, we’re 100% Android compatible, with strict adherence to the Android API stack - Dalvik, Bionic, and ART, and even RenderScript.
We’re only forking the user experience to make Android awesome on the desktop.
But, we know you probably own a lot of apps on Google Play™. So, we’re going to support the following:
- The Console Store - Our upcoming application store for Console OS-enhanced Android apps (un-modified Android apps typically work great - even with a keyboard and mouse!)
- Importing Google Play purchases (since we’re Android-compatible) – via Console OS Connector app for your phone or tablet.
- Amazon Appstore for Android
How’d we pull all this off?
We’ve been working in stealth mode for the past 18 months. We quietly shippediConsole.tv Unit 00, a developer kit for our upcoming Android gaming console. It’s the fastest Android ever built, and it was already using Intel® Core processors inside.
Unit 00 is out of stock right now, but as we mentioned earlier we'll have more hardware to share later this month!
When we realized people really want to instantly switch between Windows and Android, we started taking what we learned with iConsole.tv, and built it out into Console OS today.
When will it be ready?
We're aiming to ship Console OS Developer Release 1 within about 30 days of the Kickstarter’s conclusion.
From there, we’ll use Kickstarter funds to build out support for the devices that you vote for.
Our goal is to implement all of the features listed here over the next year, but we may ship Console OS 1.0 before that depending on the challenges that we encounter. Our goal is to give the OEMs something to ship in time for compelling new x86 tablets and convertibles this winter to ship in stores.
Okay, I’m sold. What’s in it for me?
In summary, you’re helping us make Android awesome, and fiercely independent on the PC. We’d much rather you keep us honest and focused than alternatives.
On most backer tiers, you’ll get Console OS Pro free for life. And, you’ll vote on what PCs and tablets with x86 processors that we should branch out to next with officially-supported Console OS builds.
The first 10,000 backers can get Console OS Pro for life for only $9.99. After that, $14.99. That’s still less the cost of one release of Console OS Pro for all the PCs in your family.
We have most of Developer Release 1 done. It'll include a starter version of our user experience and should work on all 25 devices we listed in the initial supported device list.
The Console OS Pro feature set is largely what funds will go toward (in addition to expanding device support, based largely on Kickstarter backer votes).
We expect Console OS (Pro) 1.0 around December, 2014. We can't promise each and every device/feature/item will make the cut, as with any operating system, some features will get added, and some delayed.
We hope that ecosystem players (here's looking at you, Google) embrace and support our innovation. We don't expect too much push back, but it is a potential risk when doing anything with Android. The beauty of Console OS being so disruptive, is there's potential for all kinds of interesting relationships.
A lot of people ask about Android and Chrome OS™. We think native Android will be totally awesome even if the two were to merge. If something crazy like that were to happen (and Google has said it won't), our feature set may change - but it won't hurt our efforts.
More generally, however, major changes to Android may cause us to have to rewrite portions of our code. We're ready for that.
Finally, as to open-source challenges, we plan to contribute all direct AOSP improvements back to AOSP. How much of that Google will accept or allow us to submit, is up to Google, not us.
Console OS is an operating system - the contents and features of which may change, shift, or move around the cabin during delivery.
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