Could Bionic be running a Type 1 baremetal hypervisor ?

[huskerkate]

For anybody who has bumped into this thread and gotten a WTF headache.

Its a bit heavy on marketing-ese, and I have no clue if these guys are even remotely involved with motorola; but RedBend who bought out VirtualLogix has a decent overview explaining virtualization on a mobile device here: http://www.redbend.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=133:mobile-virtualization-how-it-works&catid=33&Itemid=61&lang=en

count me in as one having a massive "WTF headache" - even with that article...

nevertheless, sounds like a pretty solid hypothesis. i like the idea of Moto engineering toward more secure uses of the phone. i'm not a gamer, and don't watch movies on my phone. but, the idea of being able to securely connect with my firm's server, and work on privileged and confidential info thru my phone, does have quite a bit of appeal. maybe Moto isn't as incompetent as i have started to believe in recent weeks...

 

[Cruiserdude]

So any more thoughts/speculation on this as we learn more about the device? Its still looking like Moto isn't exactly targeting enthusiasts with this, but I'm really excited at the prospects of a secure device running Android and a secure OS from a hypervisor. It would really open up a new direction for Android, allowing it to become a realistic option for even the most secure environments. It would be a dream phone for IT and security managers, as they could develop their own secure OS, applications for that OS, and interface layers in Android rather than relying on RIM or Apple to do it for them. Not to mention it would be a great way for Moto to regain lost market share and earn the respect of the corporate world that they seem to have lost.

Just wondering if anyone has more thoughts about this, or if any new info may hint at something like this being in place.

 

[shipwrestler125]

Idk if they will do what the op said, but the Droid 3 SD card slot is encrypted to protect your sd card so maybe the bionic will have this also? I know it isn't the same but it is a atep to more secure phones.

 

[uiil]

Been searching for direct evidence of a hypervisor on the bionic, so far zilcho.

But some interesting circumstantial bits have popped up:

The datasheet for a LTE capable, 8 core, 30 watt (goes in cell towers, not phones) chip from Freescale that has: "Hardware hypervisor for safe partitioning of operating systems between cores" as well as some neat hardware regular expression pattern matching. Link here:P4080 Product Summary Page

Note that Freescale is the former semiconductor division of Motorola that was spun off in 2004.
SubNote that Freescale semiconductor has a design facility in Suzhou, China.

A pdf doc describing running SecureXen on an ARM device where the Dom-0 is mentioned as loading into a Freescale/Motorola SPS - Suzhou device (page 13). Link here:http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCMQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwiki.xensource.com%2Fxenwiki%2FXenARM%3Faction%3DAttachFile%26do%3Dget%26target%3DSecure_Xen_on_ARM_User_Guide_v1_1.pdf&rct=j&q=motorola%20freescale%20dom0&ei=AsYTTtPTAYetgQeY2uT9BA&usg=AFQjCNGNK3uP7lU35XFNa3xGPQQAcA-TJw

ExtraNote that that pdf doc is from SAMSUNG!

-CONSPIRACY MODE ON-
Motorola attacks RIM in the corporate arena while their allies at Samsung attack Apple in the consumer arena?
-CONSPIRACY MODE OFF-

Back to searching for direct evidence.

 

[Hand_O_Death]

Been searching for direct evidence of a hypervisor on the bionic, so far zilcho.

But some interesting circumstantial bits have popped up:

The datasheet for a LTE capable, 8 core, 30 watt (goes in cell towers, not phones) chip from Freescale that has: "Hardware hypervisor for safe partitioning of operating systems between cores" as well as some neat hardware regular expression pattern matching. Link here:P4080 Product Summary Page

Note that Freescale is the former semiconductor division of Motorola that was spun off in 2004.
SubNote that Freescale semiconductor has a design facility in Suzhou, China.

A pdf doc describing running SecureXen on an ARM device where the Dom-0 is mentioned as loading into a Freescale/Motorola SPS - Suzhou device (page 13). Link here:http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCMQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwiki.xensource.com%2Fxenwiki%2FXenARM%3Faction%3DAttachFile%26do%3Dget%26target%3DSecure_Xen_on_ARM_User_Guide_v1_1.pdf&rct=j&q=motorola%20freescale%20dom0&ei=AsYTTtPTAYetgQeY2uT9BA&usg=AFQjCNGNK3uP7lU35XFNa3xGPQQAcA-TJw

ExtraNote that that pdf doc is from SAMSUNG!

-CONSPIRACY MODE ON-
Motorola attacks RIM in the corporate arena while their allies at Samsung attack Apple in the consumer arena?
-CONSPIRACY MODE OFF-

Back to searching for direct evidence.

So uiil, did you end up locking in a smart phone for unlimited, or are you waiting for the Bionic and just going to go tiered?

 

[uiil]

Yep, locked in unlimited a couple of days ago. Didn't want to get stuck in the rush on the 6th.