Will it be possible to use multiple Android versions on the same device?

[anon(10181084)]

I am wondering if there is, or ever will be, an Android version of VirtualBox or VMWare. I would like to see an app in which you could create a multiple virtual machines with various Android versions/distributions. I am sick to death of loosing the ability to run certain older versions of some apps and I also miss older Android versions. High end and mid range phones have processors that are significantly better than low/mid-end desktop and laptop processors, so there is no reason why it wouldn't work. Of course, such a virtualization app would have to run the guest OS natively but would have to allow ARMv7 'emulation' (simply blocks the VM from using ARMv8 instructions and tells the guest OS that it is using a Cortex A9 with as many cores as your device has). Also, it would have to emulate a Adreno 200, Mali-450MP4 and PowerVR SGX 540 GPUs. I personally believe that this is more than achievable and would make Android devices insanely more versatile. Imagine getting all the root access pleasure in a VM instead of rooting your device and bricking it after a few tweaks. I really wanna be able to run CM7,CM9,CM 10.1.3,CM10.2 and CM6 in virtual machines on the go. What do you think? Will this type of app ever come into existence or will I have to just waste more time daydreaming?

 

[Rukbat]

There are a couple of apps now that can run ISOs. You could try Limbo PC Emulator QEMU ARM x86 or lBochs PC Emulator, or anything else that can run an ISO of an older version of Android for the x86. Have a look around Play. Limbo supposedly has a couple of ARM emulators, though.

As far as bricking the phone after making a few tweaks, aside from the fact that most tweaks" won't brick the phone, that's one of the things you can use TWRP for - back up the last successful tweak before making a new tweak. If the OS bricks, use TWRP to restore the last backup.

 

[anon(10181084)]

Yeah, but also rooting and tweaking will void your warranty. I am aware of limbo (I use the x86 edition for running Windows, as I once bragged about in the Tab S3 subforum) and I will definitely check out the ARM versions. What I was thinking if their was something that could be like having multiple phones in one, running at full speed with a ROM of my choice. Also, all x86 emulators are dead slow on Android (QEMU is even slow on a PC bevause it emulates the CPU instead of directly running the OS on the system CPU, which is why I prefer VirtualBox.) I have also used lBochs, but a recent update broke it.

 

[Rukbat]

About the only way you could run two versions of Android on the same device at the same time, natively, would be to modify them yourself.

As for rooting and tweaking, systemless rooting doesn't void anything, if you replace the stock bootloader (which Magisk does). Tweaking? That's just modifying apps, it has nothing to do with the phone's warranty.

 

[anon(10181084)]

I tried Limbo ARM and there was no way I could boot Gingerbread. As for the tweaking, I meant OS tweaking (UI tweaks, SWAP hacks etc... that normally need root). But I still do not understand why there isn't just a simple easy to use virtualization app specifically for running Android (kinda like KoPlayer on PC, but on a phone).