LG has teamed up with virtualisation software company VMware to bring virtualisation to LG’s Revolution Android handset. Virtualisation is a way of running a virtual operating system within a host OS, and will be familiar to anyone who has ever run Windows within Parallels on a Mac.
When it comes to smartphones, virtualisation means that you don’t have to carry a work mobile with you as well as your personal phone – your work mobile can run virtually on your current Android handset. When you run the virtualisation app, you switch to the work phone, complete with all your contacts, emails, calendar appointments and work-specific apps. You can even run different versions of Android for work and home modes, so it’s fine to upgrade the personal section to the latest version of Android even if your work-specific apps only work with an older version.
This means that not only do you only have to carry one handset, but you can keep your work and home lives separate – you have the option to have personal email notifications when in work mode or vice versa, but you can turn them off when on holiday or if you cannot be disturbed during a big project. It also keeps the IT department happy; if you need a work phone they can provide you a virtual version over the air at a moment’s notice, or even wipe the virtual work machine if you lose your job.
There’s no official word on when the virtualisation service will be available in Europe, but Telefónica, the Spanish mobile phone company, is planning to launch the service on dual-SIM handsets, so you can have a personal work and home phone number as well as operating system. There’s no word as to when this will be available in the UK and on what LG phones, but as Telefónica owns O2, hopefully it should be available on that network sometime soon.
