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There have been plenty of attempts to make Android a desktop operating system, with most of them not being very good. Jide Technology burst onto the scene with a Surface Pro clone running the company's own 'Remix OS' ROM in 2015, and later released a small desktop PC as well as a version of Remix OS for standard x86-based PCs.
Jide's Remix OS is all about offering Android apps with a desktop interface, with a bonus of relatively cheap mobile hardware. And while the company has been expanding its reach into more retail products, the latest project it's showing off is probably its most ambitious yet. The "Singularity" system allows users to plug their phone into a monitor, connect a mouse and keyboard, and run the familiar Remix desktop interface while the phone is still operating in its standard Android mode.
Connecting a PC to a television isn't exactly a revolutionary idea. Ditto for a mobile device - it's harder to do now that dedicated HDMI ports are gone, but streaming screens and content via Chromecast has sort of filled the gap. Jide, the company behind the intriguing Android-as-desktop Remix OS products, is trying to take that rather niche idea mainstream with its latest hardware. The Remix IO is a gadget that's equally comfortable on your desktop or sitting inside your entertainment center. It's up on Kickstarter now for as little as $99.
Jide's Remix OS has turned a lot of heads in the last couple of years, thanks to an interesting initial tablet offering and subsequent easy-to-install software for both PCs and a few Nexus tablets and even some retail hardware. The modified Android software, which uses a desktop-style window system for apps, is surprisingly robust and easy to use. Jide's latest move is to offer Remix as a virtual machine package, allowing Windows desktops, laptops, and tablets to run the Android ROM in a dedicated window alongside desktop applications.
When the Pixel C was first released, there was a lot of speculation that it was originally intended to run a tablet version of Chrome OS instead of the Marshmallow build it eventually shipped with. There's still no easy way to get Chrome OS running on it, but today you can try the next best thing: the desktop-flavored version of Android developed by Jide. Remix OS, which was just recently upgraded to add code based on Android 6.0, is now available for the Pixel C. The Nexus 9, HTC and Google's 2014 offering, gets the same treatment.
We've covered Remix OS before, which is Jide's project to mold Android-x86 into a desktop OS, like when they released the Remix Mini plug-in PC. It is a really quite interesting and polished take, borrowing heavily from Linux and Windows 10 design language with your familiar Android apps existing in a windowed environment. While Jide has made it available to download onto your laptop or desktop (and tablets like you would do with Cyanogenmod or similar), they now have a new hardware partner in AOC. The Mars will be a 24" all-in-one PC that runs Remix OS out of the box.
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Most modified versions of Android like TouchWiz or Sense do the same basic things, just with a few tweaks here and there. JIDE's Remix OS is a more complete transformation of Android aimed at making it more of a desktop OS. It's an interesting approach, but the company just took a major step back with its Remix Mini micro-computer by removing Google apps. Perhaps more troubling, they won't explain why.
Jide Technology wants to give as many users the option to try out its own flavor of Android. This involved rolling out the 2.0 Beta to PC devices about a month ago with plenty of features that were missing from the alpha when we tested it a couple of months prior. But you don't have to have a PC to test Remix now as the OS has been released in beta for the Nexus 9 and Nexus 10. (Jide had previously released Remix OS 1.5 to these tablets, so this isn't the first time its software becomes available for them.)
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Jide Technology is focused on making Android more desktop-like. The company first kickstarted a Microsoft Surface-like tablet, then followed it with a small puck to turn any display into an Android desktop, the Remix Mini. When Michael reviewed the latter, he found the software interesting, but the hardware lacking. The third aspect of Jide's strategy was to release its Remix OS for free for anyone to install and use. Michael also reviewed it and called it promising while still pointing out its current limitations.
Despite Google's late attempts to compartmentalize its mobile operating system, the open source nature of Android remains one of its biggest strengths. Without it we wouldn't have marvelous projects like CM13 on (relatively) ancient Barnes & Noble hardware, or various Android-powered console emulators, or a hundred million $60 Walgreens tablets crowding Craigslist. (OK, that last one isn't marvelous, but you get my point.) And we wouldn't have Jide's Remix OS, an attempt to create a desktop-style operating system on the bones of Android. Remix is now on its third incarnation, and unlike the original I-Can-Certainly-Believe-It's-Not-A-Surface tablet or the recent and lamentably underpowered "desktop," this one is completely free.
Android isn't a desktop operating system, they say. Who's they? Not Jide. This company sees the inside of a PC as the ideal location for that green little bugdroid. Not long ago it released a low-powered PC running an experimental version of Android adapted to desktops. Now that software is available to download directly from Jide's website, which you can then flash to an Intel-based PC of your choice.
I like Android. There, I said it. Sometimes I feel so attached that I wish I could use the platform on my laptop as well. I've done most of my blogging for the past few years from a Chromebook, so I'm used to accepting constraints.
Android is many things. A mobile operating system, a tool for smart watches and set-top boxes, and much more. But one of the things it most certainly is not is a desktop OS... at least in its current form. That said, it's also the world's biggest piece of open-source software, so when Jide decided to make what it calls "the world's first true Android PC," they were more than free to do so. Whether or not it's a good idea is a subject for discussion... and this review.
This isn't your typical Kickstarter. Jeremy Chau, one of the company's co-founders, states it clearly from the get-go in the campaign's introductory video. Remix isn't a bunch of over-promised under-delivered hogwash that may get stuck for years in the development and manufacturing process like 90% of Kickstarter products — it is a real tablet, it was demo'ed at CES, and it's already being sold in China.