Ixonos Creates Multi-Window Solution For Android

Ixonos may not be a name you're familiar with, but if you love to hack Android, it's a name that you may be seeing more frequently in the coming months. At last week's Mobile World Congress event in Spain, the company was on hand in order to showcase a new Android solution that makes it more like a desktop OS. For years, Windows and Mac users have been able to truly multi-task thanks to the ability to have multiple windows open at once. While Android can use background tasks, it's not possible to have multiple apps open at the same time, and on the same screen. That last part is the critical part, and that's what Ixonos is hoping to change.


The company's new multi-window solution lets Android 2.2 open up multiple apps in multiple windows, and then it lets users move them around on-screen however they wish. For all intents and purposes, the end result looks a lot like a standard desktop OS. The new functionality was being demonstrated using an Aava Mobile development platform, with a 7" tablet seeming a lot more useful with multiple windows to toy with. This takes multitasking use cases even further by enabling the device to be used like a laptop, with a touch pad QWERTY keyboard below the second activity window, or as a highly-advanced two-screen tablet, where both screens are used either for different activities or the activity is expanded across both screens.

It's best to see this kind of thing in video, which is embedded below. We can only hope that this solution comes to market soon, but there's no straightforward answer to that just yet. To say that this could change the way people look at mobile operating systems is an understatement, and we're definitely hoping to see it widely implemented with Android 3.0.

Ixonos Showcases an Innovative Android Solution With Inspiring User Experience at Mobile World Congress 2011

HELSINKI, February 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ixonos, a world leader in creating wireless technologies, software and solutions for mobile devices and services, showcases its broad Android capabilities at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on 14-17 February 2011.

Ixonos demonstrates an innovative Android-based multi-window solution, which runs on various popular hardware platforms. The solution is demonstrated on a tablet developed by Aava Mobile as a multi-window system, which enables the use of several applications simultaneously, for example the viewing of messages and calendar side by side.

"The multi-window solution brings Android user experience to a whole new level. Running the solution on a device with a 7-inch or bigger screen allows for new efficiency in handling daily tasks. The user can now see the whole workspace at one glance and run multiple applications at the same time," explains Mr Vesa Metso, Director, Key Customer Accounts, Android, at Ixonos.

Ixonos has also made the multitasking user experience available on a dual-screen configuration. This takes multitasking use cases even further by enabling the device to be used like a laptop, with a touch pad QWERTY keyboard below the second activity window, or as a highly-advanced two-screen tablet, where both screens are used either for different activities or the activity is expanded across both screens.

"Multitasking is a functionality people expect from superior user experience and two-screen tablet devices are now debuting the market. With our solution, multitasking is the norm for tablets. Moving from one application to another is quick and easy, and the user can move applications or activities from one screen to another. This truly takes efficiency to new heights," Mr. Metso adds.

The multitasking solution has been developed at Ixonos' Android Competence Centres in Europe, demonstrating Ixonos' deep know-how of Android components and modules.