Video of Myriad's Alien Dalvik 2.0 on an iPad

Engadget got a sneak preview of Myriad's Alien Dalvik 2.0 running on an iPad. Alien Dalvik is a small bit of custom code that allows almost any non-Android device to run unaltered Android apps. Version 2.0 of the software allows Android apps to run on iOS.

Interestingly, Alien Dalvik 2.0 runs in the cloud, which means all the processing is going on on remote servers and not on the iOS device itself. What happens is that when Dalvik 2.0 is launched on the iPad, the iPad connects to the servers, which then send an H.264 video feed of Android back to the iPad on which users can interact with apps.

For my taste it's too complicated of a system and the fact that it is cloud based means that an Internet connection is always required. In addition, I've never met an Android app I wanted that didn't already have an equivalent on the App Store. Still, if you are dreaming of a dual-OS tablet, Alien Dalvik 2.0 might just be your thing. You'll just have to wait a while, since it won't be ready for the masses until the first half of 2012.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/10/hands-on-with-myriads-ali…

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Software iPad

Alien Dalvik is a small bit of custom code that allows almost any non-Android device to run unaltered Android apps

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xxp84

Fascinating -- Since it's essentially just doing VNC, this app should actually be approved by Apple! Neat :)

True, my Android App wish list currently has 0 entries. However it's not impossible that there may someday be a reason to try this.

October 11 2011 at 6:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

bhildebrando

The idea is good, but the need of an Internet connection all the time is kinda a problem, also some of the responses are very slow.

But for version 2.0 is very good keep going guys!

October 10 2011 at 9:27 PM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply

Crossphire Dev

So it is basically a remote desktop app that is connecting to some device running Android. It still begs the question.... why? There are no Android apps that I need that do not have a similar app in iOS.

It also seems that this type of system would not allow the client to send device specific information so there will likely be many apps that are not able to run since they'd be denied access to contact lists, GPS info, camera, etc. I see that not sending this information is a plus because the last thing you need is an unknown/untrusted Android app running in the cloud on servers that you do not control.

I understand the need to go into uncharted waters, to experiment, to do something different but really this isn't very extraordinary because it is simply RDP. Now version 1.0 seems more compelling if Android is running within a container and is able to function without being tied to the cloud but I'd still have to ask why I would need it.

October 10 2011 at 6:27 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply