Samsung Galaxy S3 – two different virtual phones planned

The Samsung Galaxy S3 has been a huge success for Samsung and its crowning glory must be its award of “Smartphone of the Year” at this week’s Mobile World Congress. The new Samsung Galaxy S4 is due to arrive in April, so the news that Samsung and Red Bend Software are developing a new version of the Galaxy S3 which turns it from a normal single phone into two virtual phones is certainly an eye-opener.

We have seen useful additions for the Galaxy S3 before such as the VTEC lens which brings support for 12x zoom to the Galaxy S3, but Red Bend's Bring Your Own Device ( BYOD ) software could take the Galaxy S3 to the next level.

Samsung Galaxy S3 BYOD Trial

Red Bend and Samsung have agreed to trial BYOD this Summer in what they call a “dual-persona version” of the Samsung Galaxy S3. The BYOD version of the Samsung Galaxy, as yet with no exact model name other than it will be a new version of the S3, will come with two versions of the Android Operating System – one will be used for personal use and to be used for business use.

This means that a BYOD version of the Samsung Galaxy S3 would be one phone ( physically ) yet be seen as two separate virtual phones from an operating system perspective. This would keep personal and work related things totally separate and either can be accessed by simply switching from Business to Personal use or vice versa.

The Red Bend software platform called Type-1 mobile hypervisor sits above the Android Operating systems ensuring isolation between both the Personal Android Operating System and the Business Android Operating System.

“Collaborating with Samsung to offer a virtualized smartphone featuring dual personas is a major milestone. There is great anticipation in the market for a BYOD smartphone based on Type-1 hypervisors. This will drastically improve how IT departments support BYOD and how consumers seamlessly move between their work and personal lives using one device. Together, Red Bend and Samsung are making the next generation of consumer mobile devices secure for the enterprise," said Yoram Salinger, CEO, Red Bend Software.

3G will continue to follow the progress of the BYOD program and post further details here.