SURbit Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Introducing Phoenix OS, an Alternative to Remix OS and Android-x86 Made in China Today we have the pleasure of introducing you guys to an alternative computer operating system to the already popular Remix OS that everybody is talking about these days. We believed that at this point you already know what Remix OS is, but if not, we will kindly inform you now that it is an Android operating system made to run on any 32-bit or 64-bit PC, powered by GNU/Linux technologies and based on the famous Android-x86 project. Just like Remix OS, the new Phoenix OS comes in two flavors, one for Android devices and the other one for x86PCs. Today, we had the opportunity to take Phoenix OS for a spin on our hardware and we would like to share with youour impressions of the entire project. But first, a little background on the Phoenix OS project. It is an Android-based operating system that runs on devices with Intel and other x86-based processors, includes key productivity features from Microsoft Windows, such as a Start Menu, multi-window support, and a Taskbar. Phoenix OS is designed to be user-friendly, flexible and powerful while being as lightweight as possible on your computer. It's designed for large screens, offers support for mouse and keyboard devices, and it's made in China by a group of programmers with years of experience on Windows. First impressions, first time setup Just like Remix OS, it's a little hard to get Phoenix OS on a stick and boot it from the BIOS of your computer, as it comes as a binary archive in the ZIP format, which you'll have to write on a USB flash drive of 8GB or higher capacity (4GB stick didn't work) using the project's in-house built USB Maker tool. Unfortunately, the tool is not translated in English and it runs only on Windows, but here's what you have to do. If you have access to a Windows PC, download the USB Maker tool, open it, and press the button on the first field to browser for the Phoenix OS zip archive, and select the drive letter of your USB stick in the second field. Finally, press the button on the right of the third field of the USB Maker tool to start the writing process. A pop-up window will alert you that your USB stick will be erased, so click "Yes" to start. Wait for the green progress bar on the third field to reach 100%, and close the tool when it finishes. Do not remove the USB stick and reboot your computer. Be quick to activate your computer's boot menu and select the USB drive in BIOS or UEFI mode (recommended). You'll see a regular GRUB bootloader, then Phoenix OS starts to decompress the kernel and load the live system in RAM. It might take a while for it to start because of the first time Android setup that installs a lot of tools, so be patient. After a few minutes, you'll finally see some progress on the screen, and then the first time setup wizard (see the gallery below for screenshots). On the first screen, choose English (United States) from the drop-down box. What's inside and final impressions Once you've selected English, the first time wizard will refresh after a few seconds, and everything will be easy from here on. You'll have to select your Wi-Fi network and input a username before arriving at the desktop. You know what they say about first impressions, right? Well, we can tell you that Phoenix OS does not disappoint. The Phoenix OS is beautiful, carefully crafted, and everything that we've tested worked flawlessly. Inside, you'll find a web browser, an email client, Android's music player, a text editor, the WPS Office suite, and all the standard tools (calendar, clock, calculator, notes, gallery, camera, and voice recorder). Phoenix OS is definitely not bloated. As you can see from the screenshot below, the Start Menu can be resized to look even cooler, there's a powerful file manager, a notification center in the style of Windows 10 one or the Budgie/Deepin desktop environments, a control center, and even a built-in screenshot tool. At the moment of writing this article, Phoenix OS is currently in Beta, but it already works great. Our tech-savvy readers, will be pleased to know that Phoenix OS is based on Android 5.1.1, a 64-bit Linux 4.0.9 kernel, and the Mesa 11.0.7 3D Graphics Library with OpenGL ES 3.0 support. The Beta build we've tested included an Android patch level as of December 1, 2015. All in all, we were very impressed by Phoenix OS, and we will recommend it, just like Remix OS, to anyone who wants to run Android on their computers. And by the looks of it, 2016 is the year of the Android desktop. Download Phoenix OS 1.0 Beta. SOURCE: http://news.softpedia.com/news/introducing-phoenix-os-an-alternative-to-remix-os-and-android-x86-499017.shtml Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiliarou Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 any sign of potential "chinese usual dial home" hidden backdoor ? I'm not generalizing but many tools developped in China (kingroot for android root) tends to send some data back home. Sometimes there is an explanation but as it's encrypted traffic we can never be sure whether or not sensitive data is sent... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SURbit Posted January 18, 2016 Author Share Posted January 18, 2016 12 hours ago, tiliarou said: any sign of potential "chinese usual dial home" hidden backdoor ? I'm not generalizing but many tools developped in China (kingroot for android root) tends to send some data back home. Sometimes there is an explanation but as it's encrypted traffic we can never be sure whether or not sensitive data is sent... That seems like a fair enough question - but I wouldn't label all software from China as such. Could easily be said of any software from within one's own country or not (if your not comfortable / then your not). Technology is technology to be shared with the world - as for any hidden agenda's let your instincts and any public records be your guide in such matters. Along with strong Malware defection. Quote and it's made in China by a group of programmers with years of experience on Windows. The article doesn't say this group has worked for MS or not, there are a lot of student's that learn outside of their native countries. Heck - ye without sin cast the first stone - then again the best defense to an offence is knowledge. You can try and run it without having network ability or in an virtual environment, anyone of numerous ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiliarou Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 I didn't meant to be offending about China made programs And yes it is also true for other nations/region. But there I know some of these softwares can send data when they don't necessarily needs to... And the user is not aware of it. Maybe it is better to try it in a VM first and check for network traffic just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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