Perhaps you remember the days of the very first Android ports to Windows Mobile phones such as the HTC Touch Diamond and HTC HD2. Beside the fact that this groundbreaking development was one of the factors that ultimately led to the end of Windows Mobile development on XDA, it did bring some innovative features to the table. Dual boot for example. It was revolutionary to be able to choose between Android and Windows Mobile. After a few months, when people started to move to newer phones, and this innovation ultimately got buried under the huge mess mass of development for Android phones.

It seems there is currently only limited active development for a dualboot system for native Android phones. There have been projects in the past, for example for the Samsung Galaxy S II, Droid Eris, Xperia Play and LG GT540, but it seems development is more focused on individual ROMs nowadays. Multi-device development – and yes, we use the word development a lot – is more and more subject to development on individual devices. In the past, developers collaborated to put together something great (Ervius Visual Kitchen, anyone?). The Android port to Windows Mobile, called XDANDROID, and the dual boot innovation are just few of the many examples of this.

Although it isn’t a bad thing that developers have a strong focus at individual ROM development, we probably all share the dreams of being able to boot into a clean, battery-saving and light-weight Ice Cream Sandwich ROM while also having the option to boot into another ROM, one that might be an experimental ROM or a ROM that is more focused on performance. Or any other combination. The open-source Android OS allows for many dramatic changes to be made to its structure, dualboot on Android has been proven to work on the Droid Eris, so why hasn’t development started yet? Why seems development of such innovative systems at a standstill? I say we fire up that innovation engine as soon as possible.