asked 2020-03-13 16:01:44 +0200
Is Canonical's Anbox Cloud a potential solution for granting the capability to run Android apps on non-officially-supported phones running Sailfish OS? Granted, there are probably some valid security concerns with this setup.
answered 2020-03-15 18:48:36 +0200
A cloud-based emulator? Seriously?
Yup. I would be suspicious of a cloud-based solution.
On top of the usual problem that any cloud emulation has (see gaming cloud emulations such as Antstream, etc.), you add the extra problem of the kind of critical apps that Sailfish users are asking to run on their phones.
Most of the problem we have are "But my bank insist on me using this 2FA/Payment/whatever Android App !". Do you really want to entrust your 2FA or app-based payment to the cloud (a.k.a. to someone else's computer ?!)
DrYak ( 2020-03-16 12:43:19 +0200 )editAsked: 2020-03-13 16:01:44 +0200
Seen: 549 times
Last updated: Mar 15 '20
Duplicate/Related (you decide)
https://together.jolla.com/question/162876/anbox-on-sailfish-os/
https://together.jolla.com/question/169741/anbox-on-sailfish/
https://together.jolla.com/question/173500/anbox-or-something-to-run-android-apps-on-non-jolla-devices/
Spam Hunter ( 2020-03-13 16:39:57 +0200 )edit@Edz, only "related", because this is Anbox in the cloud.
Actually nice to see that Canonical works on / with Anbox.
But, as @sunburnedpenguin noted,
olf ( 2020-03-13 22:26:53 +0200 )editAnd while the idea itself is cool, I have to question the practicality of it. With cloud, you are always reliant on your mobile connection to the cloud server in addition to the service which you are connecting to via the app you are launching. In addition to the security concerns and what not.
Anbox itself is really interesting and I would like to see it properly implemented on Sailfish. But I guess Jolla would have already gone with it if it were a good (executable, doable in reasonable time, fully featured?) idea to begin with.
Sefriol ( 2020-03-14 11:15:07 +0200 )edit@Sefriol :
Technically speaking Jolla has already done it: their Alien-dalvik for AOSP8 and above is based around the same rough idea as Anbox (and SPURV) - it's also an opensource AOSP running inside an LXC container. What changes, is that Jolla relies on their own tech (that they have obtained from Myriad and developped upon) to forward essential API (graphics, sound, input, etc.), whereas Anbox and SPURV each have their own API forwarder (e.g.: Anbox use the kind of facilities normally leveraged by emulators for display, whereas SPURV on their side use the normal GPU driver facility. And Jolla hasn't published much info about what they are using).
And yes, you correctly identified "executable, doable in reasonable time, fully featured" as the reason why Jolla stuck with already proven tech that they already had licensed, instead of waiting until Anbox is mature enough (or until SPURV starts appearing much later).
DrYak ( 2020-03-16 12:40:58 +0200 )editThanks @DrYak, I've always wondered how was powered the new Android layer. A detailled blogpost about it would be so cool.
Sthocs ( 2020-03-17 01:58:43 +0200 )edit