Announced during CES 2015 and with a formal debut in March, the Asus ZenFone 2 differentiates itself from its rivals by using an SoC Intel Atom, with two or four cores depending on the model. That turns the smartphone into a kind of x86 mini-PC, and with that in mind, user ycavan from XDA Developers developed a method to run Windows 7 and Windows 8 at almost native speed on the ZenFone 2, on a virtual machine.
These are the things that surprise us and remind us of the attitude of some manufacturers towards consumers. Big brands create smartphones with specifications that turn them into pocket computers, but they only want us to use them as smartphones, placing locks of all kinds. Fortunately, some enthusiasts out there have a chilling determination and see in every digital barrier a challenge to overcome. The Asus ZenFone 2 is different from most smartphones because the Taiwanese giant decided to adopt an Intel Atom SoC (two or four cores, from 1.6 to 2.3 GHz). If we add a healthy amount of RAM (2 or 4 GB), all the ZenFone 2 needs a viable process to install another operating system besides Android.
The first choice of user ycavan from XDA Developers was none other than Windows 7. It is a complete image, without any cuts. ycavan had to unlock the bootloader, replace the original kernel with another that has KVM support, partition a microSD card, and do a bit of voodoo magic in the terminal so that Windows 7 installs correctly and runs on a virtual machine. The x86 architecture of the Intel Atom in the Asus ZenFone 2 makes Windows 7 run almost natively, but the best part is that the procedure is not limited to Windows 7. As additional proof, ycavan also carried out an installation of Windows 8, without errors.
With a virtual network adapter and a Chrome installation, ycavan managed to browse from within Windows 7, and even visit the XDA page. This hack is probably not practical for some, but the important thing here is that it can be done, and it sends a very interesting message: there are users who want to use their smartphones as full computers, with low-level access and the replacement of operating systems.
XDA Developers
