It Seems Nintendo Wanted Android OS On The Switch:Heres Why We Think So

We all remember back then in 2017 when there were rumors that the Nintendo Switch would run on Google's Android Os. This might have been true though, But what where the factors that stopped our favorite Operating system from gracing the internals of our equally favorite gaming handheld?. Let's get into the main points:

 When Nintendo's newest gaming handheld was unveiled, then known as the Nintendo NX(Which was a pretty good name) The audience taught it would feature an Android Os despite negative responses by Nintendo itself.

Now it seems back then Nintendo met with Cyanogen Inc, to  Use their Os to power their gaming handheld. The excutive chairman Kirk Mcmaster said that building an Operating system was being "Considered" back then when the switch was in the works.

@romainguy @dnaltews@rebelleader Was under consideration. Switch is mostly custom kernel. They used bits of android.

— Kirt McMaster (@kynprime)March 21, 2017

Apparently this wasn't the case. As first spotted, Cyanogen McMaster’s initial response to Android possibility on the Switch was a bit harsh. As normal, he may have told them something other than No. He told them to "Stick it". The tweet was edited to sound less harsh but the chairman of Cyanogen was known for making such statements. In a deleted tweet, Kirk McMaster said:

@romainguy @dnaltews@rebelleader In the early days of cyanogen Nintendo wanted us to create an os for a certain portable. I told them to stick it.”

 

Back to "Certain Portable" You don't really need an oracle to tell you that this portable was the Switch itself. 

That would never have been the case, of course, but before we crucify McMaster we should look at the reasons and factors at play here. Supposedly, Nintendo would have required insane level of optimization to the Android-based OS, which includes locking it down. It might have been that the Cyanogen would have been a bit open source, but that would in turn it mean that no one would probably know it was Cyanogen powering the Switch at that time.


Cyanogen kind of missed a great opportunity there, As who would have thought that the rejected portablw would become the most popular gaming handheld nintendo would go on to build a Custom Operating system that used some android codes.That means the Nintendo Switch had to use a custom kernel. Most likely FreeBSD( FreeBSD was a free and open-source Unix-like OS from Research Unix), with the aforementioned android source codes. Other Mobile Operating systems use these Android codes for customization. Just like Blackberry's OS and Sailfish.

This is how Nintendo's OS is now:

Pretty Cool Isn't It?

So would you have wanted an Android Interface on your Switch? Share your thoughts below: