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Google gets away with calling their stuff "FOSS" while withholding the source.

Steve Kondik would probably disagree with you.

Whatever Android is, it is not a traditional, community-oriented Linux distribution, and its success is bound to the mega-corp that made it happen.

What difference does it make? It still runs Linux. I can still download the source, compile it and run it on my phone. There are community distributions. I can compile and install just about any Linux program I want on it. Off the top of my head, my Droid has vim, rtorrent, elinks, ssh, gnu core-utils, bash, and more. And that's just what I can think of. What is "traditional" Linux anyway? Much of this argument rests on the fact that Linux does not dominate on the desktop. So, really, traditional Linux is server and embedded. I think Android qualifies as embedded Linux.

"Applied" Linux is not some set in stone thing that you can just point to and say this is it. It is constantly evolving and filling new niches. Android being just one of them.

Ignore new phones and get just about any Samsung Galaxy-S/I9000 phone off eBay. The Cyanogenmod guys have a quite usable port of Gingerbread 2.3.3 ported from the Nexus S now. It isn't quite mainline yet, but it works great:

http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/17020-all-models-cyanogenmod-7-for-samsung-galaxy-s-phones-build-20110303/

My hope is that since the Nexus S is so new, and the Galaxy-S phones are nearly identical hardware, I'm now good for another couple years of Android versions. I've never been happier with my Captivate. Best phone I've ever had!

- Necron69

So zero Android phones trump 6.1 million iPhones? I believe the only Android phone that is 28 months old is the T-Mobile G1, and that doesn't seem to be supported: http://www.cyanogenmod.com/devices. I don't think having to rely on a roll your own version counts any more than jailbroken iPhones. Obviously the claim should be true in a year or so, but Apple may have provided an update to Safari by then.

• Install an Android SDK and configure it to talk to the phone.
• Download some packages from 'somewhere', and run a bunch of command line commands to root your phone.
• Now your warranty, extended warranty, etc. is VOID
• Download and install a ''Recovery Image'
• "Flash" your radio
• Flash CyanogenMod and reboot

Wow, good thing you went with the open platform otherwise you might have had to compile your own hacked third party OS update together when the manufacturer bailed on you. Just think of the hours you could have not spent searching through forums and triple checking instructions. Good thing you didn't fall into Apple's trap. /sarcasm

You do realise installing one of these community builds is pretty-much just a case of download, hook up via USB, and tell the installer to upload it, right? OK, it may be a multi-step process (you have to root the device first), but you don't have to compile yourself; there are other people who will do that for you. Typical instructions here.

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Main_Page
Big and growing community.

I use TextSecure by Whisper Systems for text messaging. It's currently in beta, but secure sessions are easy to set up, and the whole application, in general, is working out quite well for me. Better than the stock messaging application in CyanogenMod, at least.

Those people haven't figured out how to install their own version of Android on the phone yet, that's all.

My (very old) G1 supposedly only runs 1.6, final stamp, last year. I'm running 2.2 on it right now thanks to CyanogenMod, as are many others.

How many roll-your-own distros are there of iOS allowing you to upgrade any old phone to the latest version? Hmmm?

Android is a silver bullet, the problem is people forget to pull the trigger.

I went here to try and help you. http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Main_Page Then I realized you're an idiot. Buy THE DEVELOPER PHONE! It costs $160! OR even better find an IT guy to help you make the transition to Smart Phones! What no one does that?! No wait I do that!

The G1 can run Froyo. I would imagine Gingerbread will soon be available for it as well.

http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?/files/category/3-htc-dream-htc-magic/

The Nexus S is a pure Google phone (just manufactured by Samsung), and can use OS updates directly from Google. No manufacturer/carrier interference. At least that's the theory.

So if this is important to you, your choice is: no keyboard.

Well, not quite. If this is important to you, you can take the 3 minutes to root the phone. The T-Mobile G2 for example requires the extra step of removing write-only from the emmc, but that is now done simply and quickly with the "gfree" program, which besides giving radio S-OFF has the added benefit of SIM-unlocking the phone.

Once unlocked, you can put whatever OS you like on it. Cyanogenmod works nicely and will deliver gingerbread to many, many phones before the manufacturer/carrier dies, keyboard or not.

Show me a phone that will let me run make install on the Android OS code and I might be impressed with its open-source capabilities.

http://www.cyanogenmod.com/about -- pretty much equivalent.

The Nexus 1 didn't even need any hacking to root it, as I understand it.

A year ago, the procedure used to be to back up the Google apps from your phone, install CyanogenMod, and restore them. Is this still the case, or is there a newer yet still legit way to get these apps? A bit of browsing CyanogenMod's wiki referred me to Google for Android, which appears to have everything but the Market.

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Latest_Version#Google_Apps
http://kitchen.yaam.mobi/

It isn't technically legit but Google seems to tolerate it.

But apparently, some newer phones block the use of a custom recovery that allows verification to a root certificate other than the phone maker's.

http://www.absolutelyandroid.com/second-gen-snapdragon-devices-gain-root-world-rejoice/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision#Rooting_the_G2
http://unrevoked.com/rootwiki/doku.php/public/unrevoked3

So, yeah... it sucks. G1 just required root exploit to reflash recovery partition. Lately only the bootloader can write to recovery (if that) and h/w weakness is required.

About what fraction of Market apps are DRM-opting, and are any major ones?

http://www.google.com/#&q=android+build.prop+protected

I don't know specifically. I haven't owned an Android phone since 1 year ago. I still sometimes screw with ones my friends/coworkers buy though.

A year ago, the procedure used to be to back up the Google apps from your phone, install CyanogenMod, and restore them. Is this still the case, or is there a newer yet still legit way to get these apps? A bit of browsing CyanogenMod's wiki referred me to Google for Android, which appears to have everything but the Market.

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Latest_Version#Google_Apps
http://kitchen.yaam.mobi/

It isn't technically legit but Google seems to tolerate it.

But apparently, some newer phones block the use of a custom recovery that allows verification to a root certificate other than the phone maker's.

http://www.absolutelyandroid.com/second-gen-snapdragon-devices-gain-root-world-rejoice/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision#Rooting_the_G2
http://unrevoked.com/rootwiki/doku.php/public/unrevoked3

So, yeah... it sucks. G1 just required root exploit to reflash recovery partition. Lately only the bootloader can write to recovery (if that) and h/w weakness is required.

About what fraction of Market apps are DRM-opting, and are any major ones?

http://www.google.com/#&q=android+build.prop+protected

I don't know specifically. I haven't owned an Android phone since 1 year ago. I still sometimes screw with ones my friends/coworkers buy though.

Community firmwares now include the Google apps in a separate unrelated package, which gets flashed after the firmware stage.

A year ago, the procedure used to be to back up the Google apps from your phone, install CyanogenMod, and restore them. Is this still the case, or is there a newer yet still legit way to get these apps? A bit of browsing CyanogenMod's wiki referred me to Google for Android, which appears to have everything but the Market.

Every Android phone has had digitally signed firmware, including the very first G1.

But apparently, some newer phones block the use of a custom recovery that allows verification to a root certificate other than the phone maker's.

N1 was signed but semi-enforced (only for DRM-opting Market apps, which was bypassed).

About what fraction of Market apps are DRM-opting, and are any major ones?

As an aside, does anyone know what phone makers are good about keeping updates coming?

No. I have a Nexus One and am extremely pleased with it. The unlocked bootloader means I can run whatever version of the operating system I want. Google releases the source code months (in some cases, maybe years) before most phone manufacturers get around to offering an update, but modding communities like CyanogenMod have an extremely fast turnaround. They build for many different handsets, by different vendors, patch often (there are nightly releases available if you're into that), and don't seem to have any bias about device manufacturers.

Google did allow this system to be open, but people didn't vote with their dollars by buying the Nexus One in big enough numbers. I wouldn't stand for having a computer that restricted the software I'm allowed to run on it, and I don't see any reason to change that philosophy for using a "smartphone."

iOS is open source? Cool, where can I find the iOS equivalent of Cyanogen for my iPhone?

True, the Cyanogen build for the Vibrant is still experimental: http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/forum/85-samsung-galaxy-s-experimental-mod/

Dude, please don't sit there and pretend 768 MB of swap is anything like 768 MB of actual RAM. Seriously, just don't. Furthermore, a rooted Android device can be configured for as much swap space as your heart desires as well as compressed cache.

http://www.cyanogenmod.com/

I'd start with CM6 Stable to begin with. Just follow this guide and you should be good to go. Your G1 will run sooooo much better. Just remember your G1 is referred to as the HTC Dream.

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=HTC_Dream

http://www.cyanogenmod.com/

I'd start with CM6 Stable to begin with. Just follow this guide and you should be good to go. Your G1 will run sooooo much better. Just remember your G1 is referred to as the HTC Dream.

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=HTC_Dream

do you really think you can totally re-program a phone from open source code?

Uh yes? http://www.cyanogenmod.com/

Uh, no. No matter how you look at it, Android phones, just like all the others will not let you mess with the modem's code. Hence not meeting the definition of "totally."

do you really think you can totally re-program a phone from open source code?

Uh yes? http://www.cyanogenmod.com/

do you really think you can totally re-program a phone from open source code?

Erm, yes?

What Android is giving us is competition. Phones are locked to varying levels. Some are quite easy to root, some require a bit of work, some haven't been rooted yet. If you care, factor that into your purchasing decision.

Whining that Android is inherently bad because carriers and manufacturers can choose to be evil is like whining that Linux is inherently bad because Tivo and others choose to be evil with it.

Yeah, except that this isn't a "choice is bad" argument. If Android phones really gave you a choice, you could choose your own "flavor" (i.e. distribution) to install on whatever phone you want. Instead, you're confined to only the choices that your manufacturer and carrier decide to allow you.

Not true.

"Why should cheaper phones be stuck on 1.6 when they're fully capable of running 2.2?"

Um, it's not always 'cheaper phones'. Sometimes, it's 'earlier phones'.

My G1 runs Android 1.6 just fine, but 2.1 and 2.2 barely. Here's an overview of the process, and the problems:

- The original T-Mobile Dream (32B) had 192M RAM, of which 96MB was usable by the OS. Now we know that's inadequate, but back then it was a choice. So sue HTC or T-Mobile. Whatever. FWIW, the MyTough3G with a headphone jack is a different chassis, with 288MB RAM, 192MB available to the OS. Not the MT3G without a headphone jack. There is a list and details here.

- Android 2.x is literally too big for the stock G1. First step is to image new Radio code, which seems to tolerate the next step. You do not do this over-the-air. This bricks phones sometimes, but not my two. I'm running 2.22.23.02, but there is another version out there. Mine is better than yours, BTW. Yes, it is. I don't know how or why, but it is.

- Since Android 2.x is literally too big for a stock G1, you have to replace the SPL with another one (aptly named DangerSPL) that uses less RAM and allows for the bigger system space needed for Android 2.x. Go ahead and point out that the G1 didn't have enough RAM here, ok?

- Now that you've done this, you need a custom ROM, all the Android goodness you were looking for. I use Cyanogen, but there are others. You will first install the original 'official' ROM, RC29, register the phone again, and then proceed to gain and protect root privileges. Now you can update the bootloader, and gather the ROM iamge file and load it. At this point, you will have a G1 with Android 2.2 (if you chose the ROM for it) and nothing else. No GMail and no Google Apps. Oh, and Cyanogen and the cre have done a masterful job of shoehorning Froyo into the G1. Do not marvel at how well the bear dances. Marvel at the fact that the bear dances at all. Thanks, CM! I complain, but I still love it!

- And since Cyanogen was so damned excellent at his work, Google gave him a C&D to stop him from inclujding the Google Apps in the ROM he baked without their permission. And you now have to get the Google Apps package seperately. This is the stuff like Maps, Gmail, Market, and Voice Search which randomly pocket dials my Contacts list cause my Bluetooth headset button gets pressed in my front pants pocket. So if I call you and don't say anything, please scream at my shorts. Thanks! I'll be modifying my Google Apps package to remove Voice Search, since it's not very good with my headset anyways, and I'm always looking for something hard to enunciate. Always.

- After all this, on my G1, I now reload all my apps, etc, restore notes and stuff, and find out that I need to enable swap because Froyo (Android 2.2 by another stupid name) force closes the Browser when I open articles in News & Weather. So I finally figure out to stop using Firerat's Swappy scripts and use Swapper2, and move it to the phone so it runs at startup and actually enables swap. Now I have enough space to run stuff, though with a Class 4 SDHC it is not to be confused with fast. Just functional, mostly.

- And now I am at the point where I find out that the one thing that makes Froyo so sweet, Flash or Flash Light, won't run on my G1 because it requires a graphic acclerator that is not in the ARM7 in my G1. No, Adobe could not make it work without graphic hardware, and the G1 I think was designed before this graphics hardware was even available, so once again cry out in anguish that My G1, groundbreaker that it was, is and always will be essentially inadequate.

After all this, my G1 now runs a little slow, has pinch zoom, a Map app with more crap covering up the mapping screen, a POP Email app that still doesn't work worth a damn after more than 2 years of Google not fixing it, Voice Search that is triggered by headset buttons

Agreed there's little in it for the vendor to provide upgrades, however as I said they seem to be doing a reasonable (certainly not perfect) job of providing upgrades all the same which is quite a positive sign. I'm not aware of any vendors "lying" or reneging on specific upgrade promises, I only know of a couple of cases where there have been slight delays. Do you have any examples?

Of course for those who really want to, there's always 3rd party ROMs like CyanogenMOD which add an absolutely insane number of new features even to old phones like the original HTC Dream, though that's getting firmly into "enthusiast" territory and clearly isn't suitable for the average end user.

So why should they build, test and support new roms for every different Android device out there?

Better question, why can a bunch of amateurs working only in their spare time support Android 2.2 on every phone they have ever released a ROM for, including the first Android phone that was released to the market, while giant multinational cell phone manufactures can't? They don't even come close. They don't manage to support it on all the phones they are selling right now. Amateurs are providing, for free, better support than the manufactures people actually paid money to manufacture and support their phones. The support is so much better that the research you should do when shopping for a phone is to make sure 3rd parties, which happen to always be unpaid amateurs, can support the phone you are buying because the amateurs can be trusted to support the product in the long term and to produce a better software stack in the short term much more than the multi-billion dollar companies that actually built them. This is ridiculous. These companies should be ashamed of themselves. Instead, some of them are not only not ashamed, but are actively thwarting 3rd party support by locking down the bootloader necessitating the aforementioned research.

I realize you and the parent comment you were replying to were talking about google providing android, but really the manufactures are doing an unbelievably bad job. You should be able to expect your manufacture to rebuild the os when google releases a new version of android. You can't, they are slow when they do, and some of them prevent 3rd parties from doing it for them. Some manufactures are deliberately ruining their own products. I would understand if they also sold an unruined product and made you paid more for it, but as it is there is no apparent business reason for them to ruin their own product. This is pretty messed up.

Long Term Support
Amateurs do
Motorola doesn't

That this is news is ... uh, news to me. Just over a week ago I got a myTouch 3g Slide (after having been - voluntarily - without a phone for over a year) and the first thing I did was to find a way to root it. I've installed Cyanogenmod and am loving it. I found the instructions for getting root access at http://androidspin.com/2010/08/14/new-root-method-for-mytouch-3g-slide/ and instructions for installing the Cyanogenmod ROM at http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Full_Update_Guide_-_HTC_Slide. The main reason I rooted it was to tether (which, to be honest, was the main reason I got a phone at all) and it works smoothly and easily - just toggle one switch in the system settings. T-Mobile, for their part, also seems to tolerate tethering from what I've gathered.

Getting rid of some crappy T-mo branding stuff and software is a bonus too.

So, if you have the myTouch 3g Slide (I'm pretty sure it's exactly the same as the HTC Slide) and are thinking of rooting it, I say - go for it!/p)

I am pretty sure vanilla Android will let you do all of the above.

It will.

Vendor or operator modified versions of Android often will not, and that is the problem.

So take off the vendor's version and put your own choice on!

Here you go

There's a zillion options, I personally use the T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide. It costs around $450 (officially, $350 if you hunt around) unsubsidized.

To that, you probably want it unlocked, in which case you'll have to subscribe T-Mobile for three months (~$75pm, so $215) and ask them to unlock it after that.

The Slide has 2.1, with a 2.2 update "RSN". If you can't wait, there are instructions for loading the Cyanogen variant on the Internet, I believe (I haven't tried it.) You can get a start on rooting the box from T-Mobile's Operating System and Software Development forum (yeah, that's TMo's own forums.)

Just to re-iterate, this is the phone I, and my wife, use. I am not on a contract, I can cancel at any time without penalties, I bought both phones without signing a contract, and because I bought it outright, my plan costs around $20pm less than it would cost if I had bought it subsidized. I'm not going to especially recommend the Slide over any other Android phone T-Mobile offers, the Samsung Vibrant has apparently got a lot of good press, and, well, go to T-Mobile's site and browse the Android phones and you'll see the choices.

As in you can get the source, change it, compile it, get it to work with your own hardware, and redistribute it.

Or even improve it.

This is exactly why it's important to be able to load custom ROMs. Android 2.2 has been available on the Droid for at least a week now, in the form of CyanogenMod.

Meh, they have that kind of software for almost all phones. http://flexispy.com/ and plenty others, I'm sure.

I suppose it might be nefarious that they don't even need physical access to your phone to install it. But the install feature probably asks for user confirmation before receiving a "push" install from your carrier, just like my cheap Samsung dumbphone.

If you really want control, I suppose you could put http://www.cyanogenmod.com/ on your Android phone. Is that affected?

I'm sure a few people are checking the Android source files right now to tell you how... or at least blog about it.

Personally I use an unofficial Android distribution on my phone CyanogenMod, but with the Google apps such as the Market installed as well. I'm not sure if this is a feature of the Market app itself, or of the Android OS.

No, you're not.

I am if I want to keep my warranty officially...

Well, that's because it has the same operating system that runs most of the world's supercomputers on it. For heaven's sake, what more do you want?

So then why is the handset warranty voided when I flash a custom ROM? Why is Android so locked down in the sense that I have no idea when I'll be getting Froyo on my Milestone, even though the source code was released... yesterday?

Android isn't Linux - it's an iPhone-OS-wannabe based on Linux. :(

Android is, for consumers, anything but open. We're still stuck waiting on ROM releases from manufacturers who don't care about supporting their old devices, even though the new devices are internally more or less the same...

No, you're not.

It's a pocket-sized computer, so why don't we have pocket-sized operating systems instead of glorified firmware on them?

Well, that's because it has the same operating system that runs most of the world's supercomputers on it. For heaven's sake, what more do you want?

Well it depends.....are you looking to root your phone? If so I've been running eclair for a month or so on my G1. Check out CyanogenMod 5 for the most recent ROM. Otherwise I believe you are out of luck.

don't think G1 is powerful enough to run the stock 2.2 (or anything above 2.0). 2.x and > have 3d elements built into the OS which the G1 simply is not capable of running (app list, Gallery)

They'd have to make a different 2.2 just for G1 with all that removed ..

I think cyanogen has made a 2.x port to G1. He may do a 2.2 port too.

No DRM. Not having root access in stock Android carrier/HTC will sufficiently prevent casual copying of paid apps to another device. After market ROMs or a ROOT access package will most certainly have this restriction lifted. You are not DRM-locked into not being able to copy/backup your paid apps, but you will void your warranty to do so.

If there is, it will be rather easily removed with superuser permissions.

By far the best feature of Android is the thriving community of after-market OS builds. It's like upgrading your phone for free. I'm not affiliated, but right now feel obliged to shameless endorse CyanogenMod's G1/G2/Nexus One custom ROMs http://www.cyanogenmod.com./

Android owners bitch because we haven't quite achieved the ideal of end users being able to build our phone's OS from scratch independently of the handset makers, carriers, and Google.

<obama>Yes we can.</obama>

Um, Android is open source. If you don't like it as is, you can run any number of community-developed ROMs. These often have custom-rolled browsers in them, UI improvements, etc. CyanogenMod is far superior to stock Android on the older G1 and other first generation Android phones that still don't have official 2.1 support.

The only stuff that isn't open source are the "Google branded" apps, like Google Maps, Google Latitude and the Gmail app. But you can easily pull those out from the official ROMs and install them on your phone, as you do in the current CyanogenMod install.

So yeah, there really is no legitimate concern about Google locking down the browser and forcing Flash on you. Google can't force your hand in that way, because unlike iPhone OS, Android is an open platform. You can install apps from anywhere you please, not just the official Market, so take your pick of browsers.

This isn't the iPhone. There are other options available.

Well if you don't mind spending a couple of hours fiddling with firmwares, CyanogenMod brings fresh features to old Android phones, as well as tethering and other carrier-unfriendly features. I agree the lack of long-term software support for most phones is shoddy, but Android was the first phone OS where the user can install "community" firmware without compromising any of the phone's existing features.

You could always go here:

http://www.cyanogenmod.com/

And give this "Cyanogen" character a piece of your mind - he clearly doesn't know what he's talking about.

This will get you up and running with USB tethering - the only downside is that I don't see Cyanogenmod supporting multi-touch: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php/Full_Update_Guide_-_Nexus_One_Firmware_to_CyanogenMod then custom compile and setup busybox, dropbear, ssh, etc. Not too difficult if you can read man pages and use 'vi'.

I did happen to find this http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php/Full_Update_Guide_-_Rogers_Dream_EBI1_to_CyanogenMod But if you read on, it will not work with the recent 911 fix rogers forced out.

CyanogenMod is a customized, aftermarket firmware distribution for the HTC Dream and Magic cell phones, and the Google Nexus One. (NOT The Hero, Tattoo, Cliq, Droid, Galaxy, or anything else on the unsupported phones page.)

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php/Main_Page

I have a Galaxy (i7500) as well and it really sucks that Samsung just lets it rot away.