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Running Google Android On iPhone Clones
wooby writes "With the release of Android's source code, we may see iPhone and Nokia clone phones of Chinese origin capable of running Google Android. These phones, often available for less than $200 without a contract, are available on DealExtreme and elsewhere. But the software running on them is universally awful. Is the clone phone market a vast, nascent install-base for Android, and part of Google's end game? According to Google's Dave Bort, 'One of our goals would be, just to get Android all over the place' [YouTube link]."
the CECT P168C has a feature I cant fin in any other phone. Dual SIM cars support. I could have my work phone sim and my personal phone sim in one phone and reduce pocket clutter. I wold KILL for this feature but the morosn that make most american phones refuse to deliver this feature.
Hell the few Nokia's that did support it were Europe/asia only.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
1) Submit "story" to Slashdot with affiliate sales link cleverly embedded inside.
2) Profit!
When my contract expires (early next year), I'll be in the market for a new phone and plan. This time around, the prepaid plans I've been seeing might actually be a better deal than what I've been paying.
The trouble is, prepaid phones seem pretty crappy on average. I have a Motorola Razr which I'd likely keep, but sadly it's CDMA (Verizon) so I can't stick a prepaid SIM into it. At the same time, I wouldn't mind ditching my separate mp3 player and having a phone capable of using the wifi I have available in many places. That all points to "smartphones", which can be really expensive without a 2 year plan.
Buying an unlocked phone with a decent OS for $200 and buying some cheap flash might be a good solution. Or, if the hardware sucks and the OS is poorly adapted to it, it might be a frustrating experience. Time will tell, but I'm not anxious to become an early adopter here.
"The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent." --Carl Sagan
Seconded. it is essentially useless for doing anything interesting unless you jailbreak it.
But the software running on them is universally awful. Is the clone phone market a vast, nascent install-base for Android, and part of Google's end game?
What, a parallel to the PC/PC-compatible watershed? God, I hope so. The next step is getting them to change the billing rates for wireless, they're killing us.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
I submit that this is 80's PC history repeating itself (ok, maybe it's just rhyming). Again, with Apple pushing a proprietary, tightly controlled hardware/software package and another pushing only the software side (this time it's Google, not MS).
If history is any indication, the open standard will win... these "clones" are an indication of that. Their initial quality will be awful, but if there's a market, quality will improve.
Of course, there are differences and nothing is guaranteed, but the similarities are too striking to ignore.
If you can read this... 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011
So what? The guy is pointing you towards something you're interested in. What does it matter if he makes a little scratch from it?
Now if it were a Slashdot editor's affiliate link, that would be a different story.
Well, I bought one because it was(arguably still is) the best smart phone on the market.
But that doesn't mean I like Apple and the iPhone OS. It's stupid silly how they have it locked down and I'm tired of the iTunes tie in.
I'll be trading my iPhone out for a G1 soon probably, but I don't at all regret having bought the iPhone back in January. It was the best device around at the time and it's served me well over the last year.
Actually I don't really like the G1 all that much either. I think the hardware isn't as nice as the iPhone hardware. I'm really hoping for an iPhone ripoff with the Android software on it.
But like the iPhone was over the last year, the G1 is probably the best device for me at the current time. So I'll buy one and when something better comes out, I'll move to that.
Well, considering none of the knock-off phones listed actually HAVE Android installed, hopefully he won't see many purchases. Still, shame for using an affiliate link and not even pointing to the products you're talking about.
Comment of the year
Considering Motorola has already stated they are going to make a series of devices with Android, and I'm certain that other equipment makers will probably jump on board at least with a handful of devices, I don't think you will have to wait too long for a more elegant android device.
That being said, I think the criticisms on the hardware of the G1 are necessarily fair. I mean, yeah, it doesn't shine, but I like function over form personally and the hardware buttons and the qwerty keyboard suit me more than just having the touch screen.
I respect that that's not good enough for some, but I don't think the G1 was developed as an iPhone killer like some believe and like the gadget media keeps trying to indicate. I think it's aimed more at the audience of people who want a smartphone but want a more open platform than what they are being served by most providers. For instance, I'm a programmer myself and the idea that I can sit down and easily develop applications for my own use for the G1 really drew me towards the Android platform in general. Yeah, you can do that on the iPhone, but not nearly as easily or conveniently as you can on the G1. Not to mention that the SDK was available even before the first device was out and google has already laid out a roadmap for improvements to the platform and SDK. A far cry from what you get from Apple. It's as if Steve Jobs begrudgingly allowed the SDK to be more widely available but really didn't want that to happen.
iPhone isn't made for people who want to tinker
I love how the Apple zealot argument changes course 180 degrees depending on the situation. Since the v1 phone came out, we have been inundated with stories about developing applications for the phone. Now that we know the phone is extremely limited and Apple has the last say over whether you are even allowed to distribute your applications, the Apple zealots are claiming that it is not a developers phone.
MAKE UP YOUR MINDS!!!
Either it is a developer's phone and Apple needs to fix its horribly broken development and deployment process or it is NOT and you zealots need to stop hyping the thing on places like Slashdot.
Where is our ad supported g phone? Give me free 3G access, and I will be standing in line.
Submitted from my Mozilla browser with Ad Block set to kill...
The source is freely available. Requires a Mac or *nix to build the source, but it can be used even in non-phones (although I don't know how much sense that would make, other than maybe in an internet appliance perhaps). Can't be built currently on Windows, but that would not make much sense anyways. The bigger question is when are we going to see a non-big company release of an Android device, and who is it going to come from?
I hope that Google's "end game" (really just a beginning, natch) is to force open access to wireless carrier networks. "Roaming" charges and other lockins that bundle the physical network with the data, its servers, and (in the US) even the client HW are entirely against the openness of networks that has made them extremely valuable for everyone. Until networks were opened and unbundled, they were not so much engines for growth as they were accessories. Telcos and other network operators long ago stopped innovating in any area other than lobbying, lawsuits and restrictive licensing. All the growth in value comes from people competing to offer services on open networks.
Google is one of those innovative competitors. I hope they can force Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile and the few other wireless carriers to join the 21st Century's openness and growth.
--
make install -not war
Nothing in Apple's *recent* history. They used to be very friendly to hobbyists, even going so far as shipping the Apple II with full schematics. It's sad they've gone so far in the other direction.
The app potential is wasted thanks to their draconian controls.
There are thousands and thousands of apps in the app store. You make it sound like there are none at all.
No, that isn't what s/he said at all... and whoever modded him/her troll only did so because they disagreed. Cowmonaut isn't trolling. Numerous apps have been killed by Apple because they compete with iTMS, or because they aren't G-rated enough, etc. I'm sure the number of apps on that page represent a tiny portion of apps that were killed or never even attempted because of Apple's lame policies. Other's like TomTom were simply aborted because of Apple's extremely lame policies toward developers. Sun was excited and ready to port a Java to the iPhone, but again, thanks to Apple's lame policies, Sun is not allowed to port Java to the iPhone.
Apple's policy is so extremely lame that you have to pay Apple just to write an app for their phone. You can't even write an app for your OWN phone without paying them a fee. You cannot distribute an app without distrubuting it through the app store and paying Apple about the same percentage as the US government's highest tax bracket. Apple's policy was so lame in fact that developers have only recently been allowed to discuss iPhone development with other developers openly and write books on the subject. Apple policy on the iPhone is tremendously, stupendously, colossally lame. If you aren't a developer... and you don't appear to be... there aren't words for you to grok how lame Apple policy truly is.
You make it sound like there are none at all.
No, s/he doesn't. But you seem to be spoiling for it.. so I will. I've been able to send faxes with my N95 since before iPhone 1.0. Can iPhone do that yet? I've been using speaker independent voice dialing since before the first iPhone's debut. Can iPhone do that? I can stream internet radio wirelessly through A2DP into my car stereo with my Nokia. Can iPhone do that? Too bad iPhone developers are hobbled by lame Apple policy. If they weren't, you might be able to do what the competition has been doing now for years. I'm still waiting for Apple to offer me a reason to 'upgrade' my 18 month old, already a generation out of date, phone.
iPhone? Fail.
Nothing in Apple's history should've given anyone any indication that any decent amount of tinkering would be allowed by Apple.
Even Apple's publication of the complete schematics and BIOS source code of some of its 8-bit home computers?
Ok, let me rephrase. Nothing in Apple's history that applies to modern computers. Let's try to focus on technology that is more powerful than a Nintendo NES. You and I both know that the current Apple company is a far cry from that Apple.