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Google To Sell Truly Open Android Dev Phone
binary.bang writes "Google has announced an unlocked version of T-Mobile's G1 for sale at the same unlocked price of $399. The Android Dev Phone 1 is the G1, except being truly open: no SIM-lock, no hardware lock. Feel free to flash your customized Android build — the bootloader won't be checking for signatures. Don't be misled by the word 'Dev,' looks like all you need to qualify is an Android Market account. This looks like the Open Handset Alliance delivering the promised Open Handset: yes root, yes flash-your-build, no contract, no strings attached. Anyone else relieved & thrilled?"
Don't get this if you expect them to support it when it breaks. It's for "advanced developers", "not for end users". Rea
There's a $25 Developer Marketplace fee on top of teh phone. Tempting, though...
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
the dev account cost $25.
it's not much, but it's worth mentioning that it is part of the cost. this is really awesome though.
How does the FCC ensure that this phone is operating within [parameters]?
I would have to assume that the G1's output power is hardware limited.
Otherwise I don't see how the phone will stay within its FCC certification.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Yes, but will the phone companies actually allow you to use it? Or will they say "No, it's a security risk to our network!"?
I'm so happy! I wish it was like 200$ not 400$ :(
Obligatory blog plug: http://www.caseybanner.ca/
That's been around for months hasn't it? What's the big deal?
I have heard that the G1 will not work on AT&T's 3G network.
...but does it phone home?
My first program:
Hell Segmentation fault
... in a world where I cannot download pictures off my cell phone because the cellular company wants to sock me with charges so I can e-mail them to myself. Hopefully, this will be a success and other technology companies will follow suit.
As Google don't even own the modem (GSM/WCDMA) code, I very much doubt that you will be able to modify that in any way whatsoever...
And don't forget that the dev phone has a cool pattern screened onto it, too.
This guy's the limit!
This move will ensure easier availability of their phone around the world, unlike the i-phone which needed to be jailbroken in countries where it wasn't officially launched.
Shouldn't it be openhardware as well to be "truly open"?
T Mobile is a company. Do you want to drop a cleveland steamer on every member of their board of directors? or maybe their CxO? Or maybe paid celebrity endorser Catherine Zeta Jones?
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
http://git.koolu.org/
It's possible to compartmentalize things in firmware for that. Everything that radio-wise interacts with the cellular network can be on firmware on a chip, (possibly not an open source chip either) and the phone just tells it how to operate within its fixed parameters.
The "open" nature of the phone doesn't refer to its being open to mods on its cellular networking, but on its functional platform. Things like writing apps for the phone.
Sort of like how I can't write an iPhone app that spoofs my ESN or cranks up my transmit power. The API doesn't have any function calls for that sort of behavior. The firmware on this phone doesn't have to have that either.
We need to get an expert in the thread here that is in the loop on the design of the chips in the cell phones. Based on my experience with other similar electronics, there's usually a handful of chip makers for any given specialty market, and they all make single-solution chips that handle this sort of stuff for you so you don't have to re-develop the same thing that everyone else needs. You just interface with the chip and tell it what you want to do and it takes care of the details for you.
To illustrate this example, I can't write a program on my linux box to write any arbitrary series of 1's and 0's on my hard drive's platter. I have to hand the sata controller a 512 byte block and coordinates, and it writes it for me, including the headers and checksum etc, I have no control over that. That doesn't mean my linux isn't "open". It just means I don't have that level of control over the hardware.
Back in 'the day', on 1980's hardware, I wrote my own disk IO drivers, and COULD write any arbitrary series of 1's and 0's because I had direct access to the read/write latch. And I bet the first cell phones made, the software had a great deal of control over the radio itself too. But these things change, because other parties want to make end-user products and are looking for chips that handle all the dirty work so they don't have to bother with it. Cheaper, more reliable, faster to develop.
The FCC will type-accept anything that operates within their parameters, and is not easily user-modifiable, but it's a slow process, not something you want to have to redo several times a year. For quicker type-acceptance, manufacturers will compartmentalize their designs so that only one small part has to be type-accepted, and then after they have that developed they can play with the rest of the device all they want without getting it re-typed. (the "radio module" is usually what gets typed) All computers nowadays have their bluetooth and 802.11 on a separate card for exactly this reason. Nothing in the software of the computer can cause these separate boards to operate outside their type-acceptance. So the computer manufacturers can make a new motherboard every week without getting the FCC involved again, as long as they keep using the typed wireless boards.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
With the economy being what it is, I think that a whole lot less will be sold.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
This and it's descendants is going to be really useful for hacking/pen testing. It's the perfect platform model for wireless attacks. Imagine walking through a crowd with one of these in your pocket, compromising computers and phones as people stream around you. Or, you could use it as a deniable relay, penetrating a 802.11 network via a cell connection to the phone. Or as a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Box, enabling control of a rootkited server via a cell connection. That kind of stuff will be a lot easier to pull off with this kind of platform. Yes, i have a perverted mind. *sigh* But i think people with similiar minds will put this one to some real clever uses. I mean, all the heavy computing can be moved to a host behind TOR hidden service, or in a "bulletproof" country.
Note that Android Dev Phone 1 devices are not intended for non-developer end users. Since the devices can be configured with system software not provided by or supported by Google or any other company, end users operate these devices at their own risk.
Maybe Apple will now do the same? Or rather not:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJn_jC4FNDo
You decide who to trust!
Phones these days have two processors, one which handles the voice/data/etc aspect and an other which has the OS/app/etcs. They have to be seperated since the people that regulate the airwaves mandate that it should be impossible for an app to have access to the RF side of the phone.
Even in OpenMoko this is the case, infact a few pages of the schematic are missing because of TI NDA's so the real sense there are no truely open phones.
It might very likely not be truely open,
as drivers for GSM/3g chip, gps, or whatever
advanced features the phone contains,
probably only are available as binary blobs,
similarly to the nvidia driver issue on the pc.
This is also why projects like openmoko,
still are highly interesting as alternatives.
n/t
As additional info, you pay those $25 with google checkout, but for the actual phone you need to give your credit card details again to brightstarcorp.com.
Also, shipping to Spain:
UPS Innovations (Tracking) - $170.14
That small piece of info is shown after you give your credit card details. So the total price if you are in Spain (I assume it's the same everywhere in Europe) is $594. I don't feel like giving UPS half the price of the device, so I'm going to pass. $25 down the drain, though.
It's too bad the shipping cost completely eliminate any savings you could get ordering this phone outside of the US: Int'l Shipments 1 Phone Canada $ 264.49 UK $ 171.53 Hungary $ 199.99 Austria $ 189.99 Germany $ 178.90 France $ 183.81 Spain $ 170.14 Poland $ 210.09 Switzerland $ 130.43 Netherlands $ 172.99 Sweden $ 214.81 Finland $ 199.92 India $ 224.60 Japan $ 109.55 Taiwan $ 156.66 Australia $ 140.23 Singapore $ 119.36 Wasted 30$ signing up for a marketplace Dev account only to find a 70% markup to get this phone in Canada
---
No pun taken.
Can one remove their sim card from their iPhone 3g and use it in the open android phone? I know the iPhone can only use its own sim cards, but would other phones be able to use the iphone sim card? this could be a tempting offer if i don't need to buy another sim card and/or phone plan.
Most euro operators won't bat an eyelid if you bring your own phone, and t-mobile US seems to be the same way.
T-Mo US even has an unsupported handsets division to help you get unsupported handsets onto their network.
One really awesome thing for which we could use more help from Google would be this: You get one GrandCentral number and if your phone is connected to a Wifi spot, your calling is by default VoIP. You'd only use the cellular network if you somewhere out of reach of a hotspot.
There should be a way to configure Grand Central to be sensitive to the context of your handset and route the call in the optimal way, automatically.
Since I spend about 90% of my time in some sort of a hotspot (I work at a university), it would mean that I would probably cancel my monthly contract altogether and switch to a prepaid minutes/data plan. That savings would go a long way towards paying back my unsubsidized four hundred bucks for the handset.
The only technical data I can find is for the T-Mobile G1, and it uses the oddball UMTS / WCMDA frequency bands specific to T-Mobile. My understanding is that consequently it won't work on any other 3G network on the planet, including AT&T. I'd love to be proven wrong.
the best way to think of all these smartphones is as a combined phone + laptop on one circuit board, where they're even connected together using USB.
so what these embedded OSes do is quite literally nothing other than send "AT" modem commands (and sometimes a bit more, using escape sequencing) to the on-board modem chipset.
so, unless you start hacking the firmware of the on-board modem, you will still remain within the FCC regulations.
however, some of the cheaper smartphones - in particular the ones based on the TI OMAP series - run a dual-core processor - a TI ARM core plus a TI DSP core - typically a 200mhz one (because lower than 200mhz is utterly useless for smartphone features. but hey, it's cheap).
these phones _are_ a serious risk, because the two CPUs share memory (!) and you can reprogram the registers etc. etc. you can look up exactly how to do it.
anyway, the point is: the radio modem firmware is downloaded _directly_ to the processor, where all of the signal baseband processing is done. things like the GSM signal-strength of the radio can be manipulated DIRECTLY by changing a memory location, using the ARM cpu.
or worse.
clearly, this is bad.
however, the design of the more expensive HTC-designed phones - typically involves a _much_ better setup - with "standard" 400 to 600mhz ARM cpus and a completely isolated "standard" chipset.
the price of the G1 is indicative that it is one of these better setups.
if you want more info, here's where you're going to get it - from the xda-developers and the #htc-linux irc channel on freenode.net. DO NOT waste the developers time on #htc-linux - they are NOT paid to work on the reverse-engineering of HTC phones, but have stuck diligently to the task for over four years, nearly five now, to bring _proper_ community-driven support for linux to these hand-held smartphones.
forum on G1 dev:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=448
page listing android devices:
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Android_devices
as people do reverse-engineering and/or find out other information (such as take the backs off and photograph the chipsets) you'll find the info listed, there.
I'm stuck on Sprint right now and probably the near future, unfortunately. As much as I'd love to develop for Android, Sprint has made it very clear that they don't value my business. CDMA keeps me from using this developer phone on Sprint. The only way I'll be able to switch is if I come across a magical pile of money that makes it all relatively painless.
just to clarify: i was one of the people who did reverse-engineering on HTC phones, including the ipaq hw6915, the sable, the blueangel, the himalaya and the universal. i own about nine smartphones, all of which bar one (the eten G500+) are HTC devices.
e.g. this:
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Ipaq6915
fricking fricking anonymous posting! :)
clicked the wrong damn button ha ha
Android Dev Phone 1 still in it's shrink wrapped packaging - one for my tech musuem. This could be seen as the turning point in mobile phone development.
The one thing that I hard about this (http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2008/12/05/google-launches-android-dev-phone/) was that the shipping charges were truly excessive. Shipping the G1 to Canada for instance, I was told would cost $200+ US.
T-Mobile has implemented on their network, a technology called UMA, which T-Mo markets under the name "Unlimited Hotspot Calling". Basically, for $10/mo extra on your phone plan, you can make unlimited calls via WiFi. Would be sweet if Google or someone can get UMA working on the Dev phone.
I wonder if the phone allows access to the voice API in such a way that encryption can be added for voice calls (not VoIP). If the phone can emulate a phone modem with at least 9600bps of bandwidth and let me use the mic/earpiece of the phone is I/O devices, this would be a good start. 2 Phones could call each other as modems, exchange some sort of session key and go secure. It would also be really nice to be able to activate the modem mode during an existing call.
If I need to make changes to Kernel for my research, will I be able to do it?
I hate cell phones, but love tech. That is, I love tech, including cell phones, but hate actually talking to humans...
If I get a dev phone, can I take the sim card out of my current Sprint phone and I'm in business? Do I have to tell Sprint?
See, I SAID it was a stupid question...
What does it take to make Linux source code apps compile and run on an Android phone?
--
make install -not war
Some of us want to do more than play swishy windows to impress our friends, and don't care if our phone isn't a BlingBlock (that's what I call iPhone-like devices that sacrifice function to get the "clean" look). Some of us want to type stuff, fast. Flipping and sliding forms allow big screens and space for controls at the same time, so they're not necessarily bad things.
The G1 dev edition is a nice phone that I'm seriously considering as my next phone, but to me any phone without a keyboard is a deal-breaker. Lack of a touch screen would also be a deal-breaker, and multitouch would be nice, but as someone who uses their phone like a computer, I NEED a keyboard.
- Treo user (can't you tell?)
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Anybody know what the scope of the API is? Is it just to run sandboxed apps or can I override existing functionality etc.? For e.g., would I be able to, if I wanted to, just turn off SMS functionality completely? Could I modify the phone to be accessible solely off a number whitelist?
IOW, am I able to develop my phone rather than just develop for my phone?
There are no truely bulletproof countries, any more than there is truely bulletproof glass. Enough of a large enough caliber will get through.
"I just don't like phones with moving parts."
I thought every cell phone supported some 'common' bands used for roaming? How else could the phone roam, unless it has the ability to use other frequencies?
If it can roam, then it seems like with the right sim card, it could use the other band as it's 'primary' band?
thanks for rewarding me for actually signing up for T-Mobile's shitty coverage by doing this AFTER my 30 day grace period is over. i have thousands of minutes on AT&T and would LOVED to have had it with them, but NO, you forced me to choose T-MOBILE or nothing, so I chose T-MOBILE. im so f*cking pissed, why not announce this originally?
Google "gsm module" "at command"
The GSM module is often literally a black box that accepts AT commands over a serial link.
Happy moony
The platform is promising, but right now my phone experience is not even as good as my old Motorola P280.
The title is the sound I am making as I am literally eating my FreeRunner :-(
Hmmm, Ms Zeta Jones, please.
Yay! Another platform to code Java on... :(
... why?
Of course I don't expect T-Mobile to support it. I DO expect Google to have some information available to help me try to recover the damage.
+++ATH0
Give it time, and eventually someone will come out with a full MAPI client for Android. Nothing prevents it.
The whole system is going to be fantastic. It's just going to take some time.
+++ATH0
I always thought Verizon was the goddamned devil. Apparently both the Fucking Devil and the Goddamned Devil use CDMA.
Specifically, Verizon loves to disable features of phones such that things that would otherwise be free cost money because you have to go through their network in order to do them. It is a core facet of their business model.
+++ATH0
Thanks.
That said, I would rather be SSHing from a real terminal on my phone (like I do on my jailbroken iPhone) than a self-contained application. It's absolutely a control thing for me.
+++ATH0