Android Ported To iPhone 280
anethema writes "iPhone hacker planetbeing, from the iPhone Dev Team, has successfully ported the Android OS over to the iPhone. He is doing it on a first-generation iPhone, but others may be possible. The port is pretty functional, with data, voice, and many apps working, although it is running a bit sluggish and buggy at the moment. There appears to be much work left."
Don't forget the porn !!! (Score:5, Insightful)
and finally, a Jobs-approved way to get pron on your iPhone.
(He *did* say to get Android !)
Re:android debug build is sluggish (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple does more flashy useless bullshit on less but more expensive hardware.
FTFY.
Re:Case in point (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Case in point (Score:2, Insightful)
Since you seem to be this thread's expert on the topic, perhaps you can answer this simple question:
Why do you approve of the significantly stricter controls and higher development that Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony place on their Wii, XBox, and PS developers, but hold Apple to a different standard for their consumer electronics device?
Refund for the iPhone OS. (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Pr0n! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Case in point (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Case in point (Score:5, Insightful)
I honestly do not understand why you would not call a device that has every hardware feature my laptop has a "computer" -- the only difference is the form factor and the advertised use. What if I installed software on your laptop that railroaded you into using it in a specific way, would I have suddenly transformed your laptop into something other than a "computer?"
I guess one of the primary differences for me is the ease of executing arbitrary code.
My laptop has a keyboard that I can use to type in commands/code/whatever. It also has an optical drive that I can use to load software. It has USB ports that I can use to load software off a USB key, or connect another CD-ROM or floppy drive or whatever.
The iPhone has a touchscreen and little else. If I want to load software on it I have to go through their official channels, or jailbreak my phone. If I want to write my own software for it, it requires a second device to do the programming and then upload it to the phone.
Similarly, the PLCs that control the heating and air conditioning in my building are most certainly computers in the technical sense. They're fully functional and can be programmed to do pretty much anything I want them to. But I have to connect external devices to them in order to do that... I have to plug in a laptop with a serial cable if I want to actually do anything to them.
My Cisco routers are also pretty much computers in the technical sense. And they've got USB ports I can use to store/load software. But again I have to connect another machine if I want to do anything with them. Otherwise they just do their job, day in and day out, like any other appliance.
I guess I'm not really debating the functionality of the iPhone. It certainly is a computer in any technical sense of the word. But there are connotations to the word "computer" that just don't match an iPhone.
Re:call me when apple approves it (Score:5, Insightful)
For all of their "think different" ads, Apple is a very traditional vertically-integrated engineering firm... like the old "big iron" unixes: Cray, SGI, SUN, IBM, where they sold the entire platform: hardware, software, custom interfaces, etc.
For all the Microsoft-bashing we do around here, they were really the ones that separated hardware from software on the PC (and then Linux came around and offered the even more of the same).
But now we have vertically integrated smartphones again. And for all the Google vs. Microsoft that we do, Android is pretty much Google's effort at doing to the smartphone what Microsoft did to the PC.
So don't take your freedom of hardware abstraction for granted! But in the end, we pretty much know how this dance should turn out.... just look at what Cray, SGI, SUN, IBM are doing now :-P
Apple will probably always be Apple (at least as long as Steve Jobs is around). Because he doesn't make products for us geeks, but for the rest of the people. He know his market well. And it is not us. So get over it and let the people have their stripped-down straightjacket internet devices.
Re:Pr0n! (Score:3, Insightful)
Great, so Apple has made it so parenting groups can dictate what I can do with my tech devices.
There could have easily been many other possible solutions other than making all Apple devices G-rated. Give people a choice, put simple parental controls at the time of purchase, sell a second version without "parental controls" for those of us who don't require an Apple chaperone.
Further, there could have been a very simple solution to the Apple app-store lock-down. Let other companies offer iPhone-compatible app-stores, just don't support their apps. Let the developers support their own apps.
I'm sorry, but the bit about Apple needing to keep strict control over applications and OS so they can be sure everybody gets first rate support and a "high-quality end-user experience" is simply bogus. Shit, why not sell unlocked iPhones and just not offer support? You're not going to get support unless you pay extra, anyway.
Re:Case in point (Score:3, Insightful)
i think your confusing the word "computer" with "user workstation"
QFT.
My n900 has a keyboard and a USB port and lets me run arbitrary code. It's also a smartphone! The iPhone is no different: Its keyboard is software and not hardware, but it still runs arbitrary code. It's just the iPhone OS and associated software that refuses to *install* arbitrary code.
Re:Neat hack, but ultimately useless (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh god, are we still at this stage?
I thought we'd got past the "OMG ITS USING RAM!!!111111" whines after that completely wrong and setup article drama about Windows RAM usage where multiple people pointed out that applications using RAM is better than RAM going unused.
Yes you're right that Android phones generally have more RAM, but they also often tend to have faster processors, more pixels on their screen and so forth too, but it doesn't mean it's a requirement of Android, it's just the benefit of the rapid evolution of Android phones vs. the once per year refresh of the iPhone. The iPhone is always behind on hardware apart from right at the start of each refresh, it's just the way Apple tend to do things.
RAM usage is not a bad thing, it's a good thing when used properly, as it is with the JVM and Dalvik- RAM usage is optimised so that RAM isn't just sat there unused and is actually being used for what it's there for.
Can we finally put to bed this ancient idea that RAM usage is inherently bad and that developers should ensure their applications use as little RAM as possible which would in fact make things worse because it'd generally mean more work is being done to keep RAM usage down, such as higher levels of paging from disk or use of compression and so forth?
RAM is cheap now, we can afford plenty of it, and we can afford to use it, the idea that having less RAM and having as much of it as possible sat unused meaning there's more paging from disk and more CPU cycles being used on data compression is ludicrous. It's not like the bad developers argument holds much weight nowadays even, RAM is cheap, it's better to use as much of that as possible than it is to try and shrink your RAM footprint at the expense of more expensive processor cycles.
Re:android debug build is sluggish (Score:3, Insightful)
> A vertical intergration in your hardware software stack means you can squeeze every drop of performance out of it.
Not really.
That only works if your hardware is something special. If Apple's phones are anything like their PCs, then this isn't the case.
Android liberating phones from St. Steve. That's just hilarious.
Re:Case in point (Score:3, Insightful)
Nintendo never pretended to be in the computer business.
OTOH, Apple fanboys get their panties in a bunch when you call the iPad an overgrown iPod.
Clearly Apple and it's lackeys want the line to be blurred. Admitting the device is a souped up DS would make it much less attractive.
Re:Case in point (Score:3, Insightful)
The Mega-iphone already has accomodations to use it as a proper desktop computer.
The only thing keeping the Mega-iphone from being used exactly like a Mac Mini is some artificial software restrictions.
If it's ports were standard, you could hook it up to the same peripherals that your Mac Mini or your PC uses.
Re:Pr0n! (Score:3, Insightful)
There you go making a rational and well worded and thoughful comment in a iphone article thread.
Why cant people like you be like the rest of the nutjobs and simply foam at the mouth that the word iPhone was used?
Next thing we will see is a well edited story.... YOU ARE DESTROYING SLASHDOT!
Dang rational people....
I dub thee "hackeroid" (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Yessiree! (Score:3, Insightful)
You must be new here. Lately criticism of Apple will get you insightful. It doesn't even have to be intelligent criticism. ("Apple $ucks") is about all you need.
Re:Yessiree! (Score:3, Insightful)
Karma doesn't seem to affect ANYTHING unless it is negative. My KArma's been "50" (or "Excellent") for years, and it's been a long long time since I was asked to moderate or metamoderate. I think that depends on how frequently you post matters more (which is sad because that inversely affects the quality of discussion if there's a million "me too" responses).
Re:Case in point (Score:2, Insightful)