[Tfug] Hackable phone?

[Bexley Hall]

Hi, John,

--- On Thu, 2/19/09, John Gruenenfelder <johng at as.arizona.edu> wrote:

> >--- On Sun, 2/15/09, Jude Nelson
> >> T-Mobile G1.  Hands down the best handheld device for potential
> >> hackers I've ever seen.

> >Cool!  Is documentation available without signing your
> >life away?
> 
> Completely.  In fact, as of one or two months ago, Android
> is now an open source project.

Is it *entirely* open?  Or, do they keep certain parts under
wraps to protect (e.g., the phone manufacturer's) IP?

> Still guided by Google, of course... similar to how Java is
> handled now, but, to me, seems a fair bit more open.
> 
> In Android's short 1-2 years of public life,
> they've made far more
> (substantial) overtures to the OSS community than Palm did
> in 12+ years.

I suspect that's because they aren't interested in selling hardware
(as MS realized, trying to control that sort of market is an
exercise in futility -- something Apple and Sun never really
grok'ed)

They'll be happy controlling content/access.  It will be
amusing to see how the company changes when www.google.com
isn't the center of the universe (and you *know* something
is waiting to displace them just like they have displaced
MS)

> Downloading the Android SDK was a matter of a click here
> and there (probably
> some webpage EULA thing) and following the directions to
> install it into
> Eclipse.  Of course, Eclipse isn't necessary and you
> could go the ant+emacs route if you like.

OK.  I'll take a peek.

> Compare this with Palm's SDK (or SDK addons from
> companies like Sony).  You
> needed to get a developer account approved, then log into
> and dig around the
> website to get the SDK files.  Then you still needed to
> hack them to make them work on non-Win platforms.

Yes, my experience (of which you are aware) with the Palm
stuff has shown me how Palm doesn't go out of their way
to encourage development.

> Regardless of alternative motives and dark machinations, I
> can say that Google
> has been making all of the right moves to attract FOSS
> developers now that
> Palm OS has tanked.  That is, frankly, a very good thing
> for the platform.
> Most of the best Palm apps I used weren't commercial in
> any way.

Right now, I'm just interested in the hardware (can't design
or build anything comparable for what these things sell for
"new" -- even without "contracts").  I'd previously pushed
Palms into designs as a cheap user interface (though never
had to actually write the code for them).  Some of these
phones are ripe for similar exploitation...