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Android OS gets loaded onto the Iphone
IPHONE USERS looking for a fully functioning operating system now have the option of loading Google's open source Android operating system on their shiny Apple smartphone.
A talented coder who previously worked on jail-breaking various Iphone OS releases also demonstrated, a year ago, the Linux kernel running on an Iphone. This time he goes one better, not only showing that the Iphone can indeed dual-boot, but can do so between the Iphone OS and the Android OS.
By using the previously released Openiboot loader, the user, upon firing up the device can choose which operating system to load. The video goes on to show a pretty standard Linux boot sequence, used in order to mount partitions onto the Iphone's flash memory, and finally handing over to Android.
The boot process does take a while, but the modest coder explains that "pretty much everything works", though he admits that the release currently isn't "production quality", stating it's more like an "alpha" quality, which Steve Jobs presumably will be relieved to hear.
Throughout the video Android seems fairly sluggish but the coder puts it down to the fact that Android is running in "debug mode" and that there is a garbage collector running in the kernel. Given that the Iphone 2G wasn't known as a zippy device, even when it was running the cut down Iphone OS, that's not surprising.
Regardless of it's alpha status, the video shows that WiFi connectivity, music playback, SMS and call capabilities are all present. It's obvious that due to the "button shortage", as the coder puts it, on the Iphone, that Android's user interface would require a major rejigging to make it work comfortably on the shiny Apple toy.
At present the "Idroid" only works with the first generation Iphone, though the coder says it should be "pretty simple" make it work with newer versions of the device. The best way to get hold of Idroid is to hit Bittorrent, as the web mirror linked on the coder's site is currently unavailable.
It should be stressed that Idroid, at present, is merely another way to stick two fingers up at Jobs' Mob and their notorious restrictions on computing freedom. That said, the functionalities and more importantly, the possibilities of this first alpha release already rival two generations of the production quality Iphone OS. µ
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See its just a phone. this roid OS proves it; its just a _Very_ expensive phone, everyone wants to have for some reason I_could_not_possibly_ever_conceive.
I tried... I tried to understand it but failed miserably. Im so sorry. :(
Sure, and everyone's personal challenges are worth reporting.
This only barely passes as news because of the media generated simmering rivalry between Android and the iOS you love to hate.
In every other respect it's irrelevant.
To all you people out there that think this hacker did this only because he wanted to run android on his iPhone.
What he did was a personal challenge, something no one had done before, it took allot of time and allot of knowledge. It was a learning curve, about mobile phones, smart phones, the iphone in particular, the iphone os, the android os, the linux kernel, etc. He is a smarter person because of this! He might now contribute in a much larger scale to both the iphone and android os. No one expects people to simply go out and buy an iphone just so they can run android on it, why would anyone want to do that? Only if for the learning experience because in terms of hardware there are better phones out there!
I didn't buy my phone from Apple (2nd/3rd hand?) and I'm pretty sure they would rather I didn't do stuff they didn't approve of (jailbreak, Cydia).
Cydia is a rival to their application shop.
And it obviously does make a difference to them, as they keep trying to nail down the OS/exploits by fixing the FW.
And to that previous artoid who doesn't seem to understand innovation, you're an artard who doesn't understand innovation.
How is buying an iphone and then loading android onto it sticking two fingers up at apple? You had to buy it from them in the first place - whether you load android onto it or flush it down the toilet makes no difference to them!
Because everyone obviously buys themselves an iPhone with the specific intention of waiting months for a successful jailbreak, zapping it and then replacing the OS with something buggier, more experimental and worse performing.
Have fun showing this to your pimply mates at the next Start Trek convention as you covertly rub your glans through your trouser pocket. Meanwhile, Steve isn't shaking in his boots and Apple continue to sell millions.
Laughable.
The previous commentator obviously misunderstood the import of that line. Other platforms than Apple tend not to have as many draconian restrictions on what can be published on their respective devices. Apple loves not giving its users any control, because apparently that 'spoils the experience'. Quite frankly, they appeal to the majority because they're simple to use. They are not complex, functional devices beyond the most basic of tasks. The iPhone only got copy/paste about 1 and a half years after every other *Nokia* phone. Pathetic. There's no fanboyism in this article, it's just demonstrating the insidious controlling tendencies of Steve Jobs and his company.
"It should be stressed that Idroid, at present, is merely another way to stick two fingers up at Jobs' Mob and their notorious restrictions on computing freedom."
What a nonsense statement, underpining the motivation for a nonsense article. Apple and Steve Jobs do restrict computer freedom, there are a range of manufacturers and operating systems that are easily accessible and available to anyone who wants to use them. The Apple option is only one choice in that range.
It also seems somewhat contradictory that your article praises an application that in your own words doesn't actually work properly and is restricting in itself. Isn't about time that this unhelpful, uninformative Apple/Linux/Windows lover/hater/fanboy approach to journalism ended. What's wrong with unbiased, factual reporting?