Android on an iPhone? There's an app for that
Setting the robots on Cupertino
Linux developers have managed to get Google's Android OS running on an iPhone, providing an open OS for the most closed of platforms.
The Linux On The iPhone blog has been mucking about with booting utilities and drivers for a while, but can now demonstrate a duel-boot iPhone that will switch between Apple and Google at a power cycle. The blog also provides code, with minimal documentation, for the more intrepid hobbyist who fancies having a go.
The project only works on older iPhones at the moment, though the developers don't see any particular difficulties in supporting more recent handsets. The video shows web browsing, music playback, SMS messaging and phone calls - comprehensive functionality even if a few bugs remain and the lack of buttons makes navigation cumbersome.
But minor issues aside it seems a surprisingly workable platform, even if the developers refer to it as "alpha quality".
One might wonder why you would want to run Android on Apple's hardware, other than the joy of the challenge itself, but perhaps you really like Flash animations, or want to listen to Ogg-encoded music, and happen to like the iPhone's form factor.
Apple certainly won't be amused - part of the point of an iPhone is that they are all the same; if you've used one iPhone then the next one you pick up will be identical. The same can't be said of Android or any other competitor.
Whether Cupertino bothers to do anything about it will depend on how many people download it, how stable the development gets, and how many donations the developers receive - though we can't help wondering if Google might not slip them a few quid, just for laughs. ®
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COMMENTS
Duel-boot
Presumably this involves the 2 OSes slugging it out to decide which gets to run the phone this time.
Back on topic, well done to the devs. It's this sort of wonderful if a bit pointless webserver-on-a-toaster daftness that makes this industry so interesting.
@AC
Hmm Guess I shouldn't feed the trolls.......... Aww, what the hell........ they look hungry. I will keep this short.
1 - iPhone is the only apple product I have owned and will ever own.
2 - I got the device cos I needed something to go on holiday with that 'kept me in touch' - it was a choice between a netbook or iPhone - I went for portability and hence iPhone.
3 - At the time I was not aware of how dire iTunes was and still is and how much control apple exert over a device they do not own.
I have nothing against the device, it is a fabulous bit of kit (other than a couple of deliberate design flaws). apples world domination plans they can keep and shove it where the sun don't shne.
I'm currently saving my pennies to buy a top end android phone. When I do I will be 'experimenting' with my iPhone, jalbreak, dual boot etc. Failing that, giving it to the wife...........
That's not where they make their money..
"You still have to buy an iPhone"
True, but that's not where Apple makes the real $$$. They make their money from taking a slice of *everything* around it - your calls, your bandwidth, the music you buy, apps, Google use - everything. If they could bill you for breathing near the phone they would, but there's no App for that yet. Coming soon: every bit of news you get and the books you read, coutresy of the iPaid, sorry, IPad. This fits perfectly into Jobs' obsession with control - even Gates never dared to venture where Jobs has no problem treading.
To run a different OS on the iPhone is thus a worse act of blasphemy than jail breaking it - this is not just filing through the bars, this is ripping a complete wall out of the prison and putting up signs everywhere for other prisoners to make use of it, provided they get this stable (and they will, I think). It also allows Google to completely outmanoeuvre Apple for revenue - they can sell music too, without Apple getting a dime/penny/cent, and sell ads without having to part with a percentage for using the iPhone as a platform.
I honestly cannot see Jobs even sleep before the developers have come up with a new iPhone OS release to fight this off. I'll be very surprised if this takes more than, say, a couple of weeks.
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