android on pandora

[SNESFAN]

Is touch navigation with a finger that important? Besides using a finger we have a stylus, and the nubs for navigation. Seems that it would not be worth the effort , just so we can have a better gui and some apps. We already have multiple guis and if i'm not mistaken dflemstr was working on a flexible gui called panorama. http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/51076-panorama/


The apps doesn't seem that big of a deal because we have lots of apps already and there are thousands of linux apps that would fill in the gaps.

well it's very clear that you are against the idea, as clear as I am for the idea. Your opinion as to why it shouldn't be attempted is noted, but you're not really adding to the conversation other than the general tone of "android has nothing to offer" What do you have to gain from putting linux/windows/osx/whatever to that laptop? It's got a perfectly functional linxu/windows/osx/whatever system on it! I just plain don't understand that type of thinking at all.


not your words.. they are mine of course.

 

[wardred]

I think it would be great as a second dual-boot OS. Deved by the community, by OpenPandora and released to the community, forked or projected off of omap Android project, cyanogenmod, or whatever is easiest and most sustainable. If it's possible to do the whole cyanogenmod thing and download the Google binaries separate from the open source stuff to get access to the official market, bonus...though I don't know how that's tied to one's phone - by account, by sim chip, or both...

 

[Tickles]

@johnsongrant Hmmm almost right Yes Blackberry sucks for gaming, completely agree but that's what I've (almost) got a Pandora for. It seems fine for multimedia to me, but I haven't really asked a lot of it other than a few mp3s, a couple of video files and some youtube. There's no flash though so I'll give you that one.


But no good for social networking? For me that's one of its strong points: I've never used Facebook so much! Twitter's good too, but I don't use Myspace.


Also you listed multitasking under WM's strong points. I just moved from WM 6.5 and although it can multitask, I didn't think it did it well. Switching tasks was a pain. Another home run for BB on that one, simple and fast.


It syncs all my contacts with Gmail, and obviously email, Facebook etc. Haven't really looked at syncing photos and everything else yet so I can't say about that. This is one area where WM wins though, their MyPhone sync was pretty good.


As I said I haven't used Android yet so I can't knock it, but I've got to stick up for my new love (and have a dig at the ex while I'm at it )

 

[SNESFAN]

@johnsongrant Hmmm almost right Yes Blackberry sucks for gaming, completely agree but that's what I've (almost) got a Pandora for. It seems fine for multimedia to me, but I haven't really asked a lot of it other than a few mp3s, a couple of video files and some youtube. There's no flash though so I'll give you that one.


But no good for social networking? For me that's one of its strong points: I've never used Facebook so much! Twitter's good too, but I don't use Myspace.


Also you listed multitasking under WM's strong points. I just moved from WM 6.5 and although it can multitask, I didn't think it did it well. Switching tasks was a pain. Another home run for BB on that one, simple and fast.


It syncs all my contacts with Gmail, and obviously email, Facebook etc. Haven't really looked at syncing photos and everything else yet so I can't say about that. This is one area where WM wins though, their MyPhone sync was pretty good.


As I said I haven't used Android yet so I can't knock it, but I've got to stick up for my new love (and have a dig at the ex while I'm at it )

I knew someone was going to say something about what I had said, I should have said best in class in my opinion. I've owned for at least a complete year, every phone OS that I had listed. blackberry I felt was it's weakest at multimedia and games compared to the iphone, webos, and android, it's one of the cases where it's not *horrible* but it is just not as good (except for slacker radio, blackberry does cache mode on slacker, it's what really got me into smartphones www.slacker.com )


all the other smartphone OS's rip from each other, some do things very well, some do things... ehh... blackberry's sync of social networking sites are subpar compared to other's I've seen. Multi-tasking... I do have to give that to winmo still all things compared, I couldn't or was a pain in the ass ending tasks in blackberry os, winmo had a built in task manager.... that gets a tip of the hat from me, but I really should have said webOS for multi-tasking, no other OS even came close to that masterpeice. card system ftw.

 

[Tickles]

Are you sure you're not getting BB and WM mixed up with regard to social networking? Just try WM's Facebook app if you want an example of bad syncing.


And yes, it's easier to end tasks in WM, but that's only necessary because it's likely to freeze up and crash if you have too many open. BB just flies along no matter how many I've got open


Had a look at Slacker, looks great if you're in the US

 

[SNESFAN]

Not saying bb is the worst, i would imagine wm social networking is horrific, I am just saying webos did/does it better, so does iphone and android, I was doing best in catagory/ best examples remember?


Edit, besides the point, only going to be able to port android anyway, I dont think bb os has ever been ported to a 3rd party device without prior consent. We are talking about porting os's

 

[Tickles]

I'd imagine iphone is great for social networking, as that's the customer base it's aimed at. Don't think I'll ever get one though: as I found out from my last WM, I NEED a physical keypad!


I never really considered a Palm phone, don't know why. Last time I used that OS was on a monochrome PDA!

Edit, besides the point, only going to be able to port android anyway, I dont think bb os has ever been ported to a 3rd party device without prior consent. We are talking about porting os's

This is true. Now where'd that track go? :unsure:

 

[hedwards]

Personally, I don't see the point of this, but if there's people who want it badly enough to make happen, I say go for it. But as for running Android apps on Pandora, there's a couple choices, one being port the Dalvik VM to Pandora, the other being wait for Oracle to win its lawsuit against Google and for Google to then back down and use a real VM for their implementation of Java. Given the degree to which they've violated Oracle's IP, both patent and trademark, I can't imagine Oracle losing the suit.

 

[b1ueskycomp1ex]

So basically let's sum this up:

• Android is good
  
• Android on pandora is good
  
• Android as pandora OS is bad
  
• Android as an optional SD-Bootable OS is good
  
• Marketing a $350+ Handheld to people and saying it's powered by android is stupid
  

I mean realistically, no one wants to buy a pandora running android. You might as well buy a phone. Get a phone and the iControlPad and an android version of the pandora no longer makes sense. I know personally having a full linux desktop is personally the biggest reason why I want the pandora in the first place. If it just ran android, I might as well buy a Motorola Droid and stick a gamegripper on it and call it the pandarola droid. Not to mention all the features you would lose with android (real multitasking? LOL, no.) So making it the "main" OS for the pandora would be absolutely, mindbogglingly idiotic.


But If someone ports it it would be neat to use from time to time, I suppose.

 

[Tickles]

"So making it the "main" OS for the pandora would be absolutely, mindbogglingly idiotic."


For now, yes. In the (distant) future as an alternative OS, not so. Linux isn't mainstream. Android is. A mainstream crowd is more likely to buy Android. IMHO

 

[SNESFAN]

"So making it the "main" OS for the pandora would be absolutely, mindbogglingly idiotic."


For now, yes. In the (distant) future as an alternative OS, not so. Linux isn't mainstream. Android is. A mainstream crowd is more likely to buy Android. IMHO

yea.. no doubt... the question isn't should, the question is when? When someone.. anyone going to port it? The first preview port we seen has disappeard with the creator, when is the next port going to happen and when will it be public?


that is what I'm dying to hear

 

[Yannick]

If you want a phone OS on the pandora, port S60v5


It's been developed for ages on ARM devices


runs on the most crap hardware that exists, so even beter on the panda


it has a software catalog that rivals iOS


it runs *real* java compared to android (ask Oracle)


no, serious now, the pandora is not a phone, if you want a nice "social" desktop for internet tablets


port MeeGo

 

[milkshake]

+1 for meego

 

[maplesugarlover]

If you want a social desktop port gwibber ! It's on the wiki list.

 

[SNESFAN]

No objection to a meego port


I just want an android port, if I knew how to port I would belive me, but I have zero idea how to do anything more than running a script or installing a program

 

[Mycroft]

My oppinon:


Keep Ångström as the main OS, but i would like to see Android as an additional OS (preferably on SD card)!

 

[SNESFAN]

I just wanted to post this latest android developers blog post, android has now officially started supporting MIDs with no phone hardware or constant internet connection. If OP ltd was looking to get their device officially supported, now would be a good time to do so. Google may require some of the symbols on a couple of the keys on the keymat be modified to comply with the minimum key requirement for home/back/menu/search that is an android standard. the 3 middle buttons make good canidates IMO.


http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/09/brace-for-future.html


just some good news if craig and co are wanting to make an "android only" version of the pandora. EDIT: in addition to the angstrom flavor.. don't get your panties in a twist.

Way back in November 2007 when Google announced Android, Andy Rubin said “We hope thousands of different phones will be powered by Android.” But now, Android’s growing beyond phones to new kinds of devices. (For instance, you might have read about the new 7” Galaxy Tab that our partners at Samsung just announced.) So, I wanted to point out a few interesting new gadgets that are coming soon running the latest versions of Android, 2.1 and 2.2.

For starters, the first Android-based non-phone handheld devices will be shipping over the next few months. Some people call these Mobile Internet Devices or Personal Media Players — MIDs or PMPs. Except for the phone part, PMP/MID devices look and work just like smartphones, but if your app really does require phone hardware to work correctly, you can follow some simple steps to make sure your app only appears on phones.

 

[milkshake]

wooo sounds good to me

 

[Christoph.Krn]

He does have a point: Angstrom is terribly touch-unfriendly.

With angstrom you've got things you've got on desktop linux, which is sort of the point.

Exactly - that's the point! And for people to get the idea of openness that's behind the Pandora, it's an important idea. There is a discussion going on at the German forums, it's about why a widely un-customized Xfce is good for the Pandora, why making user interface principles more like in Windows is pseudo-usability and considered harmful, and how to make Zaxxon more Pandora-friendly without sacrificing a full desktop experience. Basically, it's about most things mentioned here. You could give reading it - automatically translated via Google - a try: http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.gp2x.de%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D23%26t%3D10014%26start%3D75%23p138765 (here's the link to the original version)


Discussing this and finding entirely new ideas is to be preferred over using Android for usability reasons, plus even making Android an official OS would destroy A LOT of the Pandora's perceived uniqueness. Which is a problem, since the uniqueness of the Pandora is its main selling point.


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there were some who either just were 100% agianst the idea of android at all though. Most of their arguements have been shot down except for the argument of "no..just no" that or "facepalm" i really have no opposing viewpoint to those kinda comments.

Here's a translation of something I wrote into the Android thread on the German forums:

And everyone's like: "Yeaahh"


Let's put Android on the Pandora. This way, we'd get commercial games, but also the benefit of no one buying the Pandora because its uniqueness - based on openness and independence - would be vaporized. </sarcasm>


No, seriously: That'd be the same the OpenBSD project is criticizing (and rightfully so!) about other operating systems: correcting the own principles to gain wider distribution, more compatibility etc. This wouldn't be a good thing, since the Pandora is getting into the mass market via enthusiasts. Via people that value openness and independence. There's nothing better than a product getting into the mass market by word-of-mouth recommendations from enthusiasts.


Using Android the Pandora could have more commercial games, but for getting commercial games, people would rather buy a DS or PSP - and the 3DS is just around the corner, ready to be released around the time when the Pandora's production will take off into the mass market (by current schedule - why, hello grain of salt). Android as a community based OS is a good thing, but as an official OS at the very most it would be acceptable as a dual-boot OS, and ONLY if Pandora-Angström had a much higher priority in everything.


And I'm not saying this because I'm generally very careful regarding Android, but because I like the Pandora and don't want to find myself not liking it anymore.


But instead of making further explanations, let me just collect some things some enthusiasts have already written inside this thread about how important the Pandora's openness is for them. Just in case someone will have the idea again to use Android as a main Pandora OS.

Android is somewhat suspicious to me.

[...] Like ashclowd said' date= it [Android, remark] seems to be OpenSource, but when you're looking closer you'll realize Google pretty much has control over the main parts of the system.
(...)


The goal was to produce the ultimate OpenSource-Handheld. [...] With Android, the direction would change completely.


(...)


The ultimate Homebrew-/Emu-Console of course needs an absolutely free [German word "freies", meaning "free" as in "free speach", remark] Operating System!!! X-(

MeeGo is - to my knowledge - more open and closer to a community than Android is.

[...] got another android phone and I'm satisfied. would like to have more freedom' date= but you can't have everything.

Personally' date=' I think Android is boring and would really prefer having a really open system over such kind of pseudo open source thing [...']

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I think a lot of average, high street consumers may be scared of Linux, so offering them an OS they're already familiar with from their mobile may make it more general public friendly.

If you get people to really understand the idea behind the project and they like it, they won't think it's bad that it's running Linux and won't be scared either.


The Pandora is not just another commercial gaming console. So don't make it look like being one!

 

[SNESFAN]

I can really respect where you are comming from, me and my wife just had this conversation a couple min ago. You see pandora as a spirit of the community. And I really respect that. I however only see the pandora as a handheld that has gaming controls, keyboard, and can technically run android and would run it well from a platform perspective. I care not of what this platform actually represents.


I and probally a lot of people out there most definately bought our pandoras for completely different reasons. I hope to see this as common as some of your lesser known mainstream gaming handhelds, if not even more successful.


I've been saying this ever since the first delay in shipping, if there was another option even in remotely the same caliber I would jump ship in a heartbeat.... but good for them, bad for me.... there isn't anything else out there