Pandroid - Android On Pandora


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mazza558

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Aug 31, 2008
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The more I read about Android, the more I'm convinced that it'd be absolutely perfect for the Pandora.

- We get all the Android apps (well, except the phone/camera ones)
- More functional than Matchbox (by miles)
- Runs on ARM (T-mobile G1)
- Is actually designed for a mobile device and touchscreen

How about it? We should try it if only due to the awesome name it would have :p
 
mali said:
Honestly, I see no point in Android. It's a phone OS.
Click to expand...
And, as such, it's actually designed to be practical,fast, and easy to use. I honestly can't see matchbox as it is now getting anywhere near Android. At the moment we seem to have this clumsy inferface (I'm running it in VMWare now) which doesn't really feel practical. Of course, that could all change, but still...
 
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Android runs on N8x0. It's original OS is Maemo(Hildon/Matchbox). Maemo runs much better. Keep in mind that Android is designed with tablet-only touchscreen in mind. It would be quite awkward on a clamshell.
Edit:
It would be enough to port Dalvik to run Android apps on Pandora.
 
There is little to be gained by running the Android OS on the Pandora other than access to Android apps. Ideally, an Android RTE could be created to give us access to those apps without having to run the actual OS. Android apps are very similar to JAVA apps, and it is well within the realm of possibility to do this.

Remember, if your Pandora is running the Android OS, you will only have access to Android apps. Native Pandora apps will not function under Android.
 
mazza558 said:
mali said:
Honestly, I see no point in Android. It's a phone OS.
Click to expand...
And, as such, it's actually designed to be practical,fast, and easy to use. I honestly can't see matchbox as it is now getting anywhere near Android. At the moment we seem to have this clumsy inferface (I'm running it in VMWare now) which doesn't really feel practical. Of course, that could all change, but still...


Come off it. ;) Matchbox is not the UI. It's not the OS. It's just the window manager and a desktop launcher, which is rapidly being improved and looks quite nice now.
Click to expand...
 
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And of course, Matchbox etc are designed _specifically_ for handheld use ;)

More to point.. Android is pandering very specifically to the java audience right now, keeping the C++ APIs deprecated. ie: In its target market, portability (Java is allegedly more portable) is more important than performance (though the Android VM is actually a very solid performer, for a JVM.)

Android might be a good option for those who want it, but its not going to be the baseline. ie: Run whatever you like, of course..

jeff

edit: Should add for those who've never seen Android -- Android is not X11 (the Unix main GUI engine) .. ie: you wont' be running all your existing Unix and Linux applications. I don't know for sure but I am pretty sure Android has a well defined window manager as well (not somethign you can swap out to another, even using their framebuffer renderer).. and the default Android window manager, which is tuned for phones and such, is fairly limiting. Its smooth and has some _great_ stuff (I like Android, donm't get me wrong), but one of the things that is great about Unix and Linux is swapping one thign in for another. ie: We keep X11 and all Pandora apps, and sewap the window manager.. you can use Matchbox, or if you want multiple overlapping windows rather than full screen tiled window.. install Enlightenment or WindowMaker or whatever. Heck, install a few WM's (several will be included) and swap as you need :)
 
if all you care about is android apps and the ui, I'm sure they can both be used without actually changing the os
 
Just because someone ported it to the eeePC, it doesn't make it anything more than a phone OS. It's not official, after all.

Android + Pandora = Pandroid = Fail
 
pandora said:
Android + Pandora = Pandroid = Fail
Click to expand...
I agree that running Android on Pandora is pretty much pointless. But I can see use of Android on future ARM-based netbooks. It's quite "Average Joe - friendly" and it shouldn't be too complicated for manufactures to put it on there devices, easier than developing their own system I would say.
 
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wesbrown18 said:
mazza558 said:
mali said:
Honestly, I see no point in Android. It's a phone OS.
Click to expand...
And, as such, it's actually designed to be practical,fast, and easy to use. I honestly can't see matchbox as it is now getting anywhere near Android. At the moment we seem to have this clumsy inferface (I'm running it in VMWare now) which doesn't really feel practical. Of course, that could all change, but still...


Come off it. ;) Matchbox is not the UI. It's not the OS. It's just the window manager and a desktop launcher, which is rapidly being improved and looks quite nice now.


+1, matchbox will not be a dependency of the pandora OS

We can pick what wm we use, I doubt I will be using matchbox on my pandora.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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Android on the Pandora would be interesting as an alternative OS, and I may try it on an SD card, but I don't think it would be a good choice as a main OS because it won't run pandora / linux apps, it will take some time before there are lots of good android ones and I dubt that we're going to see android apps with full support for the pandora controllers very soon.
 
mali said:
Honestly, I see no point in Android. It's a phone OS.
Click to expand...
google has stated and the android sdk shows that phones are not the only target. there will be arm based netbooks coming out this year and some might be running android.

infact this place has a race on it's hands, for me at least, will you deliver what was promised before one of those arm based netbooks comes out? one of the main reasons for me to get a pandora is it's arm based computer aimed at general use that is portable. it isn't a cell phone because i really have no need for them. as for why i want this, that's way off topic for this board. though your probibly not paying too much attention imho if you don't know.

QUOTE
Android on the Pandora would be interesting as an alternative OS, and I may try it on an SD card, but I don't think it would be a good choice as a main OS because it won't run pandora / linux apps, it will take some time before there are lots of good android ones and I dubt that we're going to see android apps with full support for the pandora controllers very soon.


android IS linux, it just has it's own custom x-server, not the one from xorg.
 
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Android is dalvik based which is PRACTICALLY == JAVA although the VMs bitecode is different

JAVA is SLOW and bloated and the api is always changing ie you can't code with all the same apis on 1.4 1.5 and 1.6 something changes whereas C++ and even python (3.0 is gonna break stuff they say) are fairly the same!!!!

matchbox can and WILL look nice very nice from what the themers have posted so far

android offers nothing but a bloated platform if you want wizz bang use e17 libaries and stuff like cutter or qt not dalvik

I am a bit of a developer and i have experienced java... my advice stay away stay very far away (unless you use netbeans an have plenty ram and CPU cycles to waste then its ok ... yeah right)
 
truekaiser said:
infact this place has a race on it's hands, for me at least, will you deliver what was promised before one of those arm based netbooks comes out?

Pandora != Netbook
Click to expand...
 
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khamul56 said:
I agree that running Android on Pandora is pretty much pointless. But I can see use of Android on future ARM-based netbooks. It's quite "Average Joe - friendly" and it shouldn't be too complicated for manufactures to put it on there devices, easier than developing their own system I would say.
Click to expand...
Heh... Matchbox+Maemo is "Average Joe" friendly. Nokia has quite a solid handle on mobile/portable device UI and has had it for quite some time. A netbook with Android isn't going to be any nicer/easier than with what we're about to field. It's not going to be any easier/nicer with a properly managed and configured E17 setup for that matter.

What gets me is that people seem to think that this stuff is going to be "better" than what we've got planned out.
 
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