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New York, 3:23 AM
Tue Dec 8
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Jack_Burton Jack_Burton
    12/07/09

    In reply to It's Time To Make Phone OSes Work On Any Phone
    WebOS, iPhone OS, and Android are all *NIX with HTML and Javascript on top. Except for Windows Mobile, most of the smartphone market has some form of *NIX / Java blend.

    VMware would really shake things up if it blurred the barriers of hardware. I don't think the carriers will go for it, though. Handset vendors won't care as much, except Apple, whose whole game is "the total user experience" anyway.
     Reply
    Jack_Burton was starred Jack_Burton was unstarred
    Image of something_unique_and_descriptive something_unique_and_descriptive
    12/07/09

    In reply to It's Time To Make Phone OSes Work On Any Phone
    As long as the devices are dependent on carrier distribution it's not going to happen. As it is right now if you want WinMo and Android, you buy two phones, they subsidize one (which locks you into a contract) and then sell you the second for additional profit.

    There are so many things f**ked the hell up with the wireless industry the ability to load your own OS barely even registers on the radar. How about we start by getting the carriers to discount service for those of us whose devices they aren't subsidizing. Once that happens buying unlocked becomes a much better value proposition, then with the carriers, and their desire for artificial market segmentation, out of the way a multi-boot smartphone might be possible.

    People from the FCC / congress, if you're reading this, make it happen.
     Reply
    something_unique_and_descriptive was starred something_unique_and_descriptive was unstarred
    Image of Mikestan Mikestan
    12/07/09

    In reply to It's Time To Make Phone OSes Work On Any Phone
    I think the Corporate Gods learned their lesson from computers and there is no way in hell they are going to give you "freedom" with their mobile phones
     Reply
    Mikestan was starred Mikestan was unstarred
    Image of blash blash
    12/07/09

    In reply to It's Time To Make Phone OSes Work On Any Phone
    Honestly I just don't know why no one has hacked the Android OS to run on the iPhone. Would seem like a no-brainer, right? Android is open-source, geek-oriented, and the iPhone is ubiquitous enough to merit serious 3rd party free-unlocking and pirate app support (and by pirate here I don't mean piracy, I mean not sanctioned by Apple).
     Reply
    blash was starred blash was unstarred
    Image of microlithx microlithx
    12/07/09

    @blash:
    The iPhone's hardware precludes the loading of other OSes. One of the core means of doing this is via booting from a microSD card which the iPhone famously lacks.
     Reply
    blash promoted this comment Kaila Hale-Stern approved this comment microlithx was starred microlithx was unstarred
    Image of blash blash
    12/07/09

    @microlithx: Yeah but hackers have been able to access everything from root to the baseband. If they can do all that, why can't they boot something that lets them write new firmware to allow them to boot a new OS off the included storage? Is there some part of the iPhone that still hasn't been torn apart in software in some way?
     Reply
    blash was starred blash was unstarred
    Image of Kaiser-Machead Kaiser-Machead
    12/07/09

    In reply to It's Time To Make Phone OSes Work On Any Phone
    Having handsets that actually work well with their respective OS's is more important, in my opinion, than the choices available of the OS+hardware combo. Far too many phones I've tried out did not work all that well to begin with, and having more options per phone won't exactly cure that.
     Reply
    Kaiser-Machead was starred Kaiser-Machead was unstarred
    Image of Software_Goddess Software_Goddess
    12/07/09

    In reply to It's Time To Make Phone OSes Work On Any Phone
    *Claps, nods head* Speechless.
     Reply
    Software_Goddess was starred Software_Goddess was unstarred
    Image of OCEntertainment OCEntertainment
    12/07/09

    In reply to It's Time To Make Phone OSes Work On Any Phone
    I don't necessarily think I'm with you on this one, John, but I do think that I will be in a couple of years.

    Thing is, as fast as we can get some of our phones to move, they are all slow. I mean, compared to desktop space, where you can fly through the internet, download videos in a flash (pun totally intended). I am not in the least bit interested in seeing how Android would run on the specs of a current phone if it had to include a bunch of software to support the myriad of hardware that's out there now. Maybe it won't be too much longer before hardware gets crazy fast, but as long as we're still measuring CPU speeds in "OMG! 1GHZ?!", I'd rather wait it out.

    I think you're dead on in a lot of what it's going to take to get there....but when I think back to what the software world was like when my desktop ran on a 600 Mhz processor and 256 MB of RAM, I'm less than inclines to think I want anything but a specialized, heavily tweaked, custom-built piece of software running on my phone. Some of the improvements have come from faster software, sure, but I think we owe a good deal of faster desktops now to faster hardware.

    In the long run, I am right there with you. And I think it deserves the call to action now that it will take to get there someday. But I don't think I'd want to see what that would look like in 2010.
     Reply
    OCEntertainment was starred OCEntertainment was unstarred
    Image of Die Fledermaus Die Fledermaus
    12/07/09

    In reply to It's Time To Make Phone OSes Work On Any Phone
    While the idea has some merit, most mobile OS are hardware centric. Much of the reason of that is to keep them small and running the best they can. While Android shows the most possibility for cross platform adaptability, it is still tweaked for the hardware it is on. I believe that smart portable technology is still in its infancy and the power to take that sort of step is several generations away as was stated in the blog. What I would like to see is a very customizable OS again Android shows promise. An OS where the icons the layout the whole look could be adapted for the needs of the user. a very amorphous interface.
     Reply
    Edited by Die Fledermaus at 12/07/09 1:28 PM Die Fledermaus was starred Die Fledermaus was unstarred
    Image of Coolmodo Coolmodo
    12/07/09

    In reply to It's Time To Make Phone OSes Work On Any Phone
    Well, the Neo Freerunner (sp?) was supposed to be one of the first phones where you had full control over the hard and software.

    Unfortunately that project seems to have died.
     Reply
    Coolmodo was starred Coolmodo was unstarred
    Image of Joe Stoner Joe Stoner
    12/07/09

    In reply to HTC 2010 Product Roadmap Leak: Legends, Salsa, Buzz
    If only we could figure out what day "Natco Day" falls on this year, we'd have solid launch date details.
     Reply
    Joe Stoner was starred Joe Stoner was unstarred
    Image of Poop Cooper Poop Cooper
    12/07/09

    In reply to Headless Luke Wilson Continues the Great AT&T/Verizon Ad War of 2009
    Ah, "Speedy Yet Spotty," my nickname in high school.
     Reply
    Poop Cooper was starred Poop Cooper was unstarred
    Image of tande04 tande04
    12/06/09

    In reply to HTC 2010 Product Roadmap Leak: Legends, Salsa, Buzz
    I like the Bravo and look forward to buying it some day.
     Reply
    tande04 was starred tande04 was unstarred
    Image of Nathan Obbards Nathan Obbards
    12/06/09

    In reply to HTC 2010 Product Roadmap Leak: Legends, Salsa, Buzz
    The Salsa looks like a Peek and the Legend looks like the G1 and iPhone had a bastard child together, but the Buzz and Bravo are sexy phones.
     Reply
    Nathan Obbards was starred Nathan Obbards was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    12/06/09

    In reply to Headless Luke Wilson Continues the Great AT&T/Verizon Ad War of 2009
    AT&T's service in New York City, especially when coupled with the iPhone, is fantastic.

    You'll never have a dropped call provided that you keep all calls to less than six minutes in duration.
     Reply
    Edited by OMG! Ponies! at 12/06/09 4:58 PM OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:
    12/06/09

    In reply to Headless Luke Wilson Continues the Great AT&T/Verizon Ad War of 2009
    Who cares where the coverage is and where it isn't. Most people don't travel that much anyway. What it comes down to is that the iPhone is an extremely popular phone and if people can get it in their area they probably will. No one is going to buy a phone in an area where they can't use it (will they?). If you live in a major metropolitan area, you will likely have both ATT and Verizon available and I don't think people really care about speed that much so they make their decisions based on the phone. For these cases the iPhone wins. Now there are many places where ATT's 3G network sucks and that's what Verizon is targeting for selling the Droid. Commercials will stop when competition stops: never.

    By the way, I don't own an iPhone and actually hate Apple but I'm basing my argument on the popularity and market penetration of the iPhone. There have been a lot of Droid commercials but they have done very little to describe the advantages of using Android so the average American is still going to regard the iPhone higher based on the 'There's an app for that' commercials.
     Reply
    Edited by PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: at 12/06/09 4:54 PM PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was starred PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was unstarred
    Image of collectiveego collectiveego
    12/06/09

    @PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:: This is a solid statement.

    iPhone has been around long enough where it's a damn good phone. The Droid is still new so we'll see, but it seems its holding just fine.

    The carriers have different spots, so while one may work some place, the other may not work there...sometimes they both will. Obviously AT&T's network for the most part is fine enough for 80 million people to keep their service. Likewise for Verizon's network.

    Consumers are very demanding, so it's difficult to please them in everything.
     Reply
    PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: promoted this comment collectiveego was starred collectiveego was unstarred
    Image of imTheKing imTheKing
    12/06/09

    @PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:: I'm in the other seat on this. I stay with Verizon for phone stabilty, although I only travel from Manhattan to Upstate NY which is only 2 hours in distance. My friend with AT&T drops calls nonstop even just standing in Manhattan. I'm an Apple fanatic but I still can't bite on the AT&T bullshit.
     Reply
    PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: promoted this comment imTheKing was starred imTheKing was unstarred
    Image of PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:
    12/06/09

    @imTheKing: Yeah, I think that's also a good point. There are many people who have been with one carrier for a while who will stay as long as there is a decent selection of phones. The Droid is certainly a great reason to stay with Verizon IMO. It may/may not be as good as the iPhone but it's certainly in the same ballpark and most Verizon customers are pretty loyal and/or don't want to start over with a new carrier because of their loyalty benefits. For all the shit people give ATT, there are still many subscribers so I guess they can't be that bad. Same with Verizon. Also, it would be interesting to know what percentage of subscribers on both sides actually use 3G. I bet it's not even that high. Many people I know still use their phones just for calling and not for data.
     Reply
    Edited by PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: at 12/06/09 5:40 PM PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was starred PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was unstarred
    Image of MechGk MechGk
    12/07/09

    @PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:: If you don't travel I can agree, but I think you are wrong to discount the travelers. We are many and AT&T does suck for a traveller. I actually have a coverage map as my background to tell me when to pocket the iPhone and pull out the Droid.
     Reply
    PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: promoted this comment MechGk was starred MechGk was unstarred
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