October 2008
15 posts
Wistron NeWeb's GW4
Earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a Chinese company called Wistron NeWeb debuted a smartphone with all the right features running MontaVista embedded Linux. From the PC Magazine article:
“But according to Wistron spokeswoman Molly Lin, the GW4 will be running Android by March, when Wistron will start selling it to more prominent firms for branding.”
...
Asustek to launch Android handset
From DigiTimes:
“Asustek Computer plans to launch its first Android-based Google phone in the first half of 2009, according to company sources.”
This past September, it was reported that Google invited Asustek into the Open Handset Alliance. Last year Asus released their first 3g Windows Mobile-based smartphone, the M530w, to the UK market.
Android Running on a CECT N96 Clone?
This forum post intimates that a CECT N96 is running a version of Android. I’m still investigating, but this may be the first documented Android-on-clone spotted in the wild.
Here’s the best demo video of the CECT N96 I could find on YouTube, from our Croatian friends over at Red GSM:
The MiPhone M88 - an Android platform?
With a 200Mhz ARM926T TI OMAP 850, the MiPhone M88 seems to meet Android’s minimum hardware requirements. It ships with Windows Mobile 6, costs $258.00 from DealExtreme, and looks like it has the right combination of smartphone essentials - Tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900, 802.11g/b, Bluetooth, 3.2” touch screen.
Though initial reviews are positive, the $258 price point is a bit...
Android Goes Open Source
Google has released the complete Android stack into the wild.
Everything from the C runtime to the kernel to the Dalvik virtual machine has been released as source.
This is a huge step towards implementing Android on 3rd party phone hardware - we’ll have to wait and see where this goes as developers, manufacturers, and enthusiasts get their hands on the source code and start hacking.
“People who own these phones like them a lot… they usually run Nucleus OS...”
– Unanswered clonephone related post from the Android developer group.
The State of Android on Clone Phones Today
Currently, there are several available Android alternative phones:
Android is working on the Neo 1973
Kogan Agora
Qigi i6
Sciphone Dream G2
The 'App store' Paradigm in the Developing World
Typically, the sales model for cell-phone minutes in the developing world is the purchase of minutes on cards. These cards, which are bought in bulk from the local service provider and resold locally, have scratch-off numbers that the user enters in the phone to purchase more minutes.
The iPhone ‘app store’ paradigm breaks down in an environment where credit card billing isn’t...
CECT/SciPhone/HiPhone/Daxian Comparsion →
This page is the best reference I’ve yet found, with a specification breakdown of most commonly available clone phones.
Clonedroid - Running Google Android on Chinese...
Google’s Android smartphone platform, a free, high quality operating system and SDK for cell phones, opens up a world of innovation to ARM-based Chinese iPhone clones. The latest of these phones, such as the Daxian T32, theoretically have the horsepower to compete with Nokia, HTC, and Motorola offerings. What clone phones universally lack is a decent operating system.
I think that the...