Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 19th Oct 2010 12:23 UTC

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If the current line of phones are not to your liking, you can create your own and no one will send C&D letters to you.
Make your own phone? Are you mad? The whole point of android being "open" is that people can buy a phone, and then download the Android source, compile and install it. In reality they *can't* do that, because
A) Most phones have locked boot-loaders. and
B) There's no source for many of the drivers or the radio firmware. You have to (illegally) copy the binaries that came with the phone, and even then you can't add features, fix bug and so on.
You realize that the Android world have both types of phones? Completely open (e.g. the OpenMoko Android port) and not that open (Motorola). You are free to choose whichever you like. And I am perfectly happy with this and so is Linus Torvalds (hint: GPLv3).
Also, access to radio is limited due to some US law.
The whole point of android being "open" is that people can buy a phone, and then download the Android source
Hm... Thank you for enlightening us. You are probably Andy Rubin or one of the strategists at Google?
My speculation is, that Android is open because any H/W company can freely adapt, port it and still have the same platform.
Member since:
2010-01-12
Rubin's point was that all information is out there, and you can use it however you like.
If the current line of phones are not to your liking, you can create your own and no one will send C&D letters to you.
[... or you could get a Nexus 1 and hack it to death]