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[Q] Is a lighter version of android OS possible to implement on cheaper mobiles?

For my final year engineering project I have come up with an idea of developing a lighter version of android OS that can run on phone that cost less than Rs. 5k or $100. Don't know whether it is a good idea. I have a maximum of 3 months as my project time. This might be a creation of a custom ROM but should be available for low cost phone with less hardware.Is it feasible? Is there any chance of success? Please provide a valuable answer. Thank You!

You would most likely run into a problem with the drivers. .

Ok, so could you say the least hardware configuration for android 2.1 to run...

You would probably want to go with a older and smaller Android like 1.6, but u would run into issues because the phone would need a touch screen.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

so android os wont run in non touch phones?

aghilvr said:
so android os wont run in non touch phones?
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Most likely not but I'm not sure.
-Sent from my Incredible-

I am pretty sure it won't.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

I Am Marino said:
Most likely not but I'm not sure.
-Sent from my Incredible-
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It does. This phone does, even though it doesn't say Android anywhere on it:
http://www.androidgoo.com/motorola-...i886-android-phone-without-a-touchscreen.html
It's on Sprint. It has no Market/Google Apps though.

I think this would be a great idea for lower cost smart/dumb phones. Drivers would obviously be an issue, but for the ROM, you can try the CyanogenMod barebones wiki page to get an overview of what CM can do without so you can get an idea:
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Barebones
Not sure how much that helps...
** Edit - I am pretty sure you can run Android without a touch screen. I can use the trackball on my Eris as a mouse. I would disable the virtual keyboard so it doesn't get in the way

Product F(RED) said:
It does. This phone does, even though it doesn't say Android anywhere on it:
http://www.androidgoo.com/motorola-...i886-android-phone-without-a-touchscreen.html
It's on Sprint. It has no Market/Google Apps though.
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Wow, I didn't think something like that existed. Now if it only came out on Verizon....
More info:
http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN/Consumer-Product-and-Services/Mobile-Phones/i886-US-EN

it's just a matter of having a GOOD trackball/trackpad (G1-style would be perfect for a non-touchscreen phone, I think) for navigation purposes.
getting android to run without a touchscreen isn't at all un-doable. most of the important functions (ie phone, mms, web, etc) can be navigated and used solely with the trackpad and keyboard (or keypad in the case of a cheaper device) even on devices that are meant to be navigated by touch.
hardware limitations, imo, would cripple the android experience though. you'd have to be very selective about what was incorporated... you're certainly not going to be playing gameloft games or streaming via netflix on a device like this.
still, I think it's doable and I think if you incorporate only PHONE functions and none of the superfluous smartphone stuff, there's no reason why it shouldn't work well.

[Q] CM7 and bluetooth audio (a2dp) questions

It is my understanding that blue tooth audio (playing music through bluetooth say to a car bluetooth speaker system for example) does not work on CM7 builds. I therefore have some questions:
1. Is this also true for ANY cm7 based rom?
2. Are there plans to support a2dp?
3. Are there any custom roms that support the sixaxis bluetooth app besides cm7 on the g2x? (my main reason for sticking with cm7)
Sorry if my questions have been answered elsewhere, I have really tried to search and haven't found the information I was looking for.

2.3.3 supports it, 2.3.5 does not, correct me if im wrong. This is due to nvidia not releasing some code. And if they dont release then a2dp will never work properly on custom roms after 2.3.3
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

noobletsausecakebbq said:
2.3.3 supports it, 2.3.5 does not, correct me if im wrong. This is due to nvidia not releasing some code. And if they dont release then a2dp will never work properly on custom roms after 2.3.3
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
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Yes, nvidia will not get a single penny from me anymore, and i will prevent any family member from buying nvidia also.

fcisco13 said:
Yes, nvidia will not get a single penny from me anymore, and i will prevent any family member from buying nvidia also.
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That's not really going to hurt a huge company
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

I think its more of a principle thing, I don't think he really intends to bring down a huge company like that.
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goku31640 said:
I think its more of a principle thing, I don't think he really intends to bring down a huge company like that.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
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+1
Why vote, one vote (your vote) wont win an election.

I agree
fcisco13 said:
+1
Why vote, one vote (your vote) wont win an election.
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I think it's important for these companies to see any impact on consumers not purchasing their products. It hurts them more than you'd think. It just isn't apparently immediately. I agree though, I'm on the boycot Nvidea too.

pioneers2001 said:
I think it's important for these companies to see any impact on consumers not purchasing their products. It hurts them more than you'd think. It just isn't apparently immediately. I agree though, I'm on the boycot Nvidea too.
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Exactly bro. its like they will go bankrupt by releasing a couple of files, we already bought the phone and you are definitely not going to support it so why not release the files needed to keep development growing and you can attract more customers that way.
X

NVidia has never been open source friendly (just ask anyone running Linux with an NVidia card). I thought maybe they were going to go down a better path when they started doing the Tegra chips for Android but I was wrong. Will stick to ATI from now on like I have for years.
Not sure what chipset on a phone I would switch to but I guess there's not a lot of competition in that area..

Thank you everyone for the replies. So I'm guessing that the answer to my first two questions is: yes then no? Can anyone that has tried using sixaxis with g2x answer for me if it works on any other rom other than cm7 based?
Also, probably a stupid question, but also at the risk of sounding facetious: has anyone tried just calling nvidia and asking them to release the necessary code? I don't mean contacting a low level support person that has no power. I mean looking up the contact info for one of nvidia's high level execs. I imagine that they could be reasonable, and if asked nicely, and maybe even if provided with a petition to release the code, they would do so. And in the process make cm7 even better, and attract more customers.

With so few companies in competition in both mobile SoC and performance video cards, I would imagine releasing any kind of driver would open up analysis by competing companies. And having owned both nvidia and ati graphics cards, I prefer nvidia's drivers.
Maybe I'm wrong but I see it as protecting their assets. Good luck. I would like to see this working on AOSP.
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk

upgrading components on smartphones

hey guys was just wondering if you could upgrade parts on smart phones. such as mics,speakers,chips,usb,memory,ect"""" and yes i do know its a dumb question but i have to ask it okay...

not possible, it's not a PC
all the parts are integrated, 1 chip = everything

AllGamer said:
not possible, it's not a PC
all the parts are integrated, 1 chip = everything
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Still,say it was possible.I'd absolutely hate my Galaxy S II having an i7 or Bulldozer and a huge fridge-like fan behind it.
It would smoke everything in benchmarks though.

This could be possible, though, expect that there wont be anyone to support this. I dont know that, if you even made it work, if you would require drivers.
Good luck

What I'd love to see is Google take 100% control of all the updates to the Android OS, let all of the hardware manufacturers work with Google so that all we do is wait on Google for our OS updates. We all know why the hardware companies don't want this to happen. They can't keep forcing you to purchase new phones to get the latest and greatest from them as often as they do now.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

good point...i wouldnt want a huge fan on the back of my phone...in which it would be dangerous =) finger choppin dangerous. but it would be possible to have liquid cooled system into a smart phone... but what about upgrading speakers or mics??? have you seen it done?

speakers and mics can be changed. i had to replace the speaker on the motorola defy and i believe i used a razor speaker. although that is really not an upgrade.

thats cool, did it sound better than ur stock one?

it sounded just the same
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium

I can see it now, adapting the liquid cooling system I have on my pc for my Wildfire S...

Is it just me or should EVERY Android phone have a Google edition?

Perhaps it's not such a big deal on the new fancy phones like the S4 and One, but on lower end phones I don't believe it's fair to have TouchWiz, Sense, or MotoBlur completely destroy the usability of the phone. I think it's unfair. They developed a stock Android Rom and then shoved all their theming up its rear end. A flashable stock Rom should be readily available from the manufacturer. Does anyone else agree?
Sent from my SPH-M830 using xda app-developers app

BlackFire27 said:
Perhaps it's not such a big deal on the new fancy phones like the S4 and One, but on lower end phones I don't believe it's fair to have TouchWiz, Sense, or MotoBlur completely destroy the usability of the phone. I think it's unfair. They developed a stock Android Rom and then shoved all their theming up its rear end. A flashable stock Rom should be readily available from the manufacturer. Does anyone else agree?
Sent from my SPH-M830 using xda app-developers app
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A lot of low end devices are just pumped out of factories by the manufacturers just so they can make a bit money. These devices generally screw the users because it isn't updated much (or possibly not even at all). A Google Edition ROM should be made for every device. But we don't need the manufacturers to make them for us - we on XDA are developers, and a Google Edition ROM is pretty much AOSP android built for that device. Also, flashing ROMs usually voids the warranty, so I don't see why most manufacturers would support that. And yes, all the manufacturer skins such as Touchwiz, Sense, etc waste RAM and make the CPU load heavier. AOSP android would not only be pretty, it would also generally provide better performance.

My life is heavily firewalled preventing me from getting much if any development work done :c and honestly if it means I can use my own device that I paid for, I could give 2 craps less about the warranty. My phone is struggling to type this post. It's pathetic.
Sent from my SPH-M830 using xda app-developers app

BlackFire27 said:
My life is heavily firewalled preventing me from getting much if any development work done :c and honestly if it means I can use my own device that I paid for, I could give 2 craps less about the warranty. My phone is struggling to type this post. It's pathetic.
Sent from my SPH-M830 using xda app-developers app
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Try getting Google Keyboard if you want a better typing experience. There are several Galaxy Rush modified stock ROMs. There are dozens of scripts that you can apply to your phone. Some phones just aren't that fast. I have a Ace II X (Galaxy S Duos) and it doesn't lag much, but your device seems to have better specs than mine! Try the app lagfix from the Play Store. Unfortunately I cannot help you with compiling a ROM, I don;t have time to help you with that (I'm compiling my own ROM). Don't be afraid to try anything and everything for your device. Just keep a backup of your ROM (system folder) beforehand.

It's like buying a Windows PC to install Linux.
Part of the price goes to an OS that you don't want.
To change that, the demand must greatly increase.

I would love to finally see a paradigm shift away from manufacturers butchering Android with their own versions. I've heard and read a ton of reviews recently about these Google Edition phones and in all cases they've had better than favourable reviews. Of course, reviewers are tech savvy and like most people on xda would love to see AOSP Android become more widespread. The message that's emerging is that the people want AOSP. It's better in every way. Now we just need to make the general buying public realise that! I like the branding and 'Google Edition' is the sort of hook that might generate more interest, but i wonder if the manufacturers have the motivation to market these devices properly.
Some interesting points i've heard raised include HTC, Samsung et al being hardware companies that should be differentiating their products by releasing better hardware than their competitors. They're not software companies. They get the software from Google. They shouldn't be sabotaging their own devices by adding bloatware features that nobody likes, needs or uses. Look at the recent outcry over the lack of free storage on new devices!
It's time for things to change!

The future of android?

I was wondering, now we've hit the quadcore 1.5Ghz, 2GB ram mark on our phones... What is the next step?
Will there still be a lot of change in the hardware used by manufacturers?
I wanted to hear peoples thoughts on this, mainly because I want to buy a new phone and I don't know if I should wait any longer...

Wait for the Snapdragon 800 chips or the Tegra 4 and 4i chips. Major speed boosts there.
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Well android can only get better and if we have come to a stage such as this it could mean that we might soon have budget speced phones with pretty good specs.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

Once ARMv8 gets into the swing of things we will no doubtly see a 64bit verson of android

The nig about android OS's
Unlike iOS for iPhone the only thing that really bugs me is how fast Google Develop the next android OS within the next year we will have something better the JB. They need the slow down the dev speed of these OS's because the market for newer phones coming isn't catching up with the the newer OS releases.
And if you're a sony user well lets just say they don't like updating there ranges they'd rather people be pee'd half way down the line with the 24 month contract stuck on a OS with apps they cannot have due to app developers disregarding older OS's running on current high and mid range market devices.

A USB port

I personally think that the future of android is all about software. Not to say that we won't be seeing hardware improvements - but that's almost a 'must' with every incremental update for any OEM. I mean, we've reached a point where android phones have as much processing and computing power as some people's computers! To expand, I really think that future updates to the android OS will be much more significant, especially since google has chosen to roll out individual components of their OS (such as the Google Keyboard, Play Music, etc) as individual services (apart from the OS). This way, even without updating the operating system - individual components will be updated and outdated phones will still be able to receive "updates" when OS updates from their OEM are no longer supported.

Since Sammy is 95% of the sales of Android, everything depends on sammy.. If sammy abandones Android and people switch to Tizen, android will be like Windows Phone is right now.
Also, the recent developments of android, its bad security permission policy and so on are reasons to be worried about. I simply do not trust google with the right decsiions.

Chips with Haswell-like arcitecture. im sure they will come giving some killer battery life.
Hardware is not my interest to follow right now. But the OS itself is way more exciting.
Sent from my HTC One

Desktop PC hardware got to a point where even a bargain PC has plenty of power for the average user. It seems that phones are getting closer to that point too and I think the innovations that are going to be most exciting are going to be in the next generation of apps that are created to better help us organize our life and connect with people.
Well, of course there's the idea of wearable technology like Google Glass but unless fashion changes I don't think most people want to walk around looking like a cyborg. We saw how bluetooth headsets became an object of ridicule.

Eventually computers will be useless and everyone will have a tablet. android is for sure going to upgrade in terms of speed an fluidity. Devices are going to have crazy specs. However, if android could somehow become less demanding hardware wise, the components within the phones wouldn't have to be that powerful to operate the system smoothly. For example, the iPhone. Dual core, 1 gig of ram. The smoothest phone I've ever seem
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

androidsoccer said:
Eventually computers will be useless and everyone will have a tablet. android is for sure going to upgrade in terms of speed an fluidity. Devices are going to have crazy specs. However, if android could somehow become less demanding hardware wise, the components within the phones wouldn't have to be that powerful to operate the system smoothly. For example, the iPhone. Dual core, 1 gig of ram. The smoothest phone I've ever seem
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
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A tablet is a computer, you sent that from a computer in tablet format.
Use the right terms, it's not irrelevant.
I will never substitute my laptop for a tablet though, there are some simple physical necessities when it comes to efficient workflow.
I'm writing this with Swype on my phone and it's fast, but it would be faster on my laptop, the physical keyboard is faster and most importantly 100% reliant/error free.
I'll probably get a tablet eventually, there are some things it just does better, but to say it'll replace desktops and laptops is ridiculous.
Android 5.0 is rumored to be less hardware demanding instead of the usual trend, but that remains to be seen.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda premium

JasonKZLY said:
A USB port
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Yes bro.
The only feature left in here direct.
Usb port support
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Hell!
We got octa-core now!!
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No, we do not have octa-cores.
We have BIG.little quad-cores, and that's not semantics, there's a huge difference.
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future will be
galaxy s5
exynos 64core processor ..obviously closed source...
6inch 4k pixels ultraamoled plus plus foldable
1tb internal memory expandable upto 4tb
8gb ram
mali 1000 gpu
camera 40mp
water resistant upto depth of pacific ocean
Android 6.0(no cm support) lol

Hr Kristian said:
Android 5.0 is rumored to be less hardware demanding instead of the usual trend, but that remains to be seen.
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Where have you read that?
Sent from my Incredible S using xda app-developers app

Unless we see major improvements in battery materials , we will see the tech of mobile devices start to level off, because no one would want a device that is as powerful as a desktop PC but you can only use it for 20 min. That is the main reason why desktop PCs will always be better than mobile devices.

There have been hundreds of threads like this. Anyway my speculation is that when the phones and tablets are so powerful that we simply don't need any more powerful devices, we plug the phone onto some kind of dock, hook it up to tv, and put keyboard and mouse on the dock, and run desktop Ubuntu or some other Linux distro(maybe "Android desktop"?) just like it was a mini sized pc computer.
Sent from my teddy bear

Exynos 5?