Published in News

Nokia Has An Android Phone

by on25 January 2010

Image

Hack gives
N900 dual boot


A hacker
called Brandon Roberts has worked out a way to dual-boot the native Maemo-Linux operating system on the Nokia N900 and also the Android operating system.

The move means that Nokia can run an Android phone if it wants and might give it a bit of market power among developer/hacker-centric crowd. They would like the phone to run Maemo for experimentation and Android for everyday use. Many think that while the N900 is a tempting smartphone the Maemo 5 OS is an “enthusiast’s platform” rather than a consumer-ready one. Robert's hack is into the ARM-based N900 itself.

The hack is still a proof-of-concept showing that the dual-booting idea can be done. The keyboard seems to work, and the display is running at the N900’s WVGA resolution; a boot menu allows you to choose between Maemo and Android. There are no instructions as to how exactly he did it, but our guess that is because he will be packaging it to make a bob or two.
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