HOW TO: Install Android On An iPhone 2G

Disclaimer

I take no responsibility for any damage you might cause to your phone by following this guide.  Whether it gets bricked, blocked or eventually thrown out of the window, I can’t be held responsible.  Use this guide at your own risk. Thanks!

Introduction

Today’s hype has all been about Android on an iPhone.  As soon as I heard I knew what I’d be doing after work.  Anyway, I’ve finally managed to get Android working and thought I’d write up a clear tutorial for anyone who wants to do it.  Remember, I did this all on a Mac, but it should be possible on Windows or Linux too.  Windows users just get the Windows version of VirtualBox.

The end result is far from a fully working Android system.  It’s Android 1.6 with basic features – calls, texts, WiFi but no camera and probably a few Force Closes.  It’s easy to upgrade Android versions once you’ve managed to get to the end of this tutorial so there’s no harm in getting the hard part out of the way now!

Downloads

Here’s a bunch of stuff that you’ll need before you start:

1. IMPORTANT! Jailbroken iPhone 2G
2. VirtualBox (link).  Get the right version Windows/Mac
3. VirtualBox Ubuntu Image (link).  Download number 10, Ubuntu Linux 9.10 codename Karmic Koalax86
4. iPhone Explorer (link).  If you’re on Linux you can use FTP such as FileZilla instead.
5. Android images and sources (link)
6. Patched images (link).  Courtesy of Geekoid.

Preparation

Let’s get some of the basics out of the way:

1. Open Task Manager
2. Kill the iTunes Helper process
3. Install iPhone Explorer
4. Connect your iPhone to your Mac/PC
5. Run iPhone Explorer
6. Click the Change Root button
7. Select “/” Real iPhone Root Directory
8. Browse to private/var
9. Copy ramdisk.img, userdata.img, cache.img and zImage from Downloads#5 (Android images and sources) to that var directory
10. Copy system.img and android.img.gz from Downloads#6 (patched images) to the that var directory
11. That’s all the Android files on your iPhone, now to make them run!

Setting Up Virtual Box

1. Install VirtualBox
2. Open VirtualBox
3. Go on File > Virtual Media Manager
4. Make sure Hard Disks is selected
5. Click Add
6. Locate the ubuntu-9.10.vdi file (download#3) and select it
7. Close Virtual Media Manager
8. Go on Machine > New
9. Click Next
10. Under Name enter “Ubuntu”
11. Select Linux Operating System
12. Select Ubuntu Version
13. Click Next
14. Set an amount of RAM, the default should be fine
15. Click Next
16. Select “Use existing hard disk”
17. Select the ubuntu-9.10.vdi
18. Click Next
19. Click Finish
20. Select that new machine to start up Ubuntu
21. The password to login is: reverse

Setting Up Ubuntu

Almost there – if this feels a bit long, just consider how short and simple each step is!

1. Click System (top bar) > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager
2. Enter the password: reverse
3. In the quicksearch box, type libusb-1.0, click the Check Box next to libusb-1.0-0 and select Mark for installation
4. In the quicksearch box, type libreadline, click the Check Box next to libreadline5 and select Mark for installtion
5. Click Apply
6. When it’s all installed close the Package Manager
7. Open Firefox (in Ubuntu)
8. Download openiboot installer from here
9. Click Places (top bar) > Downloads
10. Right-click openiboot.zip and click Extract Here
11. Click Applications (top bar) > Accessories > Terminal
12. Without the quotes, type ‘cd Downloads/openiboot’
13. Restart your iPhone in Recovery Mode (power off, hold down Home button, connect to USB cable)

Getting Android Working!

Well done on getting this far! This is where the fun beings (credits to WinX Blog for these instructions –link)

1. In VirtualBox, the Ubuntu Window, go on Devices > USB Devices and select iPhone (Recovery Mode)
2. In the terminal type (without quotes): ’sudo su’
3. Enter the password: reverse
4. In the terminal type ./loadibec openiboot.img3
5. You’ll see the OpeniBoot screen appear on your iPhone
6. Hold down the power button a couple of seconds (iPhone)
7. The bottom option, openiboot console, will become selected
8. Press Home (iPhone).  You’ll see a bunch of text appear and stop at “Welcome to openiboot”
9. In VirtualBox, the Ubuntu Window, go on Devices > USB Devices and select iPhone (OpeniBoot Mode)
10. In terminal type su ./oibc
11. Enter the password: reverse
12. If this doesn’t work just type: ./oibc
13. You’ll see the same text from the iPhone in the Terminal
14. Type (without quotes) ‘nor_read 0×09000000 0×0 1048576′ and press Enter
15. Wait for it to say Done
16. Type (without quotes) ‘~norbackup.dump:1048576′
17. This creates a backup of your NOR memory – save a copy on USB stick, or email it to yourself or something
18. Type install, press Enter.  When this is done you’ve got openiboot installed on your iPhone.  You’re done!

Finishing Off

What you’ve achieved up til now is Android files on your iPhone, and then installing openiboot so that you have an option to start iPhone OS or Android when you turn on your phone.  Openiboot was necessary because that’s the only way right now that you can boot into Android.  Here’s how to finish off and get into Android:

1. If you still have Terminal open with the oibc still running, just type ‘reboot’, press Enter and skip to step 3
2. If you don’t have Terminal open, disconnect your phone, turn it off and back on
3. When openiboot appears press Power button to switch to openiboot console (bottom option)
4. Hold down the Home button
5. Android will start to boot, but it might take a while

Guide to Installing Android on iPhone 2G from AndroidALot on Vimeo.

Sony launches its first 3D-capable A/V receiver for $500

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 18, 2010 – Sony today announced its first A/V receiver capable of supporting 3-D audio and video.

Featuring HDMI™ 1.4 3D pass-through technology, ample high-definition connectivity and compatibility with all of the latest Blu-ray Disc® audio formats, the new STR-DN1010 AV receiver is designed to create a simple solution for controlling any high-definition or 3D capable home theater.

“It’s important for consumers to understand the important role that audio plays in the in-home 3D experience,” said Neal Manowitz, director of Sony’s Home Audio and Video division.  “By streamlining connectivity and supporting 3D hardware and software, the STR-DN1010 receiver will provide a simplified approach to 3D home theater control and performance, ensuring the best possible user experience.”

The 7.1 channel STR-DN1010 AV receiver (110 watts power per channel @8-Ohms, 1kHz, 1% THD) features full high-definition 1080/24p support and seven HD inputs in total (four HDMI and three component) allowing for connection to a wide variety of HD devices.  The receiver’s HDMI 3D pass through technology supports 3D video from connected devices and passes them through to a 3D compatible high-definition television, while decoding high-resolution audio codecs.

The receiver also features an icon-driven menu system for simple device and content navigation and has the ability to upscale analog video sources to 1080p resolution via HDMI.  The model also boasts a sleek piano black gloss design that matches Sony’s line of Blu-ray Disc players and televisions.

The STR-DN1010 is compatible with all advanced audio codecs, including Dolby® TrueHD, dts®-HD Master Audio and features wireless 2nd zone capabilities through Sony’s S-AIR® wireless technology.  With the addition of an S-AIR transmitter (model EZW-T100) and separate S-AIR speakers (sold separately), the receiver can also drive wireless audio in up to 10 additional rooms.

The STR-DN1010 receiver also features a Digital Media Port (DMP) input for simple connection to external sources including an iPod® and iPhone® (compatible DMP accessories required and sold separately) and is compatible with both Deep Color™ and x.v.Color™.

Visual Studio 2010 to be launched on April 12

According to Rob Caron, Marketing Communications Manager for Developer and User Experience Runtimes & Tools at Microsoft, Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 are set to officially launch on Monday, April 12. The Visual Studio development system is a comprehensive suite of tools designed to help software developers create innovative, next-generation applications.

Kindle for BlackBerry Now Available for Free Directly from Amazon

The long awaited Kindle app for BlackBerry is finally here. While not the biggest screen to read on, most of us carry our BlackBerry everywhere we go, so being able to read a book at any given moment is definitely welcome. The app has a fair amount of features (it could still use a few more options) and everything loads super fast. You can store and read Kindle books, as well as browse and purchase from the huge selection in the Kindle Store. Check out the video above for a look at the app, and head to amazon.com/kindlebb to download it free.

“Since the launch of our popular Kindle for iPhone app last year, customers have been asking us to bring a similar experience to the BlackBerry, and we are thrilled to make it available today,” said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “Kindle for BlackBerry is a great way for customers to continue reading their current book wherever they are – in between meetings, at the grocery store or waiting in the doctor’s office. We think customers are going to love how easy and fun it is to read their Kindle books on their BlackBerry.”

Customers using BlackBerry devices on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and other U.S. carriers can get easy wireless access to over 420,000 Kindle books, including New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases, most for $9.99 or less, by downloading the application for free.

Kindle for BlackBerry lets customers bring their Kindle books with them wherever they go. With the new Kindle for BlackBerry app, customers can:

• Search and browse more than 420,000 books, including 102 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers, directly from their BlackBerry
• Shop the in-app store for an optimized Kindle shopping experience – browse and download samples and full books without leaving the app
• Read the beginning of books for free before they buy
• Access their library of previously purchased Kindle books stored on Amazon’s servers
• Automatically synchronize the last page read between their Kindle-compatible devices
• Create bookmarks and view annotations they created on their Kindle, Kindle DX, or Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch
• Adjust the text size of books
• Read books in full color, including children’s books, cookbooks, travel books, textbooks and graphic novels

Opera Mini browser on iPhone

As a long-suffering Symbian user, Opera Mini has been the saviour of my smartphone experience for some time. Its lightweight memory footprint and near-magical compression technology has managed to wrangle the web into something practical and usable where Nokia's native browser had fallen flat.

So naturally, when the Oslo-based company invited Wired to try a preview build of Opera Mini on the iPhone at Mobile World Congress, we were very keen to see how it would fare. Our first impression? It's fast. While I've always found the Symbian platform rendered Opera Mini's interface somewhat slugglishly, putting a damper on the browser's lighting-fast network performance, on the iPhone Opera has finally found a platform to do justice to its nimble web-slinging.

Scrolling through webpages is silky smooth, with nary a glitch or stutter regardless of the size of the page. The interface is instantaneously responsive as well, just as you'd expect from the iPhone. However, those expecting a tightly integrated browsing experience will be disappointed.

Opera has maintained the user interface design present on the browser's incarnation on other platforms, so don't expect any iPhone-specific interface elements or conventions. Most noticeable is the lack of pinch-to-zoom support, a feature that Safari users will sorely miss, at least at first, instead adopting the double-tap present on other touch-enabled versions of Opera Mini. In our short test, though, we didn't find ourselves missing the feature at all, as Opera's intelligent text wrapping and reflow neglected the need to constantly adjust our zoom level in the first place.

Also unique to the iPhone version, browsing sessions are remembered between application launches so your tabs and most recent page are available from where you left off -- a feature we'd like to see on versions of the app across all platforms. Lastly, there's a nifty tab-switching widget that appears along the bottom of the screen which looks something like a horizontal stack of cards, allowing speedy switching and closure of open tabs. For the most part, though, this is the Opera Mini you know and love.

The elephant in the room, of course, is Apple. It's not clear whether the famously inscrutable company will even admit Opera Mini to the App Store, particuarly as there's a clause in Apple's terms which precludes the submission of apps that "duplicate existing functionality". When we brought up the predicament with the company representatives, they didn't seem perturbed. "There are two reasons why we are confident that Opera Mini will met the requirements of the App Store," Partner Manager Phillip Grønvold reassures Wired.

"One, our compression technology imposes limitations on what the browser can do -- Opera doesn't render rich, content-heavy documents like Safari does. Two, Opera Mini does not actually render HTML on the device, it uses a custom binary representation of the website. We believe these technical differences make Opera Mini sufficiently different to Safari to be made available on the App Store."

Still, it does feel a lot like the company is flaunting Opera Mini on the iPhone so that it might be pushed through Apple's approval process on a tide of widespread support, but Grønvold insists this is not the case. "If we wanted to do that we'd leak a build and build momentum that way," he said. "We're going through the proper channels. We're not cannibalising a partnership like AT&T (as in the case of Google Voice), and there are a number of streaming music apps on the iPhone already despite Apple's own iTunes app, so we feel there is enough leniency in Apple's approval process.

Google Acquires Email Startup reMail to Pulls It From the App Store

Google has just picked up Y Combinator incubated startup reMail, bringing its talented founder Gabor Cselle on board the Gmail team.

reMail was an excellent iPhone application that would download all your email to your phone, making searching your email wildly faster. The application could also save you money if you needed to roam outside of the United States where AT&T rates can be abusive.
The application will be pulled (sadly) from the App store. If you have already purchased it, it will remain functional.

The application retailed, before being removed, for $4.99. Google might take the opportunity to use Mr. Cselle to build a similar application inside of the Gmail team, but it seems more likely that this acquisition is more a talent grab than a product purchase.

At the time of writing, no price is known for the transaction. reMail had raised money not just from  Y Combinator but also Paul Buchheit and Sanjeev Singh (Friendfeed co-founders).
Gabor Cselle had this to say on the acqusition and his future:

“Gmail is where my obsession with email started as an engineering intern back in 2004, and I’m thrilled to be coming back to a place with so many familiar faces. reMail’s goal was reimagine mobile email, and I’m proud we have built a product that so many users find useful. Still, I feel like we’ve only seen the beginning of what’s possible. Google is the best place in the world to improve the status quo on how people communicate and share information. If you have what it takes to make these changes happen, I encourage you to reach out and come join me.”

While reMail is gone for now, Gmail has just picked up a very capable employee who they intend to use as a product manager. More talent in Gmail means better Gmail, which is something that we can all pop champagne over, whether wants to buy our startup or not.

Microsoft's own Windows Phone 7 device will be made by Asus

The Redmond, Wash., software giant is working with computer hardware manufacturer Asustek to build its own phone.

The planned device is a so-called candy bar touchscreen design running on Microsoft's newly introduced Windows Phone 7 operating system, says Northeast Securities analyst Ashok Kumar, who talked with Microsoft's suppliers and design partners.

Unfortunately, Microsoft and Asus have encountered some setbacks on the road to manufacturing the next Apple iPhone killer or Google Android annihilator.

Production of the phone has been stopped temporarily. "The phone is still alive," says Kumar, but its arrival to the market will now probably be put off until early next year.

The news comes just four days after Microsoft announced -- at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona -- that its Windows Phone 7 operating system will be available on the some phones by Christmas.

Kumar says he hasn't heard what caused the Microsoft phone delay, but he speculates that if it's a software issue, it could apply to other hardware developers and spoil the Christmas timeframe promise.

A Microsoft representative said the company does not comment on speculation.

The news of Asus' involvement confirms some of the speculation around "project pink," an effort by Microsoft to develop its own phone. This would be a move similar to Microsoft's Xbox approach to video games and its Zune entry in media players.

Asus is a Taiwanese computer maker, perhaps best known for its netbook pioneering effort with the Eee PC line of mini laptops. Asus is also the hardware partner that helped Garmin break into mobile phones with its nuviphone.

Like Google and Apple before it, Microsoft obviously sees the fast-growing mobile phone market as a land-grab opportunity that's far too important to watch from a distance.

Apple and Google both proved that no prior cell phone experience was needed to jump into the game. Apple is enjoying runaway success with the iPhone. And Google chief Eric Schmidt said this week that Android phone shipments are on pace to exceed 21 million units this year.

Last month, Google started selling an HTC-built Nexus One phone directly to consumers, a controversial move that served to undercut its Android partners, particularly Motorola

Microsoft risks the chance of upsetting its own partnerships with hardware shops like HTC and Samsung, two of the manufactures that have signed on to build new Windows-powered phones.

The move can be seen as only more bad news for other players in the already crowded smartphone market. Outfits like Palm are simply clinging to life. And Microsoft's pervasive presence in businesses like desktop software and email servers could strike very close to Research In Motion's lucrative enterprise market.

If Apple and Google's phone efforts have proved anything, having loads of money to throw at the project is a huge advantage. With $36 billion in cash and investments in hand, Microsoft has at least one edge on the competition.