[rkguy]

Is this insurmountable or possible?

They use the same processor but of course have a different camera, etc.
This isnt xda-developers but I thought I'd ask since people can easily root and dump from both phones.

[windzilla]

i'm guessing that in the future someone will port android of some form to the pre.

what that does for functionality however is anyones guess, and weather it could be used as a phone is even less certain.

another possibility could be maemo, which also uses the same processor as the pre in the n900.

I don't have any idea how to do it, but i know that android has been ported to maemo (i used to run a really really janky version on a n810)

but that was done as an emulation. a full-on conversion will be tough, and require some really talent people really wanting to do it.

in other words. I wouldn't count on it any time soon, at least not user friendly.

someone with more knowledge correct me here, and elucidate.

[wrxdrunkie]

Doesnt the droid basicially use the same processor as the pre?

[063_xobx]

the Texas instruments omap processor has already been worked on to port android since January so I could see it being completed by mid 2010 realistically

[Tibfib]

Don't expect it anytime soon. Installing and getting an entirely new OS up and running would be pretty difficult.

[boomhower1820]

I think it will be done but to what level of operation will be interesting. I would give it a spin but would stick with WebOS over the long haul. The card system is just to good to give up. I see myself sticking with it for a long time. Hopefully its successor switches to a landscape keyboard and faster processor.

[NickDG]

The Pre's hardware was built with webOS in mind. I personally don't see the need for Android 2.0 on it.

[Armchair Commando]

Hell yes I would! I love webos, but the novelty of having a dual booting cellphone would make me give android on the Pre a shot. As long as the process of installing android was relatively refined and there was no real risk of damage beyond what the doctor can fix, I would definitely try it.

[rkguy]

I think it will be done but to what level of operation will be interesting. I would give it a spin but would stick with WebOS over the long haul. The card system is just to good to give up. I see myself sticking with it for a long time. Hopefully its successor switches to a landscape keyboard and faster processor.

I actually really like the portrait orientation of the pre because I want to be able to use it one handed. Especially the keyboard but unfortunately the keys are so hard to press not that hard but enough to be annoying. What kills it is the need to use two hand for functions like opening a link in a new wondow or selecting text. I won't care at all about these things or even want android if this would be snappier OR have world class programs. So far I'm not impressed.

ps thanks for commenting on my thread..you always give constructive info

[TheMarco]

it would be best if someone found a way to run Android APPS on the Pre. I'm not an expert but since both use Linux and Android is compatible with the Pre's cpu AND Android is open source it seems at least theoretically viable to me.

thoughts?

[rkguy]

it would be best if someone found a way to run Android APPS on the Pre. I'm not an expert but since both use Linux and Android is compatible with the Pre's cpu AND Android is open source it seems at least theoretically viable to me.

thoughts?

wouldn't that require some way of running binaries compiled in C natively on the phone. The programs are all designed with hooks under the secure development kit for Android so I don't see how an android app cannot be run without android....unless an emulator or tools like cygwin is developed, which is probably less likely than a port. $0.02

[hoppy785]

i would like to be able to dual boot just to take advantage of android apps, not really to use it as a phone... which means an emulator would be sweet too... is it possible to just get straight ubuntu running on the phone?

[St0rmD]

I'd consider it.

Oh who am I kidding, I'd back my phone the hell up, make sure I had Doctor handy, and try it good and hard just to see how it worked. I'm drooling out my guts for a Droid, I just don't particularly want to be on Verizon.

[jblake1030]

Would love to put android onto the Pre ... Its like the perfect phone to do it on .. slide out keypad and touchscreen. Fast processor... would be awsome.. Would Love to hear something soon about this being done to either dual boot it or just having the Android OS on the Pre... Is there any information anywhere of someone working on it or it coming soon?

[rkguy]

the best place to start poking around might be webos-internals and xda-developers.

xda-developers to see if it will be ripped for porting to an htc phone and webos-internals to see if that can then be tweaked to work with the pre's hardware. could be wrong but this is my first guess

[dallashigh]

it would be best if someone found a way to run Android APPS on the Pre. I'm not an expert but since both use Linux and Android is compatible with the Pre's cpu AND Android is open source it seems at least theoretically viable to me.

thoughts?

It is theoretically possible, but there are three big gotchas:

1. Android apps are written in Java (not the same thing as Javascript at all).

2. Similar to how Palm uses Javascript API's for accessing phone functions, Android uses Java API's. Those API's would have to be ported and would have to function >95% the same way, which would be quite difficult especially for undocumented/poorly documented API's.

3. All of the Pre's graphics are handled by Luna. So either (A) someone would have to discover how to let Android apps access Luna for display output or (B) Luna would have to be re-written to share access to the framebuffer or (C) Luna would have to be killed in order to run Android apps, and Android's display management would also have to be ported to the Pre.

Given all of this, I'd say that dual-booting, in my opinion, would actually be easier than getting Android apps to run on webOS.

[donatom3]

Wouldn't it be easier and less work to get a Droid working on sprint than port Android 2.0 to a Pre? I remember on Windows mobile it not being to hard to change your esn (yes I know talks of how to do this are illegal).

[jblake1030]

The Pre is more than compatiable to run Android OS .. Just would love to see this on the pre. Maybe with us talking about this can be done with a team that is together now.