HTC Finally Releases Hero Source Code 123
An anonymous reader writes "After months of prodding by developers, HTC has finally released the long-requested Android source code for the HTC Hero. This follows up on a recent report on Slashdot concerning device manufacturer HTC's perceived stonewalling over releasing source code for the device after repeated attempts to initially obtain source were met with vague responses."
Nice (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure, I know, they were supposed to, by law. But they at least didn't drag their feet too long, and deserve some kudos for choosing an open-source platform to begin with.
What, if any, is the (physical or otherwise) obstacle for this device to become a hacker's darling? Here "hacker" is used in that old, positive meaning.
Wow (Score:1, Interesting)
I can't believe Verizon will FINALLY have a phone which can legitimately be decrippled. Maybe they won't even try to cripple it at all. Too bad too, because if Verizon gave up on that little game, anyone who didn't ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO have a iPhone would be with them due to network strength. Let's hope the dust clears within the next 1 month and 1 week when my AT&T contract finally expires.
Re:Nice (Score:3, Interesting)
What, if any, is the (physical or otherwise) obstacle for this device to become a hacker's darling? Here "hacker" is used in that old, positive meaning.
I guess the same as every other Android phone? A signed flashing process that needs to be cracked?
The only reason people can install custom Android copies on the G1 is because of a leaked SPL and the root console bug. Oh, and the ADP.
Re:A little unfair... (Score:2, Interesting)
The good thing about Winmodem-like cellphones is... um... er... uh... well, I'm sure there's something good about it.
It's cheaper. Cost is the God in consumer electronics upon which everything else is sacrificed. The could be saving up to $5 per phone doing it this way. Ship 20 million phones and that's $100 million dollars in the bank. The effort made in consumer electronics to save four cents (over 10 million units) would probably make your head spin.
The difference in the two approaches isn't as much as you are making out to be. The dedicated radio chip is still running a microprocessor written in software. By combining the two processors in the single package you save cost and space (more cost).
The major downside to this is debugging the radio processing where it's interfered with by other actions on the phone, having two cores probably helps a lot with this. That said, assigning three engineers full time for a year to figure it out is trivial compared to the savings you get.
(I spent a year of my life fixing a 'creative' electronic circuit that saved us 8 cents per board).
Re:A little unfair... (Score:4, Interesting)
> The effort made in consumer electronics to save four cents (over 10 million units) would probably make your head spin.
Tell me about it. It's what condemned many very, very expensive first-generation CD-Rs to the coaster bin (no ram buffer to speak of, so if the CPU got distracted for even a fraction of a second, the CD was toast), and sent almost every Samsung SPH-i330 to an early grave (a few cents saved using mask rom instead of flash, coupled with a fatal bug that bricked them within a few weeks of use and couldn't be fixed). Not to mention the problems due to aggressive cost-cutting that have plagued videogame consoles for decades. Red Ring of Death, anyone?
Re:Not so bad... (Score:1, Interesting)
Koreans, too. Not the same AC. But the same sentiment. What little respect you find for the GPL originates in the West, and I really don't think it's unPC (or PinC?) to say so. I mean, the mentioned countries don't care much about our copyright, and the GPL depends on that to be effective, anyway. That's not to say that *nobody* cares but from what I have seen the large firms don't, anyway.
Luckily, I think we're past the day when most companies could go on ignoring it indefinitely. Good job, pokers and prodders.
Re:HTC (Score:3, Interesting)
I love my HTC Hero but boy is it slow at times. And I'm not just talking about waiting for an app to load, there are times when the entire device just decides to freeze up for 2-3 seconds while queuing input.
Sounds like my iPhone 3G. From the initial 2 firmware to the current 3, there are constant multi-second pauses. Heck, just unlocking it can sometimes take close to 10 seconds. And yes, I've had my phone replaced so I know it's not the hardware. And I reboot it regularly. It's a great device, but a mediocre phone.
Re:A little unfair... (Score:3, Interesting)
you have divided the channel into slots in order to share it. slots are assigned by time (TDMA) or frequency (CDMA/FHSS) or other means.
still only one transmitter per frequency per moment in time
Re:Not so bad... (Score:5, Interesting)
Even in the EU you can see differences. I am from central Europe, and sometimes I can only shake my head on the US you have to abide by the law no matter what mentality. We here have the mentality that law is done by people and sometimes the law is not fair so public disrespect and civil disobediance has to be done. That starts with small things but can also go big.
My personal opinion is this is the best way to cope with laws because as everything in life even laws are not a black and white thing, but if you live that way you have to live with getting punished (which literally no one cares here, unless the punishment starts to hurt severely)
So we dont have a black and white view on law. I assume if you go further east this becomes more along the lines of a nationalistic view of
we only care about laws which are done by us and no one else.
(We dont have that view on due to our history)
I guess our view is due to our history we have run through 2 fascistic governments
in the last 100 years and the laws back then neither wair fair nor could you obey
them without getting into conflict with your personal conscience.
There is always something above the law because law is done by man.
Re:A little unfair... (Score:3, Interesting)
Contrary to what people think, you are not allowed to do what ever you want to a phone.
Um yes I can, Please give me the LAWS that state otherwise.
I can do ANYTHING I WANT with my phone. I have an openmoko on AT&T and they cant control my phone other than turning off service. I can do anything I want with my phone, and the worse they can do is turn off service.