I really believe in Android since I installed it on my Nokia N810 on July 8, 2008. It looks much better than the original Maemo Linux and the browser is a dream compared to the device's original MicroB. Although Android runs only virtualized inside of Maemo, its browser is faster than Maemo's and versatile. It fills the entire screen and gives some kind of smooth iPhone feeling to the often stubborn Linux device. Here you can see a screenshot we made for AreaMobile.de:
Website of AreaMobile.de on Android browser
In the German language article I explain how to get Android running. Kudos to a user of the Internet Tablet Talk forum who goes by the name of QWERTY12! He made it all possible, you can find his installation instructions here. Although there isn't even a dedicated device on the market and the numerical keys don't work on the N810, I love to surf the web with Android. It's a wonderful preview of things to come. Some geeks even posted a video on Youtube about how to run Android on a Nokia N95, but I am not sure if it's a fake.
What I am sure about is that Android could get the best out of my Nokia N810. I use it nearly exclusively for websurfing and some casual emails, that's where the device has its flaws. Mozilla's Fennec browser could give some hope but usually it crashes in less than a minute on my N810. That's why in most cases I use a Symbian based Nokia E61i for websurfing and emailing to go. That's even more ugly but at least it works.
How is the ease of installation for the N810? I love the setup i have at the moment, and don't really want to be messing it up. I am so glad upgrades no longer wash the installed applications!
ReplyDeleteThe setup is quite easy if you follow the instructions step by step. It can't screw up your N810 because it's a virtual solution. Android runs on Maemo like every other program. You stay with the same operating system.
ReplyDeleteOnly two points are important:
1.) The two Android files have to be on the same disk in the same directory. Don't put them in a subdirectory! The installer would not find them there.
2.) The two files sometimes get destroyed while downloading them with your browser. The checksums aren't right anymore in this case. It seems to be the hosters fault. For that reason I downloaded them on Linux with "wget -c". So they arrived safe on my harddisk in the 3rd trial.
It's really worth it. Android looks great and hopefully the community will solve the latest problems.