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6:10 am Fri
Apr 29, 2011
Most hackable Android phones
Mike Isaac rounds up the most easily-hacked Android smartphones. Spoiler: just get the Galaxy S if you need to root an Android right now. Otherwise, wait for the next one from Sony, whose cellphone department is notably hacker-friendly, in contrast to its hacker-suing department, or, indeed, its department of getting hacked. [Wired]
Apple USB-to-lighting cable with built-in battery
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Star Trek white noise machine/starfield projector/alarm clock
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Here's the travel USB charger I use
I’ve had the Plugable 5-Port 36W USB Universal Smart Charger for over a year. I take it with me on all trips, including business and family travel. Having five USB ports means I can charge everyone’s phones and a battery at the same time. Instead of plugging directly into the wall outlet, the charger has […]
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When the mood strikes you and you’re looking to light up, you shouldn’t have to hunt around for all the things you need: your pipe, your grinder, your favorite munchies, and so on. And with the Happy Kit, you won’t have to.This compact black case houses everything you need, including a grinder, a glass pipe, […]
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Worth noting that this list seems to only include phones available on USA carriers
Odd that they claim the Xperia phones aren’t out yet.
Should we really be supporting Sony?
On a purely selfish front, can we count on their cellphone branch to remain out of the sights of the hacker-suing department for long?
Thinking more broadly, what message does it sent to Sony that they can relentlessly sue people who hack their products to make them better, and then still get sales to that same demographic?
Exactly right Dragonfrog. The CD rootkit, the abandon of OtherOS, suing GeoHot & Sony Musics habit of suing it’s customers & forgetting to pay its artists mean that never again will Sony get a cent of my money.
For people in Britain the Orange San Francisco is £100 and easy to take root and upgrade to 2.3.Or buy for small mark up on eBay.
If you really want to hack any phone, you only need to look to http://forum.xda-developers.com
The Android sections are some of the best I have ever seen.
Second-ing the questions about supporting Sony. Is a gadget really worth supporting a company that attempts to silence free speech and treats most of their good customers like criminals?
I will not be buying a Sony phone or any Sony products until they publicy tear up the paper they made Geohot sign.
Those who root their phones rely on folk like Geohotz everyday.
I urge you, do not spit in the face of George Hotz, do not buy Sony.
Nokias successor to the Maemo/Meego Linux N900 should top the list, oh wait dumped in favor of MS WinCE-7. It was a fun ride Nokia, thanks for the memories.
Really, what kind of deal did MSFT offer the board over there to screw not just Nokia but Finland over like that?
Looks like they got one of their men in as CEO to gut the company basically…
http://semiaccurate.com/2011/03/15/microsoft-gutted-nokia-and-runs-off-with-ip/
Did you mean to say Nexus S? Because that’s the dev phone that comes with an unlocked bootloader.
The Galaxy S is pretty damn easy to root.
Yep as anon says in UK you can get Orange San Francisco (which is a ZTE Blade) for under £100 and unlock & root, for easy and full working instructions-
http://orangesanfrancisco.co.uk/
Ugh.
How about an android smartphone designed to fit in a pants pocket ?
Why must we live through this multi-year design desert of huge, thick, heavy slabs ?
Huh. The Samsung Galaxy is reasonably thin and also light, two of its saving graces.
If you are so inclined, you can still get an OpenMoko, and there will be a motherboard upgrade to modernish hardware available for that soon. It is open all the way, and can run real operating systems like Debian. The motherboard upgrade is pretty cool, and it’s good to see people are still working on truly open phones.
http://openmoko.org :)
Whatever you do, don’t get a Motorola!
They are notorious for making great, Android-friendly hardware, then loading it with terrible, bloated, buggy implementations of the Android OS.
Then they lock the bootloader so you can’t flash the phone with custom firmware – and actually implement additional hardware/software to brick your phone if you try.
Talk about going against the spirit of open source!
For those of us stuck with US Cellular, the HTC Desire is very easy to hack.
If you want a hackable phone, don’t buy from the carrier.
In my book, the only one I see is the Nexus (One or S). And recommending a Sony is frakin’ ironic. But it wouldn’t be a first on Boing Boing.