Android and Me » aosp

Ice Cream Sandwich source code hits AOSP; custom ROMs are a go!

Dustin Earley — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 22:22:22 +0000

Modders, hackers, developers and lovers of all things root, your time has come. It has just been announced over on the Android Building Google Groups page that the source code for Ice Cream Sandwich, Android 4.0, is available now.

Now that the source code for Ice Cream Sandwich is available, it should only be a matter of time before custom Android 4 ROMs, like CyanogenMod, start making their way online. Not only that, but it means that the official update for the Nexus S should be available soon.

The exact version of Android that hit the Android Open Source Project today is Android 4.0.1. According to Google developer Jean-Baptiste M. “JBQ” Queru, it’s the build that will ship with the Galaxy Nexus.

According to a poll we ran here at Android and Me just a couple weeks back, a lot of you out there like to root and are all about the custom ROMs. So what do you think, who will be the first dev to publish a legitimate ICS ROM from source? And what kind of goodies are tucked inside the code? There will definitely be some surprises to come out of the release, so be sure to stay tuned for any updates.

Ice Cream Sandwich source code will be available soon; Get ready for ROMs!

Dustin Earley — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 02:31:00 +0000

The Android modding community may not be the majority when it comes to Android users in general, but they are by far the most passionate and vocal. When Google didn’t release the source code for Honeycomb, devout hackers were irritated to say the least. Google has explained why they did this, which for the most part makes a lot of sense.

When Google first pushed Honeycomb out the door, it was half-baked. There was absolutely no phone support built in, and if a corner could be cut during the production process, it was. Google feared that if they released the source code for Honeycomb, developers would make it their mission to put the OS on a phone. And with no support for phones, well, you can do the math. It wouldn’t turn out well for developers, end users or Google’s good name. Fortunately, that will not be the case with Ice Cream Sandwich.

Made public in a post on the Android Building Google Groups page, developer Dan Morrill mentioned that Google will “release the source for the recently-announced Ice Cream Sandwich soon, once it’s available on devices.” Last night, Google released the SDK for Ice Cream Sandwich, but was mum on when the source code would be released. As a result, developers felt left down and abandoned once again. The news that Google will release the source along with the Galaxy Nexus in November comes as great news. Before you know it, developers will be beating manufacturers to the punch once again, putting Ice Cream Sandwich on any and every device possible.

View This Poll

CyanogenMod 7 for HTC EVO 3D, Sensation available now

Dustin Earley — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:41:34 +0000

EVO 3D and Sensation owners, rejoice! CyanogenMod 7, the leading name in Android Open Source Project ROMs, has finally been made available for your devices.

Released just yesterday, Alpha versions of the stock Android Gingerbread-based ROM can be downloaded from either XDA or RootzWiki. Both ROMs are in the same stage of development, and both include their fair share of bugs. But if you’ve been dying to get away from Sense and really let your hardware fly, the time has come. Early reports from users say that, despite the bugs present in both builds, they are stable enough to use on a daily basis.

In order to flash CyanogenMod 7 to your EVO 3D or Sensation, you must be rooted with S-Off. That means anyone who used HTC’s unlocking tool needs to start the process over and use Revolutionary this time. Using Revolutionary and flashing a custom ROM are tasks that need to be fully explored and researched before attempted.

For more information on either Alpha build and to download them, use the links below. Sensation, EVO 3D owners, are you taking the plunge?

HTC EVO 3D

RootzWiki
XDA

HTC Sensation

RootzWiki
XDA

Can the HP Touchpad become the best $99 Android tablet?

Taylor Wimberly — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 03:20:54 +0000

This week HP announced they would discontinue operations for webOS devices, which resulted in the $99 firesale of the HP Touchpad. Even if webOS might be dead, the tablet is a steal considering the hardware bang for the buck. The TouchPad features a 9.7 inch LED multi-touch display, dual-core 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 processor, 16GB or 32GB internal storage, 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, and Beats audio.

Another reason you might want to consider the TouchPad is the likely port of Android. A group of hackers called The TouchDroid Team has already formed with the goal of building Gingerbread for the device from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Google does not plan to release the source code for their tablet OS (Honeycomb), so the TouchDroid Team will have to wait for the next version of Android (Ice Cream Sandwich) to be released this fall.

The team has their work cut out for them, but the TouchPad was built on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S3 platform, which already shipped in several Android smartphones. Both the HTC EVO 3D and HTC Sensation 4G use Qualcomm’s MSM8x60 part, but it’s from the same class of processors as the APQ8060 found in the Touchpad.

Most of the online units have already sold out, but you might get lucky and find one at a local retail store like Best Buy, Radio Shack, Staples, Office Depot, Office Max, Sam’s Club, Fry’s, and more. Best Buy issued a press release stating that their TouchPads were on sale immediately ($99 for 16GB, $149 for 32GB), but some stores are not honoring the price until tomorrow morning.

Let us know if you already took advantage of the special pricing. Do you think the TouchPad is worth $99, even if webOS falls behind the other mobile platforms? How long do you think it will take before Android is ported to HP’s tablet?

TI’s OMAP4 pretty much confirmed as lead platform for Ice Cream Sandwich

Taylor Wimberly — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 02:29:31 +0000

Which hardware will be the first to support Google’s next version of Android, code-named Ice Cream Sandwich? Ever since Google IO, plenty of rumors and speculation have suggested that Texas Instruments’ OMAP4 might be the lead platform, but little evidence has surfaced to support this theory. After spending the last couple of weeks trying to dig up more info, it finally looks like we can confirm OMAP4 is the reference platform for Ice Cream Sandwich.

Why being the lead platform matters

Google’s Andy Rubin has previously explained how his team develops the future versions of Android. In an interview last year Andy Rubin said, “What we do is pick our partners, a semiconductor partner, an operator, and an OEM and then combine them all together. This is the device that engineers have on their desk when they come in the morning.”

Being the lead platform for a major Android release is important because it means the first devices to support it will be based on that hardware. For example, NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 platform was the lead platform for Android 3.0 and pretty much every Honeycomb tablet uses their processor.

If TI’s hardware is the lead platform for Ice Cream Sandwich, then you can bet that the first devices to support it (like the much-hyped Nexus 3) will sport an OMAP4 processor.

For technical information about OMAP4 check out TI’s platform overview.

All the evidence points to Texas Instrments

Rumors suggest that Google will use the latest Linux 3.0 kernel for Ice Cream Sandwich. If you go browsing around the Android Open Source Project site, you will find many recent commits in the omap.gitpath that reference the 3.0 kernel. The updates have been occurring daily and include contributions from employees of TI, Google, Imagination Technologies, and Broadcom.

This activity matches exactly what we witnessed when Google was doing the bring-up of Android 3.0 on the Tegra 2 platform.

Texas Instruments might have also spilled the beans with an e-mail the company’s PR representative is sending out today. CNET posted a promotional image that TI will use for events “in the fall” which includes their Android mascot holding hands with another Android character who looks like an Ice Cream Sandwich.

We reached out to a TI representative to see if they could provide further information and they responded, “The TI team cannot publicly confirm or deny any specific involvement with Ice Cream Sandwich.”

Can you say Nexus Three?

Recent rumors I posted have suggested that several devices were still being evaluated to become the next Nexus. We now know that the smartphone version of NVIDIA’s Kal-El has been pushed back to 2012 and our sources still tell us Qualcomm does not have access to Ice Cream Sandwich, so it looks like the OMAP4 platform is the only option if Google is still aiming for a Q4 release like they planned.

With OMAP4 at the center of the next Nexus, the rumored Samsung device is most likely what we can expect in stores this holiday season. However, LG is also rumored to have submitted a new prototype to Google that features an OMAP4 processor, so there’s a small chance we could see that device instead.

For those of you that were already planning on buying the “Nexus 3″, what are your thoughts on the OMAP4? Do you hope Google goes with Samsung or LG?

G1 owners still have a prayer for an official upgrade to Android 2.2

Taylor Wimberly — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:30:15 +0000

The G1 has already received Android 2.2 thanks to some hard working hackers, but there is still an outside chance that T-Mobile could upgrade the device over the air. Before I get your hopes up, just remember T-Mobile has the final say on firmware upgrades and their official response for the last couple of months has been, “We will let you know when we have more details to share”.

Buried inside the Froyo code drop post on the Android Developers Blog was the news that Google included all the configuration files necessary to build the source code of Android Open-Source Project on its own. Android engineer Jean-Baptiste Queru noted that, “You can now build and boot a fully open-source system image out of the box, for the emulator, as well as for Dream (ADP1), Sapphire (ADP2), and Passion (Nexus One).”

As many of your know, the G1 is the HTC Dream and the exact same hardware as the Android Developer Phone 1. Some developers have already reported success in building Android 2.2 for the Dream and we know the team behind CyanogenMod is also working on a port.

What I find most interesting is that those who built Android 2.2 from source were able to flash it on a Dream using any version of the secondary program loader (SPL). The most recent crop of custom Android 2.1 ROMs for Dream have required the DangerSPL, which rewrites the system partitions to address the device’s limited internal storage. Carrier builds are always larger than the builds from source code (because of all the extra apps), but it sounds possible that the G1 could fit Android 2.2 without modifying the SPL.

At the end of the day it’s T-Mobile’s call, but I don’t see them leaving behind the G1 owners just yet. Even though it is the oldest Android phone, the G1 appears technically able to run Android 2.2 at an acceptable performance level. In the mean time, keep an eye on HTC’s Developer Center in case they release the Android 2.2 system images for the ADP1.

Surely T-Mobile would have broken the bad news by now if they did not intend to upgrade the G1, right? Do you really think they kept you waiting all this time just to disappoint you?

Android 2.2 source code released, updates coming this summer

Taylor Wimberly — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:17:37 +0000

Just as promised, Google has released the source code for the upcoming Android 2.2 FroYo release. Andy Rubin revealed the news during today’s Droid X event and anyone can freely download the source now.

Because Google just released the source code, it could be several more months before some devices see Android 2.2. As Andy Rubin put it, “We just open-sourced it today. That’s when everybody says, ‘Go!’. That just happened today”.

Rumors had suggested the Droid X might ship with Android 2.2, but it will launch with Android 2.1 and receive an over the air update in “late summer”.

Phones that are expected to receive Android 2.2 include the Motorola Droid X, Motorola Droid 2, Motorla Droid, Motorola Milestone, Dell Streak, Google Nexus One, HTC EVO, HTC Incredible, HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy S, myTouch 3G, myTouch 3G Slide, and others.

Google releases source code for Android 2.0

Taylor Wimberly — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:48:59 +0000

One week after Verizon launched the Motorola Droid with Android 2.0, Google has released the source code for their latest update. I’ve been unplugged for several days so I was actually quite shocked when I heard the Eclair source code was now available in the AOSP (Android Open Source Project).

It looks like we have to thank one of our favorite (and most vocal) Android engineers, Mr. Jean-Baptiste M. “JBQ” Queru. He worked close to 100 hours the last 6 days to make this release possible.

Details of the Eclair drop were posted on the Android-platform mailing lists.

I’ve just created an eclair branch in AOSP, which contains the code that many people have been waiting for.

What’s in that branch? It’s basically a snapshot of part of Google’s internal eclair tree, a little bit more recent than the build that was used in Droid. It’s not the exact source for Droid and is not ready to ship on a consumer device.

Caveats:
-There’s no change history. Google is planning to eventually make the change history available, but at the moment the history contains some things that can’t be open-sourced, and making a snapshot was the fastest way to deal with those.

-It’s a partial tree. We’ll be open-sourcing more of eclair over time, but we figured it would make more sense to open-source part of it now instead of waiting until everything was in place.

-It doesn’t build for ADP1 or ION/ADP2. We’re working with the various companies involved to try to resolve this issue, but we preferred to open-source the code in its current state instead of waiting for a solution on the hardware side.

-It’s not currently merged in the master tree. I’m working on it, but I wanted to get something out before the week-end. Please be patient. I’ll try to complete it as quickly as I can.

-It doesn’t currently contain the AOSP-specific files (build configurations, etc…). They’ll come back.

-Calendar is broken. I have a fix that I will release along with the master tree.

Many people might be wondering when Android 2.0 might appear on older phones now that the source code is available to the public. The most popular community dev Cyanogen will most likely begin backporting certain features from Android 2.0 over the next few days. However, a complete build of Android 2.0 will not be available on older devices (G1 and myTouch) until handset makers update their device drivers for the new Linux kernel that shipped with Eclair.

Google changes direction with Android Open Source Project

Taylor Wimberly — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:06:03 +0000

Everyone knows that Android is open source, right? Well that depends on who you talk with and their exact definition of open source. Some might claim Android is fully open and others might refer to it as fauxpen source.

Google originally created the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) so that the community had full visibility into platform evolution and decision-making. This allowed anyone who was interested in exploring and contributing to Android to use the Android Open Source Project resources.

A lot has changed between the release of Android 1.0 to 2.0. This is evident in recent changes that were made to the project roles page. In order to see the changes that were made, we must compare a cached page with the current page.

Do a Google search for the project roles page and click "cached".

The following sections were removed.

The Android Open Source Project has been structured to ensure that:

The community has full visibility into platform evolution and decision-making.
Contributions are recognized and rewarded.
Android achieves commercial relevance.

The Core Technical Team is responsible for the following:

Prepare roadmaps for Android open source releases.
Approve the set up of new projects and select Project Leads as needed.
Be the public face for the Android Open Source Project.

Google also removed a section near the bottom that listed the requirements of becoming a member for the Core Technical Team.

What does this mean?

I don’t claim to be an expert on open source development, but I will do my best to explain the situation based on the information I have gathered. (If someone wants to step in correct me, I welcome your input.)

From what I can tell, Android is not a community project in the sense that most other open source projects operate. Android (as I see it) is totally controlled and managed by Google.

Instead of everyday members of the “community” driving the platform, you have certain members of the OHA (Open Handset Alliance) like HTC and Motorola who make significant contributions. We know this based on recent statements from Motorola executives that told us their engineers were working closely with Google on Android 2.0.

Is it necessarily a bad thing that Google is the primary driver of Android? Not at all. Without Google, Android would be nowhere close to what it is today.

I’m still confused. What are you saying?

Parts of Android are open and others are not. A few pieces like the kernel are licensed under the GPL and made available when product ships. For example, Google just released the kernel for Droid (android-omap-2.6.29-eclair). Other parts of the Android framework are under the Apache License and can remain closed as long as Google likes.

This is the reason why the popular CyanogenMod has not been updated to Android 2.0. Google has yet to release the full source code for Eclair and there is no time frame for doing so.

Ok you totally lost me.

Android is developed behind closed doors, but anyone can still make contributions. The Verizon Droid was actually the first phone to receive a significant number of open source contributions from the community. However, Google has not released the full source code so it is hard to tell what those contributions were.

Google and select members of the OHA decide the roadmap for Android, but it will no longer be made public. The reason for this is because of commercial deadlines. Google does not want to publish a roadmap of features and then be criticized for failing to deliver when they have a product deadline to meet.

In order for Android to be a commercially viable product (and show up on all those new phones you love), parts of it must remain closed and be controlled by Google. That is just the way it is.

So when will Eclair source code be released?

I have no clue when Android 2.0 source will be released. Your guess is as good as mine. The following quote comes from our favorite Android engineer Jean-Baptiste Queru over on the official Google Groups page.

There are a number of things that need to happen before any
Open-Source release can happen, and those haven’t all happened for
Eclair yet. For all I know all of those things will eventually happen.

The overall process for any such release routinely takes a few weeks,
depending of course on the size of the release, and Eclair is a big
release.

I’m afraid that’s about all I’m allowed to say at the moment. As a
technical person, I can’t make actual commitments or discuss specific
dates.

Until that happens, most of us will be stuck with Android 1.6 (Donut). He mentions it could be a few weeks, but I’m thinking it might be a few months. I would love to be wrong.

For more discussion on the release of Android 2.0 see this article which contains a bunch of quotes from carriers and handset makers. I kind of get the feeling we won’t know anything solid for awhile. If you want an Android 2.0 phone this holiday season, it looks like Droid is your only choice.

[Thank you disconn3ct for some tips used in this article]

Android 2.0 predictions – Part 1

Taylor Wimberly — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:33:57 +0000

Reuters first confirmed that Android 2.0 (Eclair) will be released this year and my sources keep telling me the Motorola Sholes from Verizon will be the flagship phone to launch the new update. Motorola announced we would get a first look at their new Android phones in September and yesterday sent out media invitations for a September 10th event. With two more weeks left to go before we might see Android 2.0, tips are flying in at a rapid pace.

The following information should be considered a rumor and I’ll let you judge how accurate we have been in the past. I think our readers are pretty smart so I’ll present some public info and you can answer the following questions on your own. This is a 3 part series I will update over the following days.

Please remember that anything is possible with Android 2.0. Google, Motorola, and Verizon are working very hard to make this major update compete directly with the iPhone OS 3.0 and the Palm Pre WebOS. It appears they are pulling out some major new features to ensure Android 2.0 is a huge success.

1. Is Google Maps 4.0 to be launched alongside Android 2.0?

We have known Google Maps 4.0 was in beta for quite some time because we have seen it appear in aTrackDog reports.

Google Maps 4.0 beta in the wild.

What new features could Google be planning that would justify a major version update?

This week Google told us crowdsourced traffic data was now available in the native Android app. This is a hot new feature that other dedicated GPS applications are offering, but why is Google adding it now? Do they plan to compete directly with the likes of Waze and others?

The only feature keeping Google Maps from becoming a full fledged navigational GPS is vocal turn-by-turn directions. And honestly, what is to keep Google from releasing their own driving software? Donut is already reported to feature an improved speech engine.

Google will be hosting a series of webcasts for analysts that start on September 9th, the day before Motorola’s event. The focus is on search and monetization and how to increase profits from their Android operating system. Location based advertising is expected to be their next cash cow and Android’s success is crucial. What better way to move a ton of add units than to launch their own GPS app with voice directions?

Call me crazy but can you imagine a free GPS software that features crowdsourced data, voice directions, and Google Street View? It is important to note that the crowdsourced traffic data is not available on iPhone and this could be a major advantage for Android.

2. Is official multi-touch coming to Android 2.0?

We might never know the real story behind the lack of multi-touch in Android 1.0, but it has since been offered on new phones like the HTC Hero. This was a special addition by HTC just for the Hero, but it looks like official support from Google is not far behind.

Our favorite Android rom cooker has seen multi-touch code in recent updates.

Code drops into the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) have revealed new code that is meant for multi-touch. To my knowledge it is not being offered in Donut, but I expect we will see it in Eclair. I’ve reported several times that Sholes will feature multi-touch and ship with Eclair.

I guess the question would be: Is multi-touch a Motorola specific feature or part of the official Android operating system? Why would multi-touch code be appearing in the official AOSP tree unless it was meant for official Android builds? I think I know the answer, but I’ll let you decide.

Conclusion of Part 1

Stay tuned for the rest of this week as we continue to preview new possible features for Android 2.0. If you think you have an answer to any of my questions, we would love to hear your feedback.

Android 2.0 might be revealed sooner than we thought.