Someone on one of the many android sites suggested that maybe we'd start to see all of those cheap knock off phones from China start running Android soon. Well, today, I stumbled across this little gem:
t580i
And I thought "that's ALMOST a device I could see running android on". With the following changes:
(obviously, get android onto it)
1) Increase the screen resolution to 320x480
2) Give it at least 256MB ROM, 192MB RAM
3) add AT&T or T-Mobile-USA UMTS/HSPA to it (preferably both), and EDGE.
4) Change the OK key to a "Control" key
5) Change the key between "OK" and "Space" to "Search".
6) Change the "envelope" key to a "menu" key
7) Change the key that has a Chinese character to say "ALT" (I assume that's what it is: the key for invoking the blue symbols)
8) Change the two "soft" buttons on the face (the "-" buttons) to "Home" and "Back"
9) Add a "menu" key to the button area (probably between the screen and the d-pad
10) add a wifi interface (even if that means removing the TV and/or FM tuner)
11) if possible, make it quad-band GSM instead of tri-band
I think that'd be a great basis for an android phone (with or without the TV/FM tuners). It's a tilt screen, side-slide, dual SIM card phone. It already has tri-band GSM, and it looks like it has a decent keyboard. It's of similar size to the G1 (thicker, though), and it has almost twice the battery capacity, it appears. (though, without knowing its power consumption, I can't tell you what the battery lifetime would be)
If they got all of that done, I'd probably buy one just to see if it turned out ok.
t580i
And I thought "that's ALMOST a device I could see running android on". With the following changes:
(obviously, get android onto it)
1) Increase the screen resolution to 320x480
2) Give it at least 256MB ROM, 192MB RAM
3) add AT&T or T-Mobile-USA UMTS/HSPA to it (preferably both), and EDGE.
4) Change the OK key to a "Control" key
5) Change the key between "OK" and "Space" to "Search".
6) Change the "envelope" key to a "menu" key
7) Change the key that has a Chinese character to say "ALT" (I assume that's what it is: the key for invoking the blue symbols)
8) Change the two "soft" buttons on the face (the "-" buttons) to "Home" and "Back"
9) Add a "menu" key to the button area (probably between the screen and the d-pad
10) add a wifi interface (even if that means removing the TV and/or FM tuner)
11) if possible, make it quad-band GSM instead of tri-band
I think that'd be a great basis for an android phone (with or without the TV/FM tuners). It's a tilt screen, side-slide, dual SIM card phone. It already has tri-band GSM, and it looks like it has a decent keyboard. It's of similar size to the G1 (thicker, though), and it has almost twice the battery capacity, it appears. (though, without knowing its power consumption, I can't tell you what the battery lifetime would be)
If they got all of that done, I'd probably buy one just to see if it turned out ok.
