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Comment by javert | Hacker News Reader

it will almost certainly be better than Android or iOS for my purposes

Can you give specific examples? I'm genuinely curious.

For one thing, we've got Unix "apps" that have been maintained for 30 years, like vim and emacs. So in my mind, the software ecosystem is much better, even before launch.

Configurability is a huge plus for me. Could you imagine recompiling your phone's kernel? Configuring your phone with dotfiles? Serving webpages and email? Not everyone's cup of tea, and I hope there are more user-friendly options available, but having that power is enticing.

I'm looking forward to better multitasking, and multiple user accounts. Also a more open hardware ecosystem, such as USB and HDMI ports, docks, chargers, USB keyboards, maybe a laptop "shell" I can insert my phone into?

If we look at the "dockable PC" side of things, the developer tools are unparalleled.

And of course free software. CyanogenMod is pretty great already, and Busybox too, but I think a GNU presence will only help. Maybe I drank too much of RMS's koolaid.

I would love for my phone to be my primary computer, and just plug it into a mouse/keyboard/monitor whenever I need to do real work (the latter implies having full control of anythin I want to control, like I have now in Arch Linux).

Other than that, I don't really see the use case (for me personally) for most of what you're saying. I mean, vi/emacs are not useful on the phone, because it doesn't have a real keyboard. Since it doesn't have a real keyboard, I can't do real things with it, so there is no need for a lot of customization (e.g. with dotfiles).

A 5 dollar USB hub can be used as a dock, assuming the USB port can be a USB host (even the cheapest Android hardware usually can), and a hub lets you dock to a full-sized keyboard, mouse, and even external VGA/DVI.

Recompiling your phone's kernel is nice, but what happens when you fuck something up and are unable to call 911?

I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but it seems unlikely. What are the odds that I'd need to call 911 and:

1) I'm alone 2) I'm not near my car (I carry an old flip phone in the glove compartment for emergencies) 3) I've messed up my phone sufficiently enough that 911 doesn't work but most other things work fine

The same thing that happens when you screw up your laptop and find you can't email the cops.

Don't rely on your "hacking phone" for emergencies, at least until you can verify it will work.

One more reason for a proper bootloader (to dual boot a preset working interface) and/or a basic recovery ROM (like old Macs) that can always place phone calls.

Natural selection pressure against kernel hackers?

I don't know, is this a significant issue for android developers right now?

Depends. Could be a kernel panic, it could just freeze up, etc.

> Configurability is a huge plus for me. Could you imagine recompiling your phone's kernel? Configuring your phone with dotfiles? Serving webpages and email? Not everyone's cup of tea, and I hope there are more user-friendly options available, but having that power is enticing. I'm looking forward to better multitasking, and multiple user accounts. Also a more open hardware ecosystem, such as USB and HDMI ports, docks, chargers, USB keyboards, maybe a laptop "shell" I can insert my phone into?

FWIW, you can do all these on Android in some form or another.

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