6. Hacking Other Smartphone Platforms

Windows Mobile users interested in updating and tweaking their devices can get a range of applications and tweaking utilities - or you can use the xda-developers Website to create your own phone ROMs. ROM kitchen applications and new boot loaders mean that you can choose just what features are installed on your hardware, and also let you tune phone performance. Windows Mobile remains closed and while developers can add their own applications to the system ROMs, modifying Microsoft’s OS remains outside the scope of the current developer efforts. One advantage of these third-party ROM editions is that they often include debug and tweaking tools that aren’t part of the normal distributions. You can use them to tweak the phone’s feature set, and to tune the device for your network and your needs. Built-in field service tools can show how the phone is performing - giving you the metrics you need to complete your device tuning. Don’t expect support from your network provider if you have connection problems, though.

Other originally closed platforms have been opening up. Apple’s iPhone is slowly revealing its secrets, as the iPhone’s OS X-based operating system shares many features with its desktop cousin. A tool kit has been developed by several different groups, allowing developers to write their own applications and deploy them to the iPhone - including adding icons to Apple’s signature launcher. This looks likely to be the start of a cat-and-mouse game between Apple and independent developers unsatisfied with Apple’s closed approach - especially now that a recent system update has caused significant problems for users of unlocked hardware.

Hacking your phone is still hard work. If you’re willing to spend the time working with Linux development tools you can build your own phone OS and applications from scratch or port existing Linux applications to a phone. The new generation of open phones is a big step forward - for the tweaker and the developer alike. The skills that are being learned on this first generation of devices will simplify the process for the rest of us. Linux phones require command line experience, but if you know how you can get the custom phone you’ve always wanted. But unless you’re a hard core developer, start with the Neo1973 OpenMoko device rather than the Greenphone.

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