Human-like Robot
My Moto V3i began to give up. As usual, the flip bearings became loose and, the phone reset itself ever more often, usually while receiving calls. Slightly disturbing.
So, eventually, I also gave up resisting the smartphone wave and started looking for incrementing my Linux kernel-count. The main candidate was the HTC Hero with its sturdy aluminium housing. That is, until I found the strange Motorola Defy on the Hungarian Price Machine. Slightly cheaper, with an even more sturdy shock- and waterproof housing and scratch-proof glass. Hungarians don’t like stuff if it is scratched. The gadget also has a 0.8 GHz ARM processor, accelerometers, n-type WiFi, GPS and a Full Wide touchscreen with 854 x 480 resolution.
True to form I did two things with it on the first day:
- rooted it
- poured water on it
Both with excellent results. It also got a Terminal Emulator and Busybox installed on it. The reason? It turned out that Android’s underlying Linux is an extremely crude environment. First, it has no GNU tools. And they did not even bother with installing Busybox, the usual commands are links to either Google’s toolbox or Motorola’s motobox. Both very poor. My 8 MB OpenWrt router’s command line environment is a luxurious place compared to this phone (half gig internal memory, remember).
Oh, and how does it work as a phone, you may ask? Quite brilliantly, actually.
I no more need a camera. It takes brilliant pictures in daylight.
I no more need to carry a private laptop while travelling, as it’s got WiFi, Email and Web.
I no more need maps or a GPS device. i just GO.
I no more need those bloody 20th century CDs in the car. Just play music from the phone.
One Gadget To Rule Them All.
