Running Android 2.1 on an AT&T Tilt/HTC 8925 Kaiser
With all the activity about Android running on several of the older Windows Mobile HTC devices and waiting for AT&T here in the states to start to carry Android devices in March, I couldn’t wait anymore to give one of them a try. :-)
For “fun” I took my stock AT&T Tilt (KAIS100) from 2007 (which feels like such a lifetime ago in mobile phone years!) and proceed to read through all the various posts and steps necessary. After some trial and error I did finally make a breakthrough and had Android 2.1 successfully up and running on my old Tilt. Current beta release is a “NAND” ROM based flash, and not the previous HaRET software running on top of Windows Mobile available since last fall. Thus a bit speedier and quite useable and no need to partition a tricky SD card on a Linux OS!
Warning!
<DISCLAIMER> By no means am I recommending folks to do this to their devices, as there are risks that you could “brick” the device. I also wouldn’t call this a supported device by any corporate means. I also don’t endorse illegal activity with copyrighted material. To my knowledge at this time the material mentioned is not illegal. </DISCLAIMER>
I’m merely curious on how far the mobile “community” at large has gotten with Android OS customizations, since so much is open sourced and available. For other more supported Android devices (Nexus One, HTC Dream/Magic) there are also others supplying hacked/modified ROMs.
How to do it
For the Tilt, I had to perform the HardSPL, CID unlock and SIM unlock (I believe the latter is optional, but I was on a roll). I also upgraded the radio firmware to the one supported by the Android “polymod” build I was looking at trying out. It’s been tweaked for several months by someone that goes by the handle of “polyrhythmic” on the XDA forum.
The steps necessary are laid out several places, but I had to read up on the full thread(s) to better understand some of the context. After the unlocking steps, I flashed the device from a SD card and had to press the D-pad key at the right time to process with selecting the Install of the OS. Take the battery out and back in and patiently wait for the OS to come up for the first time.
Regarding which LCD Panel and resolution to use I first tried a 320x480 ROM with bad results, then noticed others having good luck with this 320x428 file.
Getting Screen Shots
After getting it up and running I installed the latest Android SDK and got the DDMS (Dalvik Debug Monitor) up and running with the Windows USB driver. It takes a few minutes after you tether the device for it to show up in the debugger. But then you can snag the screen shots you want. I need to see if our old buddy Koushik’s Screenshot tool works on this hacked build.
Overall
Overall, I was impressed by the capabilities my old Tilt had gotten. Not 100% yet, but I can see the Android activity on the XDA forum has not lessen and only continues to increase.
Very impressive what some members have done to get newer operating systems running on legacy hardware that is no longer supported by vendors.. But also a note that you shouldn’t also expect 100% functionality or compatibility. Currently the Bluetooth and camera functions don’t work on the Tilt and the battery life is questionable. The screen is also rather small and hard to read. But if you can live with 85%+, have patience for some delays, and love to tinker with technology hacks this is for you. :-)
Android in the Enterprise
The Exchange ActiveSync support is fairly barebones but included none the less in Android 2.1. I await for more full fledged Android devices hitting the market shortly to see how the corporate mobile landscape may change by year’s end. Several 3rd party ActiveSync clients are now also commercial available to fill some of the void left behind the Google native implementation. I think more features are necessary before a full fledged enterprise would feel secure..
PS. Please don’t ask me questions on how do perform this or what to do if you brick your device. Please see the links above and ask the experts on the forums instead. :-)
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