[LAU] Sorta-OT: Linux phones?

[Leigh Dyer]

On 27/01/11 14:24, Ray Rashif wrote:
> The closest to Linux is the N900. Then you have the Androids.

Yep, the N900 is really the only serious option I know of. Android 
phones run Linux, to be sure, but they're nothing like a typical Linux 
system -- almost everything from the kernel up is Android specific. 
There are a range of music-centric apps for Android, but none of them 
are capable of anything like what Fluidsynth/aseqnet would be capable 
of, and the OS has some fundamental limitations that prevent real-time 
audio processing (there's always substantial latency, usually 100ms or 
more).

It sounds like Android 2.3 has new APIs that provide lower-level audio 
access capable of realtime performance, but there's only one phone out 
there running 2.3 today (Google's new Nexus S), and I haven't seen 
much/any talk about Android music apps updating to the new APIs yet anyway.

There are definitely some useful audio apps for Android (Chordbot, 
Tapemachine, and Fingerplay MIDI spring to mind), and I hope we'll see 
more, but I don't think it'll ever be a platform for running your 
favourite Linux audio apps on-the-go like the N900 can be.

Thanks
Leigh