iContain

[the_leander]

I suggeted that a PowerPC phone that can run Amiga OS would be just the thing we want.  

Who wants? Is there anything in the PPC stable that could even remotely contend with ARM based devices?

Then there's the software. Sorry, but I remember all too well the joys of cellphones running OS's that were simply unfit for purpose, the first gen smart phones running a hacked up version of Windows mobile (what used to be WinCE) were hateful devices, the palms weren't a whole lot nicer and the less said about Symbian the better.

What does a hacked up version of AmigaOS on a smartphone offer that Android, iOS or WebOS don't?

Amiga compatibility? AFAIK at least two of the three above mentioned OS's have UAE in their software repositories.

All I can see is the name. That alone I'm sorry to say is not nearly enough, for me, or anyone else who has half a brain.

[the_leander]

Pretty much. I think (although I won't presume to know) that the thinking here is that if we could just get some Amiga-based or Amiga-inspired OS running on smart phones then that could totally pave the way for an Amiga rennaisance, being as it's the current "emerging computer market."

Unfortunately, as you point out, it really doesn't offer anything smart phones need that the other OSes don't provide as well or better, and (unless I'm greatly mistaken) the only Amiga-based OS that would run on most modern phone hardware is AROS, so MorphOS or AOS4 devotees would be SOL anyway unless someone were to come through with a PPC-based phone platform (is the PPC even remotely as efficient for mobile computing as ARM? I kinda doubt it.)

It's basically the same mistake the Web.It made, thinking that "niche retrocomputing compatibility" is the kind of killer app that could help a product gain a significant share of a completely unrelated (and, in the "web TV" market's case, completely retarded) market. The smart phone market doesn't work that way, even if iOS and Android didn't already have UAE. It's like I keep saying: the way to build a new Amiga platform is to build a new Amiga platform, not to hitch Amiga compatibility to an existing platform's wagon.

As bloodline said:

+1

/thread

[the_leander]

So I gave Rogue's email to Todd, who told me that Rogue never got back to him.  That seems strange - he replied to me within seconds.

No, really? I'm shocked I tells ya!

Not sure why he didn't get a reply from Rogue.

Because working for one set of muppets is enough in any given career.

I've just got visions of an Amiga phone in my head.  I'm starting to find my Nokia N97 Mini annoying ...

You think your N97 is annoying? Try running an OS that wasn't designed with the hardware in mind, lacking features even Symbian supports and a software catalogue that is completely inappropriate for the form factor.

Even if by some miracle you managed to shoehorn AmigaOS into a phone, you realise that the development time you're talking about realistically will be measured in years, right? And that's even before we get to the issue of building a complete new software set and infrastructure.