Hardware [Shitty speculation] What are the odds for an Android port once the Switch is hacked?

[nmkd]

I mean, it's the first ARM console with enough power & RAM for it.

Also, the Shield TV (Tegra X1) runs Android.

Just imagine the possibilities...

- Emulators! No low-level optimization, but there's enough power for PSP, GameCube, some Wii games, PSX, Dreamcast, N64...

- Netflix, YouTube and other apps that are independent from Nintendo

- All Android games. Sure, Android doesn't have the greatest games, but some are good.


What do you think?
I know, this is kind of ridiculous since the Switch is not even released, but I think it would be amazing to have Android on it, especially for emulation.

//Sent from my glorious OnePlus X

 

[aljpn91]

the vita has arm too, but you haven't seen an android port for it yet have you?

 

[hobbledehoy899]

You mean the Switch won't be x86_64-based???

 

[StackMasher]

- Shitty security

 

[Xzi]

I imagine Netflix and Youtube and a few other apps will be supported by Nintendo's OS. Rumor has it we'll have support for a lot of older games through virtual console, too.

My guess: it'll be a lot easier to get a copy of the OS with user control (emuNAND) running than it will be to get the system to properly run Android.

 

[gnmmarechal]

Eh, don't think that isn't that useful. Then again, I would definitely try it. One can't ever hack a console enough. I remember running Android on my old Windows Mobile HTC Polaris. It was fun.

Sent from my cave of despair where I collect souls

 

[sarkwalvein]

Bleh.
Do you really want to make the switch as good as the ouya?

 

[Yil]

Completely different api/ huge game size/ special hardwares/ up-to-date specs that can outclass every single mid range smartphones. No, just no.

 

[foob]

* I have approximately zero desire to see Google's spyware OS on this device, much less the apps.
* The best 'youtube app' I have on Android invloves downloading the videos for offline play. If I can't get that on the Switch, I don't care. It's doubtful I'd want to hold it for long periods compared to many other better devices more suited to the task.
* I don't subscribe to Netflix, but a similar argument applies here: better and/or cheaper devices are out there for it.
* emulators: I hope it can get hacked for them, but without Google's malware OS being needed

 

[Sketchy1]

prolly not, cause were not even up to a decent gcn, and the switch far outclasses most androids. plus, not even linux, its pc counterpart, has reached that level.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

its a nintendo device, ofc its gonna be hcked

* I have approximately zero desire to see Google's spyware OS on this device, much less the apps.
* The best 'youtube app' I have on Android invloves downloading the videos for offline play. If I can't get that on the Switch, I don't care. It's doubtful I'd want to hold it for long periods compared to many other better devices more suited to the task.
* I don't subscribe to Netflix, but a similar argument applies here: better and/or cheaper devices are out there for it.
* emulators: I hope it can get hacked for them, but without Google's malware OS being needed

 

[nmkd]

* I have approximately zero desire to see Google's spyware OS on this device, much less the apps.
* The best 'youtube app' I have on Android invloves downloading the videos for offline play. If I can't get that on the Switch, I don't care. It's doubtful I'd want to hold it for long periods compared to many other better devices more suited to the task.
* I don't subscribe to Netflix, but a similar argument applies here: better and/or cheaper devices are out there for it.
* emulators: I hope it can get hacked for them, but without Google's malware OS being needed

"Malware OS"?

Dude, it's open-source.

Go through the code and tell me where the malware is

//Sent from my glorious OnePlus X

 

[Deleted member 333767]

Allow me to quote an old Australian proverb:

Chances are slim-to-f*ck all!

 

[foob]

"Malware OS"?

Dude, it's open-source.

Go through the code and tell me where the malware is

//Sent from my glorious OnePlus X

Apps & games siphoning off our data more than ever before. Software *and* hardware exploits more insecure now than ever before. "Trusted computing" which is anything but. All-you-can-eat updates (exploits) for the masses.

We are talking about a company who profits on our data. Wi-fi databases for Street View. Strong links to the NSA and countless intelligence agencies wordwide. Basically every move tracked and archived on the phone / tablet and sent over the interwebs. You think whatever we are using today is not backdoored to heck, let alone reporting back to Google (and countless third parties) everything we do? Who cares that the core OS is open-source? It's so easy to enable anything remotely (camera, mic, GPS, etc.) & the data Google collects has been proven to be anything but anonymous. Browsers stealing more private data than ever before. Countless apps and games are siphoning more of our data than ever before. And 99.999% are powerless to stop it, with both software *and* hardware exploits playing their part. The worst part is that malware has been normalised: most are enabling State Surveillance willingly by using their silly social spyware apps and games. 99.999% have no interest in retaining *some* control by rooting and carefully disabling apps that aren't normally allowed to be disabled (countless processes).

All the core Google apps aren't worth using, in my opinion (I remove *all* of them and any apps that rely on the Play Store). Along with so many others. Apple & Microsoft are *no different* to Google. They have been State Surveillance whores for ages. I wouldn't use their browsers & I'd disable as many native apps as possible in order to have some semblance of sanity on the device. A simple search on Google and the NSA should keep your reading for weeks. Let alone Microsoft and Apple.

For all we know, Nintendo is in the same boat. They certainly seem clueless enough about the online world to rely on too many third-parties to do their dirty work. Which means they probably have even less control than our lovely State Surveillance agents.

Android is a malware OS designed by a malware company that has most to benefit from the masses remaining clueless. And Nintendo have been proven to be too cheap for so long, it's extremely doubtful the suits have had 0.00001% interest in the OS when designing the Switch, let alone living with its limitations & royalty payments. Getting the OS on the device - unofficially - probably isn't impossible, but I doubt it will be a practical reality.

 

[Xzi]

Android is a malware OS designed by a malware company that has most to benefit from the masses remaining clueless.

Well, calling Android a "malware OS" is flat-out wrong, and the second part you can blame on politics and capitalism rather than tech companies themselves. People in the US at least have been cowering in fear since 9/11, which results in anger, and either emotion makes them easy to manipulate. Makes them willing to give up freedom for supposed security.

I agree with you that people in general are too unaware of how to handle their private data on phones and with most devices now, which does make them vulnerable to 24/7 tracking by the NSA. A lot of people don't care. At least there will be video games in our dystopian future.

 

[Futurdreamz]

"Malware OS"?

Dude, it's open-source.

Go through the code and tell me where the malware is

//Sent from my glorious OnePlus X

Right in the middle of Heartbleed.


It's open source, meaning that it slaps together components from all over the internet. You don't know where they have been, and you're trusting others to do their job and vett it. In theory it's supposed to bring us this grand paradise where everything is perfect, but that's not how things work in the real world. Heartbleed is proof of this. There was a devastating bug in a literal staple of the Linux stack for a decade, and nobody saw it. Every single Linux installation literally demands a trained system admin to maintain it.

 

[Xanthe]

the vita has arm too, but you haven't seen an android port for it yet have you?

It was a genuine question. He has a reasonable idea. You do not need to be an ass about it.

 

[grossaffe]

It's open source, meaning that it slaps together components from all over the internet.

 

[Futurdreamz]

Google did not write the kernel, nor the networking stack. And most of what they claim as their own (such as the browser's rendering engine) are forks of existing projects that still contain part of the original code.

 

[grossaffe]

Google did not write the kernel, nor the networking stack. And most of what they claim as their own (such as the browser's rendering engine) are forks of existing projects that still contain part of the original code.

I'm just saying that open source does not mean it's code slapped together across the internet. It merely means that the code is... open. I can write something from the ground up completely from scratch and release the source code and said project would be open source and it couldn't be further from being code slapped together. And even in collaborative projects, there's a process of code review.

 

[foob]

Well, calling Android a "malware OS" is flat-out wrong, and the second part you can blame on politics and capitalism rather than tech companies themselves.

The services & processes are so tied-in to the OS on the typical device that I think it's completely fair to call Android a malware/spyware OS. Even when removing the native spyware apps after rooting.

There is no practical way for the average user to separate them from the OS; even as an advanced user after rooting you are only doing some of the job by disabling most of them. If you want APKs without using the Play Store, you can get them through third party websites too (some of which directly download from Google's Play Store). But lots of apps and games rely on Google Play Services and related framework being on the device. And that's without talking about the security practices (and 'apparently benign' spyware apps & hardware from Mediatek and other chipset manufacturers). 99.99% of thid-party apps and games on the platform have free reign to the data on your device, and free reign to your camera, mic, gps, location data, calendar, contacts, etc. Copious hardware and software backdoors, etc.

I guess we can split hairs and talk about 'open source' as much as we like, but I still consider Android nothing but spyware for the masses (as are all the popular OSs). Yes, people can do some great things with it, without the Google BS, but that's not what the average person is seeing from Android.