Approaching the LZ

Apple has helped us, once again, cross a bridge we once thought impossible. The iOS 6 beta has made our lives much easier and comes with many features for cross-compatibility. They have possibly saved us weeks, even months, of development. Due to my busy work schedule, I currently do not have time to present you with a full detailed briefing of what we can now accomplished, but I promise you, within the next couple of days, I will bring you one. The post and it's details will probably take about 3-4 hours, but all revisions and technical term corrections are required.

Thank you for your patience my friends. The Eagle is on it's way.

New Servers & Updates

Hello users. A fine day, isn't it?

Recently, we've come under attack by very unhappy users that reside in the evil depths of interwebs. Not officials representing anybody big in particular, but by the rate that we grow each day, it's starting to look like we could start receiving them at any time now. We're not taking any chances of being shutdown.

A group has found us in the darkest of days and proposed an idea that they could make possible, which we simply could not. Due to our policy of being a non-profit organization, we do not accept any donations or currency of any type from this project. Meaning if we wanted to take the next step into this world, it would have to come from our own pockets. Let me make this clear, we invest time, not money. And now thanks to this group, we won't have to. All of our content is being pushed to offshore servers. From here, we will have a much bigger selection of paths we will be able to take. In a sense, many doors will be open. Although this may be true, I would like to make another thing clear:

Although we are able to release bootdroid, we will not until all copyright situations have been cleared. Then we will make a landing and it will be glorious.

Over the next few days you will also realize a change in the site and once our full transition has been complete, we will make it clear for all to see.

Thank you :)
- The Anon Team

The Revolution :)

I'm very delighted to announce that throughout the past few couple of weeks, our outstanding addition to the crew, Krazy, has made great progress on the project and has brought much hope to our conspicuous blueprints. He has been successful in running the iPad3,1_5.1_9B176 (iPad OS 5.1) on an Android tablet. At approximately 4AM PST, Krazy was able to boot the iPad operating system on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 with much success. To most, these headlines might not appear shocking, but what will hopefully put a gracious expression on most faces is the fact that Krazy didn't use the semi-port method that we we're supposedly going to endure, but actually managed to port the entire operating system to run on the tablet as if it were running smoothly on the iPad itself.

Long Live Bootdroid!

Let's be honest with ourselves, the App Store, the features, the gestures; just the iOS platform in general is a clean and simple yet professional mobile platform used and loved by millions of people each waking minute. Samsung can make as many commercials as they want about the iPhone not having certain features, but even I would trade all of that in for the famously well known iOS platform. Not only is it universally compatible with it's fellow Mac OS when it comes to syncing and transfers, but also somewhat compatible with Windows as well. It's the type of software that's got everything and enables you to get almost anything through it's majorly successful market, the App Store. So what's stopping you from getting this unique gift that Steve Jobs has so kindly given to the world? Well for starters, it could be the expensive hardware that Apple tends to overprice on launch; or even an upgrade that you not eligible for till 2015. Maybe it's even the fact that you love your monster 4-inch Android screen with a sleek unibody that Apple's devices lacks. Whatever the reason being, my job is to try and bring the experience of the selfishly unique operating system to the palm of the hand of the Android user.

Sadly, this isn't the only problem we are facing today and for the coming weeks. As you all may have heard, we are at the border of copyright laws, tempted to step over. Although a release is in our grasp, we simply can't step over that border and we won't step over that border. The team and I are 100% against illegal activity of any sort and we have whole-heartedly agreed that we will not cross that border. So let me make this clear for whomever cares to quote: We will not be releasing the final product of bootdroid, or any builds for that matter, if it means crossing the lines of international copyright law or any law what so ever. Now, saying that, for every dark day there is a light that shines brighter than the rest. We have come to far to stop now and give up all the progress we've made within the last couple of months. We are not going to scrap this project. In fact, we are going to do the exact opposite.

I don't know if you guys are familiar with software like Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion, but the basic idea behind it is bring the Windows experience to the Mac by virtually simulating the complete Windows OS with full features and compatibility. You're booting Windows on a Mac. Now, this has been a fairly successful process because like Android OS, the Windows Operating System is so customizable when it comes to displaying itself on different types of hardware and utilizing the processing power, whether it's weak or strong. Sadly, Apple's iOS platform is un-customizable to the fullest. They basically made it compatible with four different screen sizes, that fall under two separate categories (retina display and original display). Now, if there were to be an Android device with the same antenna-model as the iPhone, the same screen size, processing power, camera resolution, ect.. then our lives would be very easy when it comes to porting the iOS platform to that device (besides Apple's intelligent protection, which is what they use to patch Jailbreak exploits and and prevent application piracy). So although a full featured port would be nice, Apple simply doesn't give us the option for customization like that.

All bad news so far, I know, but we're getting to the good stuff. That last paragraph ended off on a note. A full feature port is out of the question until Apple decides to go
open source with their mobile platform, but don't hold your breath. That's not gonna happen any time soon. Now our new addition to the team, Matt, has brought us the idea of a semi-port. It's basically the same thing as a port, but a lot of recreation is required which makes that project a tad bit harder because only one of us is a Photoshop fanatic. For all of those that think a semi-port is a downgrade from a full featured port, we ask you to think about it for a second. A full featured port would be great for games, and since it already has the C language built in, there is no need for any system creation or application simulation; but many issues can occur, such as the screen might be stretched, the graphics might blurred and your system might not be able to handle your processor. A semi-port kinda defeats all of this in a single strike. Since all of the displays and configuration is custom, many less bugs will occur. It's kinda like the software "Crossover" by Codeweavers. The only issues we might come into contact with is simulating the games and iTunes transfer. All of this stuff is under strict protection that may void a certain copyright law to fix, but we'll take a more "in-depth" look at that later. In the end, we will not settle for less. We will deliver to you the full featured iOS platform one way or the other.

For now, process all of this in your head. We are working on getting the sites back up, but we want to continue this project with much precaution. We do appreciate your patience though. We agree that this is taking a long time to complete, but development on a scale like this never happens within a few weeks.

Long live bootdroid.

Refresh Those Browsers!

Update on a massive scale. - coming within the next couple hours.

Different Perspectives

I'm currently downtown New York City to meet up with my lawyer to discuss the legal issues that have been targeting this project lately. I'm not 100% sure what the future holds for us but we're trying to make a plausible outcome. We cannot continue this project until we know what we're allowed to do, but everything goes according to plan, the site should be up a running within a few days.

If any individuals or legal entities would like to request a disclaimer form, we will have one available within the coming weeks.

Accolade

This blog, reaching an astonishing 300 page views per day and a whopping 10,000 page views per month was not planned out when we began this project. Publicity has hit us hard and we are gaining new visitors from all over the world, all the time. Where they come from is beyond me, but the lack of posts we publicize is not attracting any new fans, and we're gonna take a new approach to try and change that.

Our blog will be down for the next couples of days to come, but we are setting up a Twitter page.

Twitter: Minor & Major Updates

Blog: Major Updates

@bootdroid

Follow @bootdroid

Thank you for your patience. The Twitter will be updated daily.

Dominance

We will survive, we will prevail. 

Copyright Infringement: Part II

The Battle has begun. We'll be back soon.

Addition to the Crew

There will be a new developer joining the team today. Everybody give a warming welcome to Matt Kraszlany. He knows the answers to a lot of the questions I've been asking myself lately and hopefully he'll be able to lift this project off the ground. Welcome :)

PS, big update coming soon. I would like to keep you informed on how we are going to do this.

Distortion of Colour Differentials & Opacity

As we all know, there are vast differences between Apple's devices and Android-running devices. Not only is there that, but also vast differences between Android devices themselves. That is basically the challenge of this project: creating a universal iOS platform and made available for all android devices (which, in fact, is a complex universal category all by itself).

The title of this post basically describes itself. I don't exactly know how to put this but, unlike Apple's devices, a lot of Android devices are cheaper (quality-wise) and less capable then advertised. For example, a phone company might say that their product has a better screen resolution then a medium sized computer, but what they don't tell you is that this medium sized computer has a screen resolution of only 800x600 (which kinda-sorta sucks, but that's just my opinion). Now back to the subject at hand, a lot of product retailers fail to tell you that there is a massive colour differential between devices. The iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy both have fairly good, yet similar method of producing quality colours in the palm of your hand. Other Android devices, such as the HTC Desire HD, has a very different way of producing "not so quality" colour. Although the colours are total crap, we tend to live with it, mainly being because we adapt to how the colours are produced on that certain device, and the Android platform has been optimized to work with those colours, giving you a better experience with what they have to work with,

Now when it comes to running a basic GUI application, including Apple's famous top bar that is used with many applications and is the core of what is known in the iPhone SDK community as a Navigation Controller, the colour of the top bar tends to get a little distorted. The colour fades and begins to produce a greyish tint which is a pretty nasty experience (again, all in my opinion). Now, luckily this issue hasn't sprung up too many building and debugger problems, but it may bring an unsatisfying feeling to those users who are looking for the full iOS experience so I'm going to begin working on this issue.

Another issue, which doesn't need much explaining is the transparency issue (when opacity = 0-99%). It seems that the iPhone SDK uses its own method of transparency and is summing to be harder then expected to implement. I will keep you updated on this as well.

Droid Mirror: Sketch Up Idea

For all of those patiently waiting for a legitimate dual boot of the Android OS and iOS, I bring you an idea. This isn't necessarily gonna make it past the planning stages, but tell me what you think. I need both positive and negative feedback if I am to put this project into high gear. Hopefully all of your questions will be answered below?

What is Droid Mirror?
Droid Mirror is an idea I have come up with for a possible future project. This program would basically allow you to run iOS on your Android phone using VNC technology. Now, for all familiar with VNC, you probably already know that a physical iOS device must be present in order for this method to work.

VNC technology will allow you to control the iOS device from your Android phone, as well as hear, watch and do just about anything an iOS device can do (because your basically running your physical iOS device on your Android device). The VNC does require some type of wireless connection that can either be LAN, Bluetooth, WiFi, Data (3G), ect. This will enable you to control your iOS device, through your Android, no matter where you are in the world.

What is VNC technology?
You can read up on that here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Network_Computing).

How would Droid Mirror use VNC to run iOS on my Android?
It's a simple concept really. Install a program on your iOS device that would create a server and allow external devices to connect through a secure connection. Once connected, you can see the screen of the iOS device and interact with it, as well as anything and everything you would be able to do with an iOS device.

What are the downsides? 
As to a good idea, there are only so many cons that can get in the way of perfection.

• Must have an iOS device that is Jailbroken
• Both devices must be connected to an wireless / internet connection
• Resizing of the screen may be an issue
• Lag may occur, but there are certain precautionary measures you can take to avoid that
• Not all Android devices may be able to run the VNC Viewer due of a degrading processor
• There are plenty more, but the above are the main cons I can think of

Will you continue development on bootdroid?
Of course, bootdroid is my number one priority.

Tell me what you think. Developers love feedback, good or bad.

Hardware Mashup & a Quick Inquiry

As most of you are aware, bootdroid will not only bring you the look and feel of an iOS device, but also the core features that are exclusive to these devices. There is a bit of an issue when it comes to retina displays. This being because for every application, there is always a regular sized image (image.png) and an image twice the size (image@2x.png) for users with retina display. When it comes to hardware and optimizing your Android device, there are two conflicts we face and a decision that must be made.

• Whether your device should optimize for regular images or HD images
• Whether your device can optimize for HD images
• Screen resolution must be the same size or larger then 960x640
• Your processor must be able to display these images quickly (if this cannot be accomplished then games, graphics, movies, ect. will be include a minor to major lag issue)

You may be wondering why we can't just simply optimize the images to the size of the resolution. Well, easy answer, it would be impossible. Not only did Apple not include this feature when comes to running the platform on their device (which is why they require you to create two images for regular resolution and HD resolution), but they've also managed to wipe the option of the face of the Earth.. or iOS as we call it. So, as you may have noticed, there is going to be quite a bit of "checking and handling" when it comes to dual-booting this platform.

I would also like to know what you want most out of this project for use with this project. What features are you excited to have on your Android device?

Caution: Glass on the Road

 

There were a few problems I knew I would have to face when I started this project, all of which that can be solved with a little brain power, but there is one issue I would like to address to all of you out there supporting bootdroid.

Android has already been successfully dual booted to the iOS devices, meaning users with Apple devices can boot the Android Platform. This was quicker and a tad bit easier as a result of the Android Platform being 100% open source. Apple on the other hand has not made their platform open source, thus making it harder to pull everything together. This is, sadly, not the problem I knew I would be faced with when it comes to Apple keeping their projects closed source.
Apple's platform is also protected under the copyright law, meaning I would have to break international copyright law if we were to simply just release their ported platform for all to install onto their Android devices. Although this may appear to be the darkest hour, there's always a light shining bright enough to bring a bit shine to the stormy forecast. There seems to always be a way around these things, so stay tuned.

Optimization Progress

I've managed to snag the GUI images that are available with the iOS 5 firmware and optimized it for the Android device I'm working with. I successfully built a Test App (GUI) in Xcode and added it as a system application to the iOS firmware currently running on my Android device. All features of the Test App are fully functioning and images are appearing in HD, but these GUI images are optimized for a 480x800 resolution. Demo video coming soon. Still doesn't solve my differential resolution problems, but it's one step closer.

Full Screen PNG (1599 x 1066)

iOS 5 Optimization

On the Google Project page for bootdroid, I mentioned that due to screen resolution and size specification in general on the Android platform vary drastically, I would have to modify the iPad OS to resize it's resolution when it came to a device with a certain screen size. Almost every device running the Android OS nowadays is a different size with a certain resolution, so this is a crucial feature I would have to implement. Now on the iOS platform, Apple has made it almost impossible to resize the resolution of the GUI interface that it has to offer.. almost.


Since all of Apple's products are certain screen sizes with either a default resolution or a 2x resolution (also known as retina display), they don't have to modify for a number of screen resolutions (such as Android does). So instead, Apple's firmware was built for specific screen sizes, instead of being optimized for whatever screen size that comes in it's path. I hate to say it, but it's a very good move on Apple's part, because there are so many images and graphic effects, that it's nearly impossible to modify the firmware for different screen sizes. Not to mention that every app was developed for these resolutions that Apple has implemented, so every app is compatible with these iOS devices.


This is going to cause some trouble when it comes to booting the iOS firmware on different screen resolutions. Android devices that have screen resolutions that are lower than 960x640, or if you can divide the resolution 960x640 by an integer to equal your current devices resolution, then it will likely be more compatible with the iOS 5 firmware and the pixels will be less diluted. Which means when it comes to Android tablets, I will have to use the iPad OS.


So, in order to avoid this conflict of screen resolution differentials, I will most likely have to recreate a lot of the graphics of iOS in either SVG files or many different sized image files. Also, since I can't just magically download a Photoshop ready version of all of these graphics, I will have to recreate these all by hand. When it comes to the finishing product I will make it look very identical to the real graphics used on the iOS devices, but it will take some time.


More information coming soon.

Latest Updates

Recent Activity


With the release of iOS 5, things have been kind of hectic. I've had to wait for an iPhone 4S jailbreak that had been delayed for quite a few weeks. Since the jailbreak enables me full root access to the firmware installed on a device. So thanks to the people who were involved for the jailbreak, especially pod2g for giving me access to crucial information that is needed for my project.


Next thing to mention. This project, as mentioned many times before, will be exclusive to devices with specific requirements. So the more up to date your Android OS device is, the better chance this will project will be compatible with your device. Also, keep your Android OS firmware up to date. It's not really required when it comes to dual booting, but it can make a difference when it comes to installation (difference between installing via a beautiful GUI-based application/program, opposed to installing with via command lines).




Disclaimer


People must keep the following message as a mental note. It is crucial to know this:

I will not be releasing a donation system because there is no guarantee that this project will work with your device, or even that this project will be released to the public. Since a lot of you have been asking if you could possibly contribute towards this project via donation, but because of the standards mentioned above, I will not be accepting Project Donations. If you would like to help me out personally (for e.g. donate a couple dollars to buy me a coffee), I will be putting a donations link up soon. Since this is a non-profit project, I would really appreciate some personal contributions.

One Last Thing


This blog is where I will be posting updates on the bootdroid project, so keep checking back, subscribe to the RSS or whatever is easiest for you.


Thanks,
Bootdroid Project Leader