Android Comes to the iPhone

Hackers continue to poke at the iPhone’s closed platform with a new implementation that allows the Android operating system to run on the device. The software only works on jailbroken iPhones, and is only running so far on an old version of the phone. However, “planetbeing,” the member of the hacking group who posted the software, said he expects it to be fairly simple to port the hack to the iPhone 3G. The 3GS may take more work, he said.

Android for iPhone in its current form is not for the faint of heart. The hack allows the device to boot either to the iPhone operating system or to Android, but the Android implementation is still buggy, and lacks many device drivers. It also suffers from the iPhone’s lack of buttons–Android phones usually have at least five buttons.

But this is at least a way to get Adobe’s Flash running on an iPhone, since Adobe’s Mike Chambers announced yesterday that the company was giving up on Apple’s platform.