GPhone Pics! Open-Source 'Bug' Can Run Android
Bug Labs founder Peter Semmelhack just gave us a peek at his company's prototype "open-source" mobile gadget, which should go on sale next month. The "Bug" is essentially a Lego kit for geeks: A base unit can connect to modules like LCD touchscreens …
Context & Ripple Effects
Bug Labs has been building toward this reveal all month: founder Peter Semmelhack showed off first photos of the company's open-source hardware on November 1, describing a Lego-like base unit that snaps together with modules such as LCD touchscreens so engineers can assemble their own digital devices.
The new detail is the software layer — the prototype demonstrably runs Android — which lands two weeks after Valleywag published screenshots of the first Googlephone app, when curiosity about what Google's mobile stack could actually do on real hardware was peaking. A working Android device that isn't a phone, shipping next month, reframes Android from a handset OS into a general embedded platform.
First-order effects
- Tinkerers and engineers get buyable, modular hardware running Google's stack as soon as next month, months before any commercial Android handset reaches shelves.
Second-order effects
- Module and accessory developers gain a second distribution target: if Android runs on open base units, they can sell components into it without waiting for carrier-certified phones.
Third-order effects
- If Android proves portable to non-phone hardware, the boundary between handset OS and general-purpose embedded platform blurs, weakening the assumption that mobile operating systems live inside vertically integrated, carrier-controlled devices.
The trend: Open-source mobile software is escaping the handset form factor onto modular DIY hardware, pulling Google's stack toward a broader maker ecosystem.