Windows Mobile may lack the elegance of more modern operating systems, but
some phones based on Microsoft’s mobile OS are finding new life as Android
handsets.
A few intrepid smartphone users have hacked their Windows Mobile phones to
run the Android operating system, creating Frankenstein-ish monsters with the
body of one phone and the transplanted brain of another.
“The biggest reason I switched was because Windows Mobile was so sluggish —
it would hang and take forever when you dialed a number,” says Connor Roberts, a
a software engineer who, two months ago, posted a step-by-step tutorial to
running Android OS on the HTC Touch. “Android is a lot faster and I get GPS
navigation on my phone now for free.” The Touch, introduced in June 2007, is a
pixie-sized phone with a 2.8-inch touchscreen and a 2-megapixel camera that
comes with Windows Mobile 6 OS.
