

Ask YC: Getting started with smartphone hacking - kurtosis

What is the best smartphone to buy to start hacking with? I'd like to make use of GPS / internet / camera capability. I would prefer to keep my phone bill under $50 / month. In US is it possible to use any phone with any carrier?  Which carriers / phones / OSes support open development of applications? Thanks.
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jamess
Platforms that support open development:

\- Symbian (Nokia S60/Sony-Ericsson UIQ) \- Windows Mobile (various flavours
thereof) \- Android (No real hardware yet available) \- Non-Native development
(J2ME et al.)

The best way to get started would be to download an SDK for one of these
environments. They all come with emulators, so you can start playing around
with writing apps without any investment in hardware.

I'm not from the USA, but I've spent most of my working life in the mobile
industry so I believe I know what I'm talking about. In the USA, only certain
places have GSM networks. This includes most of the major cities, San Fran,
New York, Atlanta, LA, etc. Pretty much any Smart Phone you can buy is a GSM
phone. There are a few exceptions, some of the older Palm phones were CDMA,
but Palm is essentially dead now. Before you buy a new phone, just make sure
your current network is a GSM network. While I understand it isn't a terribly
common thing to do in the US, most developers will buy development phones
unlocked direct from the manufacturer (or a reseller) and put a SIM they
already own in it. In the UK, you are pretty much drowing in SIM cards. Both
Orange and O2 give away pay as you talk SIM cards on a regular basis online,
and I tend to grab as many as I can on each occasion, since they tend to get
deactivated after a while because they sit in various of my phones not getting
topped up.

As for what phone to buy, wanting GPS limits you a little. I'd recommend the
Nokia N95 8GB as a good start. It's a Symbian S60 phone with built in GPS and
WiFi.

