[Android Software Development] lehel.babos:
...oy.... listen mate.... no disrespect but you are the one not getting it.... everyone here is being perfectly reasonable and is actually trying to give you the best advice they can.... I'll try and break things down though....

I can definitely relate when you say that you love a piece of hardware but wish the OS was different...I was in the exact same boat with my Nokia E71... LOVED the phone itself...but Symbian was just horrid.... Here is why people are giving you "mean replies"....

What you are asking for is *technically* possible.... but it is a LOT of work.... As described above you'd have to make a stable bootloader, flash the rom and then re-write all of the drivers.... this takes time, effort and money (it's not unlikely that you'd probably brick a few N8s in the process).... The problem is that right now you are more or less the only one interested in this project.... Other projects like running Android on the iPhone are coming along because there is a huge market of iphone users who would like to play with android on their phone as well as a market of android users who like apple hardware... some of these people are devs who want this to happen bad enough that they are willing to contribute their time. Other people who are not as technically inclined but have a bit of extra cash are contributing by donating to official projects who have showed progress. The key difference between the Android on iPhone and the Android on N8 project is that there is a demand for the iPhone project. If there was a 10 page thread full of people saying "hey listen I'm interested in this".... something might happen.... but even with the iPhone development, its a *slow* process. In a nutshell the people who do have the skill to pull this off are limited, and you are asking them to devote hours and hours of their time into a project they aren't interested in for no monetary or any other type of compensation other than maybe a Thank You.

The reason people were able to port Gingerbread onto the Samsung so quickly is because for starters, the Samsung was already designed to run an Android OS so a lot of the groundwork was already done. The hardware was made to be compatible with (and more or less) function with the stock OS. Devs have already had experience working with both the OS and the device. It's kinda like trying to fit an engine into a car. Is it possible to squeeze a new BMW M3 engine into a Volvo? Sure..... But it's much much easier to squeeze it into lets say an older BMW 3 Series.... especially if the mechanics you are talking to specialize in BMWs...

As for people giving you flack for the features... Most of them do have a point... The HDMI out is a valid feature someone might want for various reasons, but other android phones have this feature as well...same for the FM tuner.... As for the camera, 12MP is great on paper... but here is the thing. 1) Unless you are blowing these images up to poster size, a 5 or 8 mp camera will do just as well.... I have a Nexus One and I love the pics it takes.... megapixels start becoming somewhat irrelevant after a certain point because the increase in pixels doesn't necessarily improve the quality that much. It becomes more of a spec for manufactures to advertise. Things such as lense size and the size of the sensor have a much greater input on the quality of your image (the bigger the lense the more light it lets in, the bigger the size of the CMOS ship the more sensetive the camera is). These are 2 things phones struggle with because of physical limitations... there is only so much you can squeeze into a phone. Would you see a difference between a 12mp DSLR and an 8mp DSLR? of course.... an 8mp phone or a 12mp phone? not so much....

Solid construction is always a winner.... nothing wrong with loving a phone for that... its one of the reasons why I loved my E71....

As for the "dolby" sound.... you run into a similar problem as the camera... its more of a "on paper" thing.... the reality is that the mics that go into these phones are alright for talking, but are nowhere *near* the quality you would get (or need) for a legitimate camera. The mics aren't tuned, and due to the tiny diaphrams you pretty much get no frequency response on the low end. Also if by Dolby you mean the phone records in surround sound... that is a whole other nightmare... you start getting into a phasing issues and what not... if it just means that it's certified by Dolby... it mostly just means that Nokia paid Dolby some change, got them to maybe tweak things a bit but for the most part just bought the rights to slap their logo on the phone... you *might* here marginally better recordings... key words are might and marginally...

As for the flash.... people usually curse and blink repeatedly if my N1s flash decides to go off... most phones today have more than adequet flashes for the cameras they are equipped with.

So to sort of wind this essay up... we're not trying to be assholes.... you asked a question...

can porting Android onto the N8 be done? yes....

is it worth the effort? unless demand skyrockets or you are willing to hire a dev and pay him for his work.... no

Than what are your options? Either do the best you can with Symbian until your contract runs out and/or you can afford a new phone.... or look at your budget, sell the N8 and pick up a droid.

People simply gave you their opinions as to what the best option is (which the overwhelming majority thinks is selling and getting a new phone), and why they believe this would be a good purchase. (ie: why a lot of the "features" on the N8 aren't really "features"). Hope this helped. Good luck. Peace,

L