Why on Earth would you build a closed Android phone?

I've manged to not read The Register for 6months till now, I thought it was going to be some discussion on Android and I'll jump in to say how its already closed with locked bootloaders and changes by manufacturer and carriers and being tied down by Microsoft patents (allegedly). But it didn't go into any of that.

I am adding this to my host file: 127.0.0.1 theregister.co.uk

There's no place like home :)

While I agree its click-bait as regards the article title having very little at all to do with the content , it turned out the article was still informative or at least it was for me as I have a MIL who needs a phone like this and has something similar at the moment although not a smartphone.

A smartphone catering for the older folks is generally a good idea, and I applaud them for it and I would also agree they have made the right move in closing it to some extent in an attempt to prevent feature and design creep. Although Im not convinced this will prevent third parties from adding to it, I can still see what they are trying to achieve.

As for not reading the Register well hey its The Register what did you expect, It would be like taking out a subscription to Playboy and suddenly being surprised to see some pretty maidens in the altogether every other page.

I also am looking for something decent for my parents. Its made in Sweden so I am going to assume it will be sold unlocked. But it is closed with no Market access: http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/29/the-doro-phoneeasy-740-fina...

Another solution might be to create a 'launcher' specific for old people, to hide away the functions. I just found this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=name.kunes.android.launcher.activity, still something with a slide out physical keys is a must.

And the fact that they have to press power to wake up the screen and do 'sliding' action to unlock the screen and receive call is too complicated. There are apps like "No Lock" to disable lock screen, and "Smart Screen Off" which used proximity sensor to turn of screen.

They have been using the Sanyo SCP-7200 for years now and it seems unbeatable in term of reliability, but its sprint only. Usually the answer to this question is: get them an iPhone.

They all build closed Android phones.

Want to prove me wrong, please find me an Android handheld that is fully-functional with all FOSS drivers.

If it exists, I'll buy it :)

~Jeff

Well something comes close is a Google Nexus phone with CyanogenMod which is what I am using, at least its bloat free.

I just tried Big Launcher and it seems pretty good, basically emulating Windows Phone interface with large fonts. Similarly "Launcher7" is free, though not as good feature wise.

@tmx There is a huge difference between "bloat free" and a "free device". A "free device" (at least in my mind) is something I can free boot a second operating system on (ex: Debian) and have fully functional hardware under it.

~Jeff