Re: Android port of Emacs

[Po Lu]

Filipp Gunbin <fgunbin@fastmail.fm> writes:

> I certainly don't count as a frequent contributor (and never used
> Android, except one tablet long ago), but still.  What concerns me is
> the target audience of Android port.  Why would you use Emacs on
> Android?  There're various Android devices around me - mainly phones and
> TVs, but I wouldn't do any serious practical work on them.

I would; or rather, I do.

> If you have Android phone/tablet, then to use Emacs you perhaps need a
> separate keyboard and display.  I doubt that would cost less than a
> laptop capable of running Emacs.

That's not true.  Support for on-screen keyboards and touch screen
devices (both on X and Android) is part of the Android port.

> One more note regarding Android (mostly a rumour).  I work in online
> cinema, and for years we had problems supporting various TV platforms.
> It once appeared that more and more vendors switch to Android, and
> that's good - less work for us.  But now most of them are just creating
> their own custom platforms - to avoid licensing costs put on them by
> Google.

Android TV is 100% proprietary software; Android itself is not, so you
don't see this with devices running regular Android.