Homebrew on my phone?

December 26, 2005 8:14 PM

Can I get homebrew software for my phone?

I just got a new LG VX5200, and looking though the menus I discovered that there are all kinds of little games I can download for it... at exorbitant prices. Considering one of the available accessories for the thing is a USB cable, I'm wondering: is there any way to load it with third-party software, or perhaps even write my own?

posted by squidlarkin to technology (10 comments total)

If that was a pun, I'd say you're on the right track.
posted by ryanrs at 8:17 PM on December 26, 2005

Aha. So the short answer is "no".
posted by squidlarkin at 9:51 PM on December 26, 2005

Is it a Verizon phone? "Get It Now" is Verizon's locked-down BREW service. They're infamous for crippling the built-in features in their phones and forcing their customers to use pricey BREW apps. Sleazy bastards.
posted by ryanrs at 11:27 PM on December 26, 2005

'Tis indeed. *sigh* And I just signed a two-year contract to get it.
posted by squidlarkin at 5:13 AM on December 27, 2005

You might be able to develop something off-phone that works with sms/web/voice instead, though....

(Believe me, I feel your pain... but whatcha gonna do, go with T-Mobile?)
posted by ph00dz at 5:54 AM on December 27, 2005

Or Cingular? I'm planning on shifting out of my Verizon contract, and the crippled phones are one of my primary motivations for doing so.
posted by odinsdream at 8:51 AM on December 27, 2005

T*moble seems to be the best available as far as not fucking-up their handsets. You can use a completely unlocked phone with their service, all you need is a SIM card. The next phone I get is going to be unlocked, no contract.

Should have asked this before you bought your phone.
posted by delmoi at 2:53 PM on December 27, 2005

By the way, I asked my Cellphone company (U.S. Cellular) about signing up as a brew developer. They replied to my email like a year and a half later saying that they weren't accepting new applications.
posted by delmoi at 2:55 PM on December 27, 2005

I developed an application for mobile devices a couple of years ago and can give you some advice.

Any carrier besides Verizon: You can download and install any j2me (Java) application for free if you can find them. Try Howard Forums for locating applications.

Verizon: As was stated before Verizon really wants to lock down their devices and charge as much as they can for the 'privilege' of using their system. However, you can get around it. Look for something called 'Get Around Get It Now' (GAGIN). You'll have to find a USB connection cable for your phone. Again, Howard Forums can help. Also, you'll have to find the application you want on the internet instead of Get It Now. Applications 'in the wild' are probably there illegally and I think using GAGIN is against your Verizon EULA, but that's your decision to make.
posted by kookywon at 8:20 AM on December 28, 2005

Never done it, but apparently also smart phones running MS OSes can have apps written using the compact framework. But then you'd have to get different hw. That said if you do want to go that route you can get an emulator for vis studio that makes it pretty easy to try things out and see if you can do it w/o having to buy the handset.
posted by [this is good] at 9:58 PM on December 30, 2005