This is an update to my previous post on the Motorola E680i (this one). I got myself a new mobile recently i.e. the SonyEricsson K770i, mainly because I needed something slim, something that fits nicely in my pocket and not bulging like a misplaced hard-on especially when I'm wearing a suit So I got the SE - a real nice 3G Cybershot phone that's slim to boot. But that's another story. This post is about the little cell wonder that I love so much - the Motorola E680i.

I've been aware of the phone's open, Linux-based architecture and have been following Motorolafans.com since I got it in 2005. I've installed a few apps and games but that's about it. I never went all the way, which means replacing (flashing) the firmware with hacked ones and at the same time replacing major components of the firmware with de-branded and enhanced codegroups (or CGs) - all made available on the net by fellow Motolovers the world over. Now that I've got myself a new phone, it was time to check it out and risk bricking my Moto.

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I got the opportunity I was looking for when I was down with the cold the other day. With MC in-hand and runny-nose all over, I spent a whole evening till midnight reading, downloading, reading some more... 3 rounds of flashing and re-flashing and head-scratching - I was finally done! And boy am I satisfied...

Below is a small part of a screenshots of my E680i as it is today, click on the image for a more complete captures (186KB JPEG).

All said and done, the process was not really that painful providing you have some real IT skills such as reading the fucking manual But seriously, if you're familiar with command line, konsole, telnet, and clicking/tapping & praying, you're okay. And of course, there'll be some downloading involved too. 100 megs or so... not much if you have broadband.

The breadth of applications available to you after flashing is just amazing. You can now install stuff like dictionary, measurement converter, themes, better media players with equalisers, tons of games, a Linux console running Bash, etc. but get this - you can do Samba too! That's accessing you're phone storage through the network interface when it's connected to your PC. If you need it, you can even turn this baby into a quadband phone (sorry but no 3G though). Needless to say, I'm only beginning to appreciate the power of this little sucker...

Think you can hack it? Head over to www.motorolafans.com and start exploring today!

Now let's see what can be done to the K770i...