Eschewing Android on a software emulator, the team at eu.edge instead turned their attentions to another venerable Linux-based mobile device: Sharp’s Zaurus SL-C760.  Only officially sold in Japan, the C760 has a 640 x 480 VGA screen and uses a 400MHz Intel XScale processor together with flash storage.  By rebuilding the Android directory tree on a host PC to match that of the emulator, then mount that as an NFS share on the Zaurus, they were able to get the Google Phone platform to boot.

Currently the share is needed to be present in order for the Zaurus to operate, although the OS and all of the packaged applications run as they should.  Keyboard input is recognised, though the touchscreen is not, and so far none of the Android apps can utilise the PDA’s network connections.

There are full instructions to try it yourself, so if you’re looking for a hardware test platform and have a Zaurus to hand, it’s worth a try.  Let us know in the comments if you succeed!