Android and Google Play Store on a PinePhone?

[Secular_Squirrel]

I have a friend who's very interested in open-friendly hardware and wants a PinePhone, but is stuck deeply in Google's service ecosystem. Ability to use Android and Google Play Store is a make or break feature for him. He said he'll preorder a PinePhone if (and only if) that is possible. What should I tell him?

Perhaps the Astro Slide from Planet Computers has something to offer in terms of coding that can be reverse engineered for putting Android on the Pinephone.

[wibble]

I have a friend who's very interested in open-friendly hardware and wants a PinePhone, but is stuck deeply in Google's service ecosystem. Ability to use Android and Google Play Store is a make or break feature for him. He said he'll preorder a PinePhone if (and only if) that is possible. What should I tell him?

Perhaps the Astro Slide from Planet Computers has something to offer in terms of coding that can be reverse engineered for putting Android on the Pinephone.

It looks like Planet are still using MediaTek, so using closed blobs which won't help. The problem as I understand it is that we don't have the hardware abstraction code layer that's usually provided by the hardware manufacturer, so while the core of AOSP works in things like GloDroid, interaction with hardware for things like sensors and telephony doesn't.

Waydroid is looking promising although you would need to install GApps into the Android image manually. Providing something to automate that step has been mentioned, so it might get easier.

[digitalmouse]

I loved it when the local Danish transport companies offered 'SMS tickets' alongside the apps.  Sadly that stopped some time ago.   That would have been just fine for me with a PinePhone.