Please suggest a highly Customizable/Programmable Phone.

Hi,

I dont know whether even such a phone exists (hence asking here).

I am looking for a highly customizable(read "programmable") phone.
I know programming in various languages, so the language of programming wont be problem.
But It should allow me easy access to the firmware source, its modification and flashing.
Basically I want to fully customize the phone for my usage.
I want to be able to block out some selective numbers/contacts from calling me based on some criteria at any time and also be able to route calls from some specific callers to another number and much more.

At the least, I want it to provide easy API based low level access to various phone functionalities(like receiving a call, making a call, SMS, taking a photo, playing music) which I should be able to use in whatever way I want to.

Can anyone tell me whether such phone exists ?
Would any linux OS based smartphones (with open source mobile os) allow me to do such things ?
If yes, please provide suggestions.

Your best choice would be a Android based phone or Windows based phone

+1

I think a Windows Mobile phone should serve you well.

Go android and you wouldn't regret it.
Especially if you're a programmer.

Thanks for the enlightening replies.

Could you name a few Android based phones available in India(any brandname/website-link would be useful), and do they work well with existing service providers?

Does Windows based phone come with source for their Operating System (windows mobile os) to modify the phone functions ? Or can android OS be installed on them ?

Oh if you're going the Android way and happen to be in India, you've to cough up a lot of dough. And by a lot, I *actually* mean a lot.
I think the G1 is around 20k-ish. Has the new Moto Droid released in India? Even if it did, it'd cost upwards of 20k. (In the US of A, the G1 is distributed by T-Mobile & the Moto Droid is in partnership with Verizon.)

That said, WinMo mobiles are comparatively less cheaper (and probably your best bet if you're low on moolah). I guess the Asus PDAs are the among the cheapest that run WinMo. You do always have the i-mates and HTCs which are a bit high-end.

Hope this helped!

EDIT : Again, what's your budget range like?

Check out the new and upcoming Nokia N900. Based on Maemo 5 Operating System (linux), it is touted to be one of the best mobile phones of all time.

If windows mobile solves my purpose, then it would be great.

But I was/am under impression that windows mobile only allows me to install/write applications(just like a windows computer) barring the basic phone functionality(which runs just like a closed commercial application).
Though the windows mobile runs on windows os, will the phone allow me full access to its low level event-handling of phone features? Can I write code that intercepts/modifies the behavior of phone software(installed inside windows os)?

Just to give an example to make it clear:
Currently I own a simple phone. It sure has inbuilt call blocking/forwarding capabilities which allow me to block few/all numbers from calling me.
But when I set it on, even I do not come to know who called me that time.
So I want to modify/intercept the phone functioning so that I come to know whose calls got blocked/forwarded during this time through a notification/reminder by writing my code.

Is this thing possible to achieve through windows mobiles ?

My max budget would be 25 - 30K. Only if it is really worth and fully loaded with expandable additional features (Read: I Don't want to waste lot of moolah over paying for Custom Duties etc).

Thanks again for ur time.

Think most business phones regardless of brands have some form of SDKs available for developers. And most of the low level calls can be made through API calls.

Think Android would be the ideal one if you want to hack some cool features. Symbian also seems to be open source. But think Nokia mods it quite a bit while implementing the OS in their devices.

My suggestion would be Andriod, Symbian and Windows mobile based devices in preferential order.

Go windows mobile, and check out xda developers forums, to get an idea of how much programming scope it offers you for customization, tweaking etc.

There are already applications for Blocking calls in Windows mobile. They have been written on SDK by develeopers. So this much functionality i know about. you can get HTC Hero in india which is a Android based phone.

See Main Page - Openmoko
"Openmoko™ is a project dedicated to delivering mobile phones with an open source software stack."

I think they're aim suits ur needs perfectly. They have just 1 phone right now for sale. But there r some more phones from other companies which can support the openmoko OS (Om 2008) which is based on linux.