Nokia N9 runs Ice Cream Sandwich in Android port

Efforts to get Nokia’s N9 running Android look to be bearing fruit, with modders coaxing the MeeGo smartphone into loading Ice Cream Sandwich. The handiwork of Alexey Roslyakov, the NITDroid project builds on earlier work porting Android to the Nokia N900, though there’s not yet a public release or guidance on how you can get your own N9 to dual-boot between the platforms.

The N9 was launched to much fanfare last year, though Nokia quickly shifted its attention to Windows Phone and its deal with Microsoft. That’s despite strong reviews – ours included – and a very positive reception to MeeGo itself. Development of the OS has now been pushed over into Tizen, while Nokia has said it will use its own work on MeeGo back in the R&D labs to tinker with next-gen devices.

Where MeeGo lacks the bulk of third-party apps, however, Android does not, and for some the polycarbonate 3.9-inch smartphone would deliver the best of both worlds running each OS. At present, pressing the volume-up button during boot automatically loads up Android rather than MeeGo.

Progress is being partially documented over at Maemo.org, though it seems getting the N9’s hardware to work with the functional Android kernel on the handset has caused the most headaches. There’s also ongoing issues with getting OpenGL to work, without which the whole thing is unusable. Still, we’re hoping efforts continue speedily, as this could be just the excuse we need to give in and grab an N9 ourselves.

[Thanks Steve!]