Best programmable cell phone?

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Can anyone recommend a new cell phone?

I would like to run Python or similar, Bash or a similar command line and some basic tools like a text editor, convert (Imagemagick), exiftool, sed and grep. (I want to access and process my email and attachments, particularly photos). I would like a usable keypad, whether that is virtual or physical.

Any Nexus phone. They run Android and come with unlockable bootloaders. You can even install Ubuntu on the damn thing if you want. They're perfect for hacking

Looks like the cost of the phone and the contract commitment are beyond justifiable for my needs, so I will have to buy another dumb phone. At the moment I email updates to my NAS, which adds them to my web pages, so I will probably continue that way.

You can pick up a used Nexus One fairly cheaply on eBay.

The Nexus S from Google can be programmed without jailbreaking. You can get a bash shell and interpreters for it.

Well, technically, you do have to do the Android equivalent of jailbreaking - rooting - to really get access to the system, but since it has an unlockable bootloader and loads of cooked ROMs, you don't have to worry about the cat and mouse game you get with iPhones and locked down Android phones - which is pretty much any Android device which doesn't say "Nexus" on it.

To root a Nexus, you just hold some buttons while you turn it on, choose to unlock the bootloader, confirm it, then reboot. That's basically the phone unlocked for whatever you have to throw at it right there, and it'll stay unlocked regardless of any updates, unless you go back and lock it yourself.

Does a phone like a Nexus require a billed contract? All the options from my current cellphone provider require a 12-month contract at about 50 per month.

I guess I can't buy a 2nd hand Nexus and stick my regular SIM card in it? Or if I do that, it will blow a serious hole in my top-up credit?

(I have a dumb phone, 9 years old, that costs me 50 a year in top ups, and used to do picture messaging and email, after a fashion - but they just switched off iMode and my email no longer works. Email is the only thing I actually NEED to have, apart from basic calls and messaging).

You can get a Nexus unlocked and put any SIM you want in it, but if you wanna use the net without WiFi, you'll need a data plan.

Thanks for all your help. You are tempting me to avarice.

If I put my SIM in a Nexus, is it possible for the network operator to recognise an unapproved phone and cut me off? (They are bastards, without enough competition). Will the smartphone do regular calls, SMS, MMS and email without a data plan? (My current email seems to go through the same route as MMS, however that works). And will it have all the smart functions when I am in a Wifi zone?

No, they won't cut you off for using a different phone (at least, I've never ever heard of that happening, and I stay quite close to the phone scene). The phone should do calls, SMS, and MMS without a data plan, along with anything else which won't need internet, but you may need one for e-mail unless you can find an Android app which lets you route e-mail as MMS (which may very well exist, come to think of it). When you are connected to a WiFi network, you should have full internet access, and therefore be able to do everything which requires it, yes.

I found that I could put the firmware from a newer model of phone onto my old phone, and the network recognizes the new model without any problems. I am very pleased - with no cost (apart from the time spent fiddling) I have POP/IMAP email, RSS, blog feed and all kinds of stuff that I never expected. Now I can both send and receive regular email, and my MMS has been restored. I am not on a data plan, so it costs me 0.99 for each day that I access the internet, with a cap at 50 MB - I only need this away from home, so it will probably continue to cost me 50 a year.