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400$? That should be perfect for the upcoming OpenMoko Freerunner. The specs are about as good as XO-1, it actually does run linux unlike XO-1 and it fits into your pocket. You'll even have 5$ left.

"Linux Mobile? Where?!?!"

http://www.openmoko.com/
http://wiki.openmoko.org/

Cheaper, open from top to bottom, and you can do anything on it that a 400 mhz ARM linux computer can do.

As a bonus, super high dpi screen (480x640, 2.8"), GPS, full bluetooth (not that watered-down, headset-only crap most phones come with), 802.11 g, two accelerometers for potential phone-as-magic-wand fun, and of course it's not locked to any carrier and you get a linux terminal.

Downsides: about one month still until release (now you can only get the Neo1973 with no accelerometers or wi-fi), only GPRS for mobile internet (no EDGE or 3G), software still in alpha-beta until later this year.

BTW: is someone on the slashdot coding staff aware of the bug where preview resets your subject line to that of the parent? This is on Firefox 2.0.0.12 on Windows 2000 if it matters.

If we geeks truly had any say, then http://openmoko.org/ would be the winning solution and not these products that get all the press because they have big corporate names and lots of advertising dollars behind them. :)

The "that phone" he refers to is Openmoko (which is a platform, not a phone). I presume he *really* means the Neo FreeRunner.

Here's an edited copy of an earlier post I put up about the Neo FreeRunner:
FIC produces a totally open phone. The firmware for the GSM is closed, but I believe that's a legal requirement in most areas.

The Neo 1973 & Neo FreeRunner are linux ARM computers with full GPS, bluetooth, GSM/GPRS, USB (client & unpowered host) and 480 x 640 touchscreens. The FreeRunner also has two accelerometers and wi-fi. You can buy the Neo 1973 now (<-- no longer accurate; you can only buy used 1973s while FIC is gearing up to produce FreeRunner), and the FreeRunner is expected in March or April.

You can (of course) play video, music, and run PDA apps on the devices. You can also view PDFs and the web, use bluetooth keyboards (or bluetooth anything else, for that matter), or do anything that you or someone else cares to port from the desktop, assuming the hardware resources are sufficient.

I've been playing with my Neo 1973 (currently recommended only for people willing to debug, and tolerate alpha level software) for a few weeks, and I'm having a great time with it.

Not only the software is open - you can get CAD files for the case, and schematics as well. There are also i2c, etc. bus standards used so adding new hardware is easy as well, if you're so inclined. Obviously the real market there is for a cottage industry distributing neos with extra hardware built-in, but the hobbyist can experiment at home, too.

Check out the Openmoko wiki for much more information about Openmoko and the Neo phones.

... dont't worry, Apple, it's just developers, having been interested in the iPhone as a target platform for a short period of time (what was it like - three days?), until they read the fine print in the iPhone Human Interface Guidelines.

They are now moving to
http://code.google.com/android/

or to
http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Main_Page

You don't really need them, do you?

As I understand it "OpenMoko" is the software platform & base applications. The neo1973 is the name of the hardware (the phone), although I think the new incarnation has a new name "Freerunner".

The Neo whatever-its-called as hardware will be able to run OpenMoko-- but it can also run Trolltech's Qtopia software, which is further along, development-wise.

As far as Google's Android platform-- it's my understanding that it won't run on the Neo hardware due to some kind of lack of backwards compatibility with the ARM processor in the Neo.

Finally, I think there are some parts of neo1973/openmoko that are not fully open-- can't remember, but I think it's the GPS or GSM driver/daemon.

W

As I understand it "OpenMoko" is the software platform & base applications. The neo1973 is the name of the hardware (the phone), although I think the new incarnation has a new name "Freerunner".

The Neo whatever-its-called as hardware will be able to run OpenMoko-- but it can also run Trolltech's Qtopia software, which is further along, development-wise.

As far as Google's Android platform-- it's my understanding that it won't run on the Neo hardware due to some kind of lack of backwards compatibility with the ARM processor in the Neo.

Finally, I think there are some parts of neo1973/openmoko that are not fully open-- can't remember, but I think it's the GPS or GSM driver/daemon.

W

See openmoko for details. On a free software mobile platform

In all honesty, I'm due for a new phone now (I've got a discontinued SmartPhone - the Sierra Wireless Voq - which I picked up cheap from Tigerdirect - appx. $100), and am having some windows issues with it (needs occasional rebooting, doesn't always answer calls, has periodic bizarre bugs, like dropping me into flight mode spontaneously...). I don't know which I prefer - the OpenMoko Neo1973, or the yet-to-be-announced real gPhone/Android device.

Google will certainly have a bigger user community developing apps. And I'm a bit more confident in the hardware support. But it's a tough decision.

In all honesty, I'm due for a new phone now (I've got a discontinued SmartPhone - the Sierra Wireless Voq - which I picked up cheap from Tigerdirect - appx. $100), and am having some windows issues with it (needs occasional rebooting, doesn't always answer calls, has periodic bizarre bugs, like dropping me into flight mode spontaneously...). I don't know which I prefer - the OpenMoko Neo1973, or the yet-to-be-announced real gPhone/Android device.

Google will certainly have a bigger user community developing apps. And I'm a bit more confident in the hardware support. But it's a tough decision.

Google will probably let me do what I want with it and not try to brick it. I bet I have access to it's memory intentionally!

Exactly. I am not a mobile developer, but I'd like to be able to do things like add music, ringtones and wallpapers with just a USB cable (without feeling like I am "hacking" it) or like Open Moko is doing, let me change the "theme" of the UI easily.

You should race off to Openmoko.org. Buy one of their open phone dev kits and bang out your own.

Why did you pick the Apache v2 open source license? Apache is a commercial-friendly open-source license. The Apache license allows manufacturers and mobile operators to innovate using the platform without the requirement to contribute those innovations back to the open-source community. Because these innovations and differentiated features can be kept proprietary, manufacturers and mobile operators are protected from the "viral infection" problem often associated with other licenses.

There. You can dream all you want about an open platform, like your traditional Fedora or Ubuntu desktop, but that won't be it. Go for Openmoko instead.

I bought thisinstead.

So the issue is how to get out of the current muddle and to cut ties with these carriers. Of course, we can use Skype or various IM and video conferencing tools to talk to people without making a traditional landline or mobile call. The coming deployment of WiMAX networks will increase our ability to use IP-based devices for calling.

The forthcoming FCC auction of the 700MHz spectrum, now scheduled for January, will introduce more openness into the bidding process, and should enable a company such as Google to develop a competing service. Assuming that happens, there will be an alternative our dependence on the incumbent carriers, which will have its ups (price, flexibility) and possible downs (advertising, privacy concerns).

There are also numerous efforts underway to create devices based on open source software. The Nokia N800/N810 http://www.nseries.com/ is a Linux-based device with a useful developer site http://www.maemo.org/. The OpenMoko project http://www.openmoko.org/ is aimed at developing an open source phone. These devices are, of course, unlocked. When OpenMoko has advanced a little further, you should be able to take anyone's SIM chip, put it in your OpenMoko phone, and make a call. For now, though, the best you can do is to have an unlocked phone. (I have about 8 SIM chips from different countries, and switch them when I travel, thereby avoiding the extortionate international roaming charges of the mobile carriers. You can easily buy "pay-as-you-go" service almost everywhere, including in the US.)

So we can already take various steps to loosen our ties to the cellphone carriers. With some luck, many of us will be able to extricate ourselves completely. It's only then that the cellphone carriers will feel the need to improve their products and services to attract and retain customers.

But I think all bets are off as to whether the software will be of "production quality" by then (whatever "production quality" means these days - every production phone I've owned in the past 5 years has been an unstable piece of crap anyway).

The Website hasn't been updated to reflect problems the project has encountered. Expect the GTA02 to be available by December.

http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Talk:Neo1973

is this thing available? The website says that I (the consumer) should come back in October. I guess I will check again in 5 days
but it is not looking good. My contract is up soon so I might not mind trying Neo but they sure don't look ready for business.

Current estimates suggests the Neo1973 GTA02v4 (the production version) will be shipping at the end of December. But I think all bets are off as to whether the software will be of "production quality" by then (whatever "production quality" means these days - every production phone I've owned in the past 5 years has been an unstable piece of crap anyway).

I understand that you can run Qtopia on the devices though, which is a bit more usable as a phone than OpenMoko at the moment, but from what I've read there are serious battery-life problems when running Qtopia.

If by 'play with it' you mean play with the interface, then you can install OpenMoko on all sorts of phones and PDAs to try it out. Just yesterday I installed it on my Palm T|X. If you don't have a compatible touch-screen PDA, you can always virtualize it on your desktop using something like QEMU:

http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/OpenMoko_under_QEMU

The Neo 1973 GTA02 (the 'mass market' version) has built in b/g Wifi. ;-)
More info:
http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Neo1973

About the OpenMoko... I'm curious to see some more opinions on it. I was reading about it on their site and getting pretty excited, to the point that I'd just about decided on it as my next phone, as soon as the 2nd version comes out.

But then I read some things in the mailing-list archives that make it sound a lot further than I'd hoped from being "ready for prime-time". Even some of the most recent posts (like, within the past week or two) make it sound like basic cell-phone functionality has only just recently begun to be usable, and only barely so. Can that be true, this far into development?

I'm a developer, geek, OSS enthusiast, etc., and I'm as willing as the next geek to live with quite a lot of rough edges and all. But I do need a working phone. Everything else can be flaky, but the ability to reliably make and receive phone calls, and send and receive SMS, isn't really negotiable. Comments from anyone here with hands-on experience would be much appreciated.

You mean like this or this?

I thought that's what USB port on the phone is for. On the side note it's good to hear that they have standby mode sorted out with linux kernel. It has been a major problem for the openMoko porject.

> What's your take on http://www.openmoko.org/?

Sadly, more or less the same as the GreenPhone. In America, at least, it's a GPRS-only paperweight. At least, it is unless I misunderstood the spec that said "2.5G, not EDGE-compatible".

What's your take on http://www.openmoko.org/?

I think being open for development isn't enough, you also need to spend a couple $100 million or so in marketing...

Exactly. I did a lot of searching, and it seems that OpenMmoko is the only current significant effort at open-phone development. Apple and the rest run on *nix, but close up the phone so you can't do dick with it. Openmoko has some promise, but without wireless or a cell carrier in the US on-board, I'm not read to start hacking it. Ubuntu Mobile has potential, but the screen size currently has to be 4.8", and it looks more like a tablet PC OS at the moment than smartphone software.

There's some ultra-smart dudes at Google, at this point. The next major shift in computing will be smartphones. Only an open system with an excellent SDK for 3rd party applications has much chance of dominating, so the current players seem to be Google and Microsoft. I personally have disliked every version of Windows CE I've ever seen, though I hear good things about the latest version. Based on open-source GNU/Linux, Google's got a real shot at the largest new market on the horizon, IMO.

The solution?

http://www.openmoko.org/

Just want to throw a couple more into the mix.

First, SuperWaba. It is by no means a fully feature platform, but if you are just doing some basic programming and want to be able to support multiple platforms (WinMo, Palm, and Blackberry) then it is fairly easy to get up and running. Also, it based on java, so 90% of java examples will "just work" when programming with SuperWaba. FWIW, that is what we are using for our deployment of a mobile solution for our company. Also, it is GPL for the community version and if you purchase support, you can have the LGPL version.

Second, OpenMoko. It has been discussed on /. before, but it is basically a completely open source platform. You can program with GTK+ or now that Qtopia has been released for the Neo1973 you can also try your hand at Qt. Very volatile project right now, but quickly stabilizing and progressing.

I know that neither of those have the numbers of the 8 that the article evaluated, but for certain cases they are very viable platforms. Also, both have a lot more freedom than most of those platforms as well.

Of course, if it's just for yourself, you should check out the OpenMoko. It is the most open phone with the best developer support. You are literally writing GTK apps running on real Xorg and real Linux. And the whole point is that it's open, so no vendor trying to lock you out.

And the Neo 1973 GTA02 hardware is looking to be pretty sweet. Includes 3D accelerometer, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and touch screen (with rumor of enabling multitouch through a driver update).

Of course, if it's just for yourself, you should check out the OpenMoko. It is the most open phone with the best developer support. You are literally writing GTK apps running on real Xorg and real Linux. And the whole point is that it's open, so no vendor trying to lock you out.

And the Neo 1973 GTA02 hardware is looking to be pretty sweet. Includes 3D accelerometer, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and touch screen (with rumor of enabling multitouch through a driver update).

Of course, if it's just for yourself, you should check out the OpenMoko. It is the most open phone with the best developer support. You are literally writing GTK apps running on real Xorg and real Linux. And the whole point is that it's open, so no vendor trying to lock you out.

And the Neo 1973 GTA02 hardware is looking to be pretty sweet. Includes 3D accelerometer, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and touch screen (with rumor of enabling multitouch through a driver update).

I know this is off topic WRT the submission, but ...

I'm so surprised I don't see more mentions of the Neo1973 running OpenMoko.

It looks to be a powerhouse of a phone that resembles the iPhone in features (minus a camera), and runs the OpenEmbedded stack of open/free software. The consumer version is about to roll out the door any day now, and I'm eager to say the least.

I realize this sounds like an ad, but this phone screams Open and Free! The developer version even comes with a guitar pick to open the case without scratching it. How cool is that!?

I know this is off topic WRT the submission, but ...

I'm so surprised I don't see more mentions of the Neo1973 running OpenMoko.

It looks to be a powerhouse of a phone that resembles the iPhone in features (minus a camera), and runs the OpenEmbedded stack of open/free software. The consumer version is about to roll out the door any day now, and I'm eager to say the least.

I realize this sounds like an ad, but this phone screams Open and Free! The developer version even comes with a guitar pick to open the case without scratching it. How cool is that!?

I just posted about the Neo1973 from OpenMoko. It will be released soon and should cost between $300-450, depending on the model. It runs Linux and has a default GTK+ based user interface.

There are some YouTube videos showing Qtopia running on the Neo1973. You can check out the wiki article here

Why even keep looking at closed proprietary as a solution and why not look into a more open alternative.

You can do that and much more with an Openmoko-phone http://openmoko.org/. Admittedly the software still needs quite some time to mature but it definitely will open great opportunities.

You can do that and much more with an Openmoko-phone http://openmoko.org/. Admittedly the software still needs quite some time to mature but it definitely will open great opportunities.

The OpenMoko platform is looking like a good bet for a Linux-based phone/pda platform. ARM-based, iPhone-like touchscreen and a nice development kit available. It's due in Oct/Nov I beleve.

Apple made a terrible choice in its partner, and seems incapable of realizing the potential of the iPhone.

He's out to maximize the monetary potential of the iPhone, and not its humanitarian or science advancement purpose.

And he's doing well, more or less. As you see, people keep buying it and they kiss his feet when he introduces little feats like said iTunes wifi store.

If he just opens it up, he's no longer the boss of it, he will no longer be able to wow everyone by introducing some sort of crappy iPhone game next MacExpo. And Apple won't be in the media so much.

If you're honestly concerned about the medical profession, law and so on, how about consider the OpenMoko platform. Yes it's not as polished, it doesn't have the Apple logo on it, the cool factor isn't so high on a mobile Linux device. But it's open, you can do what you crave.

Now's the time to decide what you want: open mobile platform, or just cool factor mobile phone with wireless music store.

WiFi support for OpenMoko is in the works. Current Neo1973 GTA01 does not include a wireless LAN chip, but the upcoming Neo1973 GTA02 is going to have one: Atheros AR6K 802.11 b/g. http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/WiFi_support_in_OpenMoko

http://wiki.openmoko.org/

or a (hypothetical) Pocket Debian or a similar Free/OpenSource software platform.

Otherwise, the iPhone isn't a Smartphone.

... To say roll on OpenMoko http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Main_Page

I know which way I will go and Jobs can stick his iTunes et al. Free your phone!! What more is there to say :)

I know you were trying to be funny, but what on Earth makes you think it doesn't have a CLI? It *IS* Linux after all.

http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Manually_using_GSM

"Of course, it could also enhance my cheating abilities..."

Morse code as an input device is on the wishlist...