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OpenMoko Schedule Announced

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the preflight-check-lists dept.

levell writes "The schedule for the OpenMoko, an open source, Linux-based Neo1973 smart phone was posted to the community mailing list by Sean Moss-Pultz this morning. On Feb 11, free phones will be sent to key community developers and the community websites/wiki/bug tracker will be available. Then on March 11 (the official developer launch) we'll be able to buy an OpenMoko for $350. After allowing some time for innovative, slick software to be created there will be a mass market launch at which point Sean hopes that 'your mom and dad will want one too.'"

5 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. GPRS but not EDGE? by dada21 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I rely on EDGE for high speed access throughout most of the West (US) and a large part of the East that I visit (Poland, Switzerland, India). This phone looks nice, but no EDGE means antiquated technology.

    That, by itself, makes it a non-starter.

  2. Re:Slashvertisement! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Explicitly free (modifiable) device with integrated GSM functionality available for development prior to launch. Please point to equivalents? Or, I suppose that if you could, you already would have in your post.

  3. Re:better interface? by ramunasg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    apple got there first No they didn't, the big difference between iPhone and OpenMoko is that OpenMoko is completely open, so anyone can extend it, while iPhone is closed and only licensed parties can write extensions. This is what uniqe about OpenMoko. Apple added glitter to iPhone, but there are other smart phones (maybe not as good, but I can't judge, it's a long wait till iPhone will be available in Europe) so nothing revolutionary about it. OpenMoko has philosophical feature - openess. So as a geek I know which one is the winner here :)
  4. Re:One question... why? by Coryoth · · Score: 4, Insightful
    That's fine, if that's what the expectations really are; but the Slashdot submission makes it sound like the people behind the phone think they can take on the world. So please, seriously - tell us WHY anyone outside the "live open or die" community will care?

    Because it is a really nice looking device and they look like they've already put together a great software stack for it, and have an expectation for a lot more interesting applications to be added prior to mass market launch. In short they expect to have mass market appeal because they think (and I have to agree with them on this) that they have a very nice smart phone. Try looking at the press page which has pictures of the device and screenshots of it. It looks good. Sure, it's not going to take over the world of mobile phones, but in the class of upper end smartphones (the sort of market the iPhone is pitched toward) it can certainly compete, and given the price, could do well.
    --
    Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
  5. The iPhone by soren100 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't really see why anyone would think there'd be any mass market appeal at all regarding this project.
    [snip] So please, seriously - tell us WHY anyone outside the "live open or die" community will care?

    Au Contraire, everyone cares -- because the wireless companies have such control that the current offerings in the phone industry really suck.

    Witness the current excitement over the iPhone -- it's one step closer to actually doing something really useful with all the processing power of the phone in your pocket, and people are going wild over it. Sure it's not open by any means, but the whole "open" thing means that everyone will now get the chance to try to realize their own version of a useful mobile computing device.

    The weekend before the iPhone came out, I was seriously considering getting a PSP just to have a small portable wireless browsing device, but the thing was dog-slow and I couldn't enter text in any decent fashion.

    My Verizon phone has bluetooth mangled on it so that I can't transfer pictures and ringtones on it, though I can use it as a wireless modem through bluetooth, which rocks. I just don't want to have to carry my Macbook around just to check bank balances and email when I am traveling or running errands. The more competition is in this space, the more we will genuinely get useful devices, not just the tiny mobile versions of the black AT&T phone (with camera) that most people have. I would buy the iPhone even if it didn't make phone calls.

    Apple sees this need, and everyone is wildly excited about it. The "open" phones will be the competition that helps make the next generation of cellphones truly useful