Openmoko's Open Source Phone Goes Mass-Market

nerdyH writes "Openmoko has begun shipping its Linux-based, open source Neo Freerunner phone to five newly announced distributors, in Germany, France, and India, says the company. The Neo Freerunner features an open hardware design, and a Linux-based operating system that users are free to modify. The project originally hoped to produce a mass-market offering last October. The $400 Freerunner will remain available direct, online, too. A 2.5G GPRS/GSM phone like the original iPhone, it boasts a 500MHz processor, WiFi, 3D accelerometers, a 4.3-inch VGA touchscreen, Bluetooth, and built-in GPS."

Comments

Some corrections

[comm2k]

it boasts a 500MHz processor, WiFi, 3D accelerometers, a 4.3-inch VGA touchscreen, Bluetooth, and built-in GPS." But will run @ 400 MHz. 2.8 inch VGA touchscreen.

Re:Hmmm

[holdenkarau]

So blatantly I have no real need for a phone, why do they all have to be so gaddamn expensive? Its non-carrier subsidized and not produced at the same volumes as some other phones, hence it is a bit more expensive.

I can't afford much more than £5 a month for calls, will the open-ness and WIFI-ness of this phone allow me to say, use my internet (which I already pay for) to make phonecalls? (for free) Yes you can use VoIP if you so desire. If you only have £5 though, your money might be better spent on other things.

What's with the 2.5G? Did n't the Iphone get absolutely slammed for the lack of it, something that British (european) users apparently Have To Have? Given that this is a french phone and not a US thing, surely it would come with the usual standards. Its not french, its from a company called FIC which is in Taiwan. As far as I understand 3G is expensive. You might want to check out this thread on the openmoko mailing list for a bit more of the background.

Also, can I ssh into my computer and restart my webserver, motherfucker??? :) Yes you can.

Re:2.5G

[Rei]

To do a side-by-side rundown with the iPhone (correct me if I get anything wrong):

Category: Neo FreeRunner / iPhone

Price: $400 / $200-$400 plus specific service requirements
Screen res: 640x480 / 480x320
Screen size: 4.3" / 3.5"
CPU: Samsung S3C2442 500MHz / 620 MHz ARM 1176, underclocked to 412 MHz
GPU: SMedia 3362-based 3D graphics acceleration / PowerVR MBX 3D
Ram: 128MB / 128MB
Onboard flash: 256MB / 4, 8, or 16GB
Card support: MicroSD (64MB to 8GB) / None
Bluetooth: 2.0 / 2.0
Wifi: 802.11b/g / 80211b/g
USB: 1.x / 1.x
Camera: None / 2.0 megapixel
GPS: AGPS / None
3D accelerometers: 2x / 1x
Touch: Single / Multi
Cellular: 2.5G tri-band / 2G quad band (just this month, now 3G)
Freedom: Open / Closed

Looks like a fair competitor.

Re:2.5G

[svnt]

The FreeRunner screen is actually a 2.8" VGA (640x480)[1]. It has got some serious DPI.

[1] http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/GTA02

Re:2.5G

[g4b]

What I personally like about Moko is:
  * they do a lot of legal pioneering, in name of open source (imagine how long it takes to get contracts to little things like sim-cards)
  * they take it seriously
  * the Moko can act as USB Master. well. I can plug my phone into the moko and download its files. who can do that!?!?

Re:2.5G

[ady1]

>>Bluetooth: 2.0 / 2.0

Just to clarify that it means nothing to have a bluetooth 2.0 in iphone as it doesn't support any useful profile except mono handsfree.

I would define it as:

Bluetooth: 2.0 / 2.0 Crippled Edition

Re:Some Experience

[berating]

As I already have a Freerunner, here are my experiences:

• old TI GSM modem, recamping once a minute(!) to the mobile station, eating battery like crazy and very unreliable. A TI engineer asked me if they (openmoko) got the chips for free, as they are so ancient - no EDGE, GPRS w/ 2KB/s. Openmoko is likely the last buyer.
• audio quailty on the headphone is lousy due to a hardware bug - as mp3 player useless
• headphone only mono. i.e. only one side works
• headphone unusable for making phone calls due to EM-interferences
• no bluetooth headset support
• no bluetooth keyboard support (dropped since last version)
• graphics sluggish and even slower than Neo 1973 despite 2D accel chip
• GPS has >10 minutes TTFF - yes, in 2008 where every cheapo GPS gets a fix in 45secs
• developer community alienated by Lauer & Co. GNOME knew why they kicked Rasterman out.
• so called ASU software is pre-alpha and reinventing the wheel once again

Unless your company pays for it, don't buy it.

Re:Wtf? 4.8" screen? 500Mhz?

[tcdk]

Close, but those are the specs for the Neo1973, the free runner specs are here:

http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Neo_FreeRunner

(added wifi and faster cpu)

Further details here:

http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Neo_FreeRunner_GTA02_Hardware

I agree - the submission is bad... there's no mentioning of the phone being for sale on http://openmoko.com/ - just a "coming soon" note.

Re:Some Experience

[wurp]

You seem to have some misunderstandings about the expected state of the software, and you're conflating software & hardware issues.

• I know internal tests have indicated a week of battery life is possible when the Freerunner is suspended.
  
• I'm pretty sure you're using a Nokia compatible headset instead of the Motorola compatible one that the FR plug actually matches.
  
• See previous - you do only get one audio channel on a Nokia compatible headset if you use it in a Motorola compatible plug. They *did* remove one external speaker in the switch from the developer's Neo to the Freerunner, but the headset is stereo.
  
• See previous.
  
• The software support for bluetooth headsets is not there yet, but it is well known that the software is nowhere near complete.
  
• The neo supports *full* bluetooth. The software platform you're running may not have bt keyboard support, but I know e.g. the GTK software stack supports it.
  
• There are known graphics issues, which will probably only allow video playback of mpeg4 format in 320x200 at reasonable (20+) framerates. I haven't heard of general issues with normal GUI use.
  
• That GPS fix time was an issue early on, and still isn't as good as it could be, but I thought the production Freerunners had < 1 minute TTFF if you're stationary & outdoors...
  
• I chat with Mickey Laurer and Raster (and other OpenMoko developers) fairly often on freenode #openmoko, and I have yet to hear anyone issue anything other than the normal low-grade grousing that you'll hear about anyone.
  
• The ASU is currently a piece of crap, and is mostly reinventing the wheel from the mostly working GTK release. Don't use it; use Qtopia for now.
  

The software is absolutely not ready for production, and no one is saying it is. I do think the new architecture at freesmartphone.org is going in the right direction, and it sounds as if it already supports stable calling.

Re:2.5G

[andyfrommk]

To do a side-by-side rundown with the iPhone

Go here

Why compare it to an iPhone?

[umStefa]

Everybody see's it as an iPhone clone because it has a touch screen, accelerometers, etc.

The reality is this phone is aimed at a completely different market than the iPhone. This phone is aimed at those who value open source software / hardware, whereas the iPhone is aimed at the 'Cool' sector.

I am going to be getting one later in the year when my current 3-year contract runs out. I am tired of locked phones with disabled features for the benefit of the phone company. To me the ability to control my own phone is more important than having a few extra bells and whistles like the iphone.

Re:Some Experience

[raster]

"developer community alienated by Lauer & Co. GNOME knew why they kicked Rasterman out."

WTF? One thing to say here. No one kicked me out of GNOME - get your history right. Do your research. You demonstrate some serious ignorance here. I chose to not contribute anymore due to GNOME going one way, and me going another. I had plans for E and they had plans for GNOME as of course "GNOME needs no window manager. it can work with all of them!". Check your history mate.

Thanks for registering your account now for some trolling fun.