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

2.5G

[sglewis100]

That's about all I have to say... 2.5G... if not for that I'd keep my existing iPhone but because of it I'm upgrading next month.

Re:2.5G

[Milyardo]

A 3G/3.5G/WiMax Controller Will undoubtedly come, as any manufacturer could make the controller. The competition will also keep the prices for such devices reasonable. The reason this will compete with a 3G iPhone is because you the ability to upgrade piece by piece. The iPhone you dropped $600 on last year is, and will be the same iPhone 2 years from now.

Re:2.5G

[svnt]

Its Open-Hardware, get a 3G controller and replace the 2.5G one(when a 3G controller becomes available).

Yeah, you're comfortable hand-soldering 0.5mm pitch BGAs, right? What 2.5G controller were you talking about?

Buy it for what it is - freedom. If that's not enough, don't force it on yourself.

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

[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:2.5G

[intangible]

These are the things I'm under the impression that the Neo phone will support that the iPhone does not have:
A2DP (Bluetooth Stereo)
MMS
Replaceable Battery
Expandable Flash Memory
Cut and Paste
Voice Dialing
Bluetooth Tether / Modem support
Flash Support

For all the people asking why X/Y/Z is missing

[comm2k]

3G was never planned for this version and even subsequent versions only may get it thy can get buy it in low volume and can write/publish it with GPL'ed driver (if necessary for 3G module). Same goes for a lot of other things that your run-of-the-mill phone boasts. Most chip-makers wont even talk to you if you want low volume + open specs/drivers.
WIFI wouldn't have been included if they didn't find an appropriate chip (for mobile phones) with open drivers etc. or at least the possibility to write an open driver with NDA'ed docs.

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:Hmmm

[badboy_tw2002]

Given that you've talked on the phone less than a minute a day for the past 9 years, I'd say you're probably better off just working out a schedule with the pizza guy instead of always just phoning him up and saying "the usual". Though it might be useful to have one around for 911 in case your hermit beard gets caught in the blender or something.

Finally a hackable phone

[oever]

I'm really considering buying a Neo Freerunner. At 300 euros it's reasonably priced.

Some improvements I'd like to perform to it that a normal phone does not have:
  - depending on who's calling perform any of these behaviors:
      * ring, vibrate or ignore the call
      * answer the call with a dynamic or static message for example where i am (coordinates or city name), why i'm not answering (eating, sleeping, meeting)
      * install an operator menu ("Jos is in a meeting, i'm openmoko his assistant. do you want to make an appointment for him to call you back?"
  - record my accelleration and position all day (because i can)
  - switch an annoying caller to a signal of strange noises or a helpfully scripted assistant or a nice song to put them on hold with
  - put a filter on incoming and outgoing sounds to give them echo or change the pitch
  - record every call i make

   

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: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.