OpenMoko In Stores On July 4

ruphus13 writes "July 4 will be day when OpenMoko's Neo FreeRunner will be available to US consumers. Being Open Source, it is modifiable down to the core. From the article: 'The FreeRunner is based on a GNU/Linux, and it will initially ship with basic software to make calls, send and receive SMS, and manage contacts. But the company is encouraging users to write and install their own applications. Software updates will add features to the phone over time, and the company said an August update will enable location-based services.'"

Comments

Re:No GSM 1800?

[Bob54321]

They are triband 850 or 900 /1800/1900

Woops, My Bad

[msgmonkey]

Sorry, I went straight to the BUY NOW section, where it offers "GSM 850" & "GSM 900" which what they mean is 850/1800/1900 & 900/1800/1900.

Note to OpenMoko: You could make this a bit clearer.

Note to Moderators: Please be gentle :)

Although I stand by the EDGE comment.

Re:Damn, that was quick

[comm2k]

It is not sold out - it's just not in stock yet.

Dear All, Sorry for delay long time!!! So far, only GSM850 Freerunner is available in stock, Debug board and spare also!!!

http://lists.openmoko.org/pipermail/community/2008-July/020394.html

Re:Not exactly a hard sell, are they?

[shani]

If you clicked on "gallery" then you would have seen screenshots:

http://www.openmoko.com/product-gallery.html

A list of applications is a bit harder to find, but it is on the wiki:

http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Openmoko_Core_Applications

Of course, this is just the "core applications". Since it is an open platform, there are quite a few more, in the usual mixed states of maturity. :)

And since this phone is targeted at developers, if you don't want to write apps then no reason you should get one.

Re:but...what does it DO???

[shani]

Go to the Wiki:

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

And all will be revealed.

Re:freaking is back ...

[TheRaven64]

You don't need to modify the GSM stack to make calls, you just need to use the top layers. To answer the grandparent's question, yes you can. You are the user, you are in control. That's what Free Software means. You can run any program you want and it can do anything you allow it to. If you don't want it to be able to make calls, don't run it with permissions to access the GSM hardware.

Re:Damn, that was quick

[mmontour]

How come they write like retards?

Because English is not their native language (many of the Openmoko people are in .tw or .de).