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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.'"
Can I ask the powers that be ...
... if so, we have a problem
Could I run a program that can make calls the world over and charge to my account ?
G
And by that, I mean the 900 model. Ergh.
They are triband 850 or 900 /1800/1900
:(){
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.
You're right of course, on the BUY NOW section it lists the phone as 850 & 900 left me dazzed and confused.
Note to self: Don't comment first thing in the morning.
Note to self(2): Dont leave note to self on slashdot.
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
The 900 model isn't really sold out it's not arrived at the distributors yet so it's not currently available.
Also the reason it uses GSM is that the team have tried as far as possible to use OPEN HARDWARE ie fully documented and not lumbered with proprietary closed-source drivers. GSM was the only option as all 3G hardware is completely closed.
Also please everyone, don't start the "it's not as good as the iphone" flamewars. If you want an iphone you don't want this and if you want this you probably don't want an iphone.
Though I am not a fan of the appearance, it is quite a powerful phone, with a 500mhz processor, which is not quite as powerful as the 700mhz processor on the iphone, but still decent nevertheless. Ofcourse, the benefiting factor being that it is open source, where as the iphone is not. It will be a great time when we are able to buy a phone, with the basic functionality installed, then choose what particular software we want to add on the phone, for free. The main problem with phones today is that there is really no way that the community can fix or improve the software without complications, but if the company is actually encouraging open source software to be developed they will provide the necessary tools (APIs etc) for the community to do these improvements themselves, saving them money in the process. It also appears that more phone companies are starting to follow this open source trend, but will probably still keep their strangle hold on their customer base by using DRM and SIM locks, you can read the article here. Openmoko are definitely in the right direction, I wish them much success.
Most likely never ;)
Unless you want an rather ancient tech phone which is also locked down and crippled to no end by your network provider.
The UK isn't terribly bad for crippling and locking phones. We have a healthy unlocking market, and some stores (namely CarPhoneWarehouse) insist on selling unlocked phones. Admittedly, sometimes the phone will come with awful branded firmware (I'm thinking P990i and N95 here), but it's quite simple to reflash it with a world generic firmware that has all the features and none of the branding. It's .us that is renowned for ruining phones in the above fashion.
What are you getting at? I can tell you're not trolling, but what do you mean?
This isn't like Europe and developed parts of Asia, we've got relatively low population density and spend far less money on cell phones than typical customers in those areas. As a result the time tends to be longer.
Of course we're also fans of bureaucracy and corporate malfeasance so it'll take even longer than it would in a sanely managed geographic region of similar specifications.
Oh really?
Verizon, a CDMA carrier, is starting trials using LTE, a GSM (4G) variant this year, eventually they'll switch over leaving only Sprint as the main provider of CDMA
I like CDMA, but I'll welcome GSM with Verizon if it means I can try out the OpenMoko. Oh yeah, what were you saying again about GSM?
Point is, this isn't an internet tablet. It's a phone. GSM is sufficient for this task.
it's good to see third world countries (and the United States) clinging to this ancient technology.
Give us a break. We're still trying to convince people that our species is older than a few thousand years.
"The fight for freedom has only just begun." - Geert Wilders
Flogging? Is that a British idiom?
Yup, flog is slang for sell. Interestingly, it is also Australian slang for steal. Could lead to some unfortunate misunderstandings.
This comment is for entertainment purposes only. Any similarity to real insight or information is purely coincidental.
Feel free to download the plans, modify it however you see fit, and fabricate the result!
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Did you just identify a country by its TLD instead of its name?
ResidntGeek
The website is remarkably information-free. "Basic software" doesn't tell me a damned thing. I'm all about x86 pizzabox servers and CentOS. I don't know anything about these mini-platforms or ARM processors to start with. Does it come with a compiler or does all development have to be done externally? Does it have any shell tools? Does it have a Perl interpreter? SSH? Is there any graphical internet stuff at all yet for the platform (browser, ftp, email?) or is this an entirely new "ground up" environment.
I'd love to have a Linux phone just on principle, but I don't want to have to build the whole damned thing from scratch.
Nothing worthwhile ever happens before noon
The thing is...when I first heard about the OpenMoko project, I loved the idea, I thought it was great, I couldn't wait for it to be released. But it took them so damn long, that by the time it get's released, you've got a better iPhone (not much better, but I'd still rather have it than the Freerunner), and you've got Android which should be out this year. Also the specs for OpenMoko which looked really good 2 years ago aren't so hot right now. I for one am sticking with my Nokia E51 for know, and will probably get an Android phone when they're released. Sorry, OpenMoko, you're just too late for the party.
nah, else he would have said .com
This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
We're still trying to convince people that our species is older than a few thousand years.
Not to be disagreeable, but there's asbolutely no viable evidence of the geek species prior to the 20th century. Greek, yes; but geek, no.
Invenio via vel creo
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.
Most of the UK is covered in GSM signal, and most of the urban areas are covered with UMTS which is increasingly being upgraded to HSPA. From the page you linked to, take a look at this map. Most of the 'middle of nowhere' type places are covered with GSM and all town, cities, and a lot of the 'not quite the middle of nowhere' areas are covered with UMTS.
Upgrading from GPRS to UMTS was the reason for my last phone upgrade, three years ago, and so a phone that would require a downgrade is simply not interesting to me. I could live without HSPA support, since UMTS gives around 50KB/s real-world speeds (possibly more - that seems to be the peak throughput for my current phone's bluetooth chip), and that's enough for the moment, but it would be nice to have an upgrade path.
No one is investing in GPRS networks anymore, since anyone who cares about data access has been on UMTS for years and is thinking of moving to HSPA with their next upgrade, so you are likely to have worse coverage in the future, while UMTS and HSPA networks are being upgraded constantly.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Yes, I too really, *really* wanted a Freerunner. But, now that it's here, it seems not quite as great as the iPhone, as far as I understand it the software is hardly stable as a basic cell phone (let alone as a useful pda).
I'm actually cancelling my group sales preorder because I prefer to use my ancient PalmT3 plus separate crummy old Nokia that can't even talk to my pda.
Lesson? Design your software around a virtual platform, then put together the hardware as late as possible. Maybe. I don't know.
"Good news, everyone!"
-Harry, there's someone in the house! Call 911!
-Can't you see it's compiling, woman?!?!? C'MON!!
How come they write like retards?
Because English is not their native language (many of the Openmoko people are in .tw or .de).
In grand old /. tradition:
No 3g. Less space than an iPhone. Lame.
Should be interesting to see where this leads.
My buddy just got back from a holiday in Australia. Said he had a big hassle at the airport with the customs guys. They asked him if he had a criminal record, and he said he didn't realize it was still required.
Thanks, I'll be here all week.
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.