First North American OpenMoko/FreeRunners Arrive

holdenkarau writes "The North American OpenMoko FreeRunners are starting to arrive. It would appear that the OpenMoko still has problems with some 3G networks, including AT&T. Although, in my own personal completely unscientific test, 2 out of 3 AT&T SIM cards worked. Check out the unboxing of a complete FreeRunner (along with debug board) and my experience getting the FreeRunner up and running. Or a direct link to the pictures for those of you bored with text. If you feel brave enough to take the plunge, you can buy your own FreeRunner from the OpenMoko store."

Comments

Re:Pictures

[holdenkarau]

Take them OF the phone, not WITH the phone!

The phone actually has no camera, so the pictures were taken with a kodak digital camera. I'm not very good at takeing pictures I'll admit.

I was about to order one

[jacquesm]

When I realized it did not have a camera. While a hackable phone has immense appeal having to lug around a second phone or camera is really too much a of a hassle. Oh well, we'll just wait for release II I guess.

CDMA areas in 4 years?

[bill_mcgonigle]

Lots of North America is only served (or well-served) by CDMA networks. Hopefully, with Verizon embracing LTE for its next network build-out we'll finally have compatible transcontinental coverage. Next, the world.

Re:CDMA areas in 4 years?

[bill_mcgonigle]

hopefully CDMA areas are GSM in 4 years!

Hey, at least click the link I bothered to include. :)

First, 3G GSM adopted the W-CDMA air interface. Now, the traditionally-CDMA carriers are adopting the 3GPP's new IP-based protocol with an OFDM air-interface. The old definitions are just confusing at this point, but the upshot is the standards are converging. LTE allows for integrated fail-over to older tech, so the carriers don't have to have a build-out completely done on day 1 - they can do it incrementally and the phones will work as people move, but technically a Verizon user could roam on an AT&T tower.

3G network...

[Etherized]

OpenMoko still has problems with some 3G networks, including AT&T.

This claim is misleading - the device has no UMTS radio, so of course AT&T's 3G network isn't supported. What's really happening is that some people who have "3G" SIM cards are having trouble accessing AT&Ts GSM network.

Re:Audio?

[Hannes2000]

the webbrowser currently available through the repositories is quite a pain in the ass. the rendering is butt-ugly, scrolling is only possible using scrollbars, zooming is only possible using the tiny zoom-buttons and the keyboard didn't show up when I focused the textfield at google. but I'm sure things will get better soon.

Re:and I'd want to buy it why?

[Tony]

First and foremost, because you control the software.

Secondly, the iPhone is *much* more than $200. That's the subsidized price. By the time you finish with the contract, you've spent quite a bit on your iPhone.

Really, though, you'd only want one right now if you wish to hack on it. There's no reason to get one as your regular phone if you're not a hacker. The software stack is still in its infancy.

Mine is supposed to arrive in a week. I'm pretty damned excited. I figure it needs some good games, like Nethack.

Re:Only ATnT?

[tchuladdiass]

Actually, they have two models -- 900/1800/1900, and 850/1800/1900. Both will work with t-mobile. AT&T uses mostly 850, so the second model is the one you'd want if you are on at&t, or if you are on t-mobile and want to roam to 850-only areas.

Re:There are hardware issues with GPS this iterati

[holdenkarau]

Before you send it back check out this thread, it seems like there might be a simple work around.