Slashdot Mirror
Pre-Orders Start For Neo900 Open Source Phone
New submitter JoSch1337 writes: After a year and a half of development, the Neo900 project now opened its web shop for the down payments of binding pre-orders for either a full Neo900 phone or the bare circuit board to upgrade an existing Nokia N900. The up-front down payment is necessary to now secure expensive "risk parts" like the modem, 1GB RAM and N900 cases. Thus, without pre-ordering now, there might not be enough parts left after the first batch.
The Neo900 is the spritual successor of the Nokia N900. The new circuit board can be placed into an existing N900 for better specs (faster CPU, more RAM, LTE modem) than the original device while still maintaining fremantle (maemo 5) backwards compatibility. Alternatively, a fully assembled phone can be purchased as well. The Neo900 will be fully operational without any binary blob running on the main CPU. While the modem still requires a non-free firmware, it is completely decoupled from the rest of the device (think of a LTE usb stick you put in your laptop) and can reliably be monitored or switched off by the operating system.
You can follow the development of the project in the maemo forum, read about the specs of the device or consult the FAQ
The Neo900 is the spritual successor of the Nokia N900. The new circuit board can be placed into an existing N900 for better specs (faster CPU, more RAM, LTE modem) than the original device while still maintaining fremantle (maemo 5) backwards compatibility. Alternatively, a fully assembled phone can be purchased as well. The Neo900 will be fully operational without any binary blob running on the main CPU. While the modem still requires a non-free firmware, it is completely decoupled from the rest of the device (think of a LTE usb stick you put in your laptop) and can reliably be monitored or switched off by the operating system.
You can follow the development of the project in the maemo forum, read about the specs of the device or consult the FAQ
I think if they deliver on the promise, this will change the way people view their mobile devices. Motherboard replacements and case replacements will gain traction just like in the assemble your own PC era.
It will have quite a hard doing what you claim when only a fraction of a fraction of 1% of phone buyers will ever hear of its existence.
That is the only feasible explanation for it being down right now. We know this site doesn't direct enough traffic to take down any website that is more robust than that.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
I would actually be willing to spend money on a phone I actually OWN as opposed to one owned by Verizon and Google that they just let me hold.
900 odd euro for the board at max. End 2015 delivery. Have to make a down payment now to book
"According to current calculations, the cost of the motherboard should be somewhere around 990 EUR. The complete device will cost about 150 EUR more, depending on prices and availability of N900 spare parts."
Holy cow, freedom (at least partial freedom) comes at a seriously hefty price. That's five times the cost of a half-decent Samsung Galaxy (S4 or S4 Mini, not network-locked), where I'm from.
And for 1GHz, 1Gb RAM, 0.5Gb storage. That's not even close to the spec of the above Samsung.
Pay five times the cost, get less back, and the possibility of component shortage making repair/replacement impossible.
How do this stack up against the $9 CHIP project, etc. with its processor? I can build a GSM "phone" with Wifi, SD, touchscreen etc. from Arduino shields for way, way, way less than this costs on top of that.
I mean, for God's sake, they've bothered to put IrDA and FM radio on it!
Niche doesn't even begin to cover it. When you're more expensive than Apple, and can't do anywhere near as much, you know that you're onto a loser.
Seems the site was slashdotted, the price is around $1000 EU though from what I've read on http://talk.maemo.org/
https://web.archive.org/web/20...
Might be slightly out of date..
I work for an ARMv8 vendor, it's not really all that great to have 64-bit. Mostly it's a big waste of money to put one in a phone.
http://www.oneplus.net/
Not completely open but easy enough to install whatever ROM you want. No carrier, and with the right ROM, no Google either. And it is a great phone.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
A GPS location will fit in a 64 bit word. Phones do that a lot. Phones these days, I still use a flipper from the last decade.
I can install "any ROM I want" on a number of devices. That still does not mean that the modem does not anymore get access to the device's main memory...
I think if they deliver on the promise, this will change the way people view their mobile devices. Motherboard replacements and case replacements will gain traction just like in the assemble your own PC era.
It will have quite a hard doing what you claim when only a fraction of a fraction of 1% of phone buyers will ever hear of its existence.
It looks too big and clunky to take significant market share -- replaceable components mean larger size and less integrated "fit and finish". There may be a niche market for something like this, but it seems unlikely to reach the mainstream -- I'd rather pay $400 every few years for a brand new phone that's (relatively) small and compact and works reliably with a warranty than spend $200 every year or two to upgrade components and then am on my own with making sure those components work well together. "If I replace the LCD with the new one, will my GPU still work? If I upgrade the GPU, do I need a new motherboard? I'd like a new 802.11ac wifi module, but it's not compatible with my GSM module"
People who say "this is crap because I can buy a Nexus or Galaxy or android-device-of-the-month for far less money" don't have a clue about what the Neo900 is or why its nothing like the Nexus or Galaxy or other Android devices.
Things the Neo900 has that NONE of the current high-end Android devices (the things most people are going to be comparing the Neo900 to) have:
Physical hardware keyboard (there are still people like me who love physical keyboards and wont buy a phone without one)
Hardware enforced separation between the modem and the main CPU (this means that the rumors that the NSA can listen to you via your cellphone microphone are definatly NOT going to happen on a Neo900)
No closed blobs for the cellular radio on the main CPU side (pretty much all "open" android ROMs still require a closed-source radio library specific to the radio in your particular Android device. The Neo900 will have a 100% open source library to talk to the cellular radio module)
No closed blobs on the main CPU side for WiFi, bluetooth, NFC, audio, touch screen, camera, GPS or sensors (unlike even the Google Nexus phones which require closed blobs for many pieces of hardware)
Full schematics and hardware documentation available (show me a high-end phone where you can get THAT)
The Neo900 isn't meant to be a competitor to the Samsung Galaxy or Apple iPhone or Google Nexus. Its meant to be a phone for people who care about their privacy and want a device where they control all the software running on the main CPU and can be sure none of the other CPUs in the device have access to the main CPU/RAM/storage or to hardware like the microphone. And a phone for hardware geeks who want a hackable device and one THEY control and not some carrier or OEM (there are phones where the bootloader started out unlocked and was then locked by an OTA update)
Its got LTE, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi and bluetooth 4.0 low energy for fast speeds and the ability to talk to other devices.
The 3 modem options available mean its compatible with many carriers all over the world.
http://www.fairphone.com/ is another option.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife