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OpenMoko In Stores On July 4

Posted by timothy on Fri Jul 04, 2008 03:10 AM
from the 20080704 dept.
Handhelds Linux Business Hardware
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.'"
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Firehose:OpenMoko in stores on July 4 by ruphus13 (890164)
[+] Hardware: First North American OpenMoko/FreeRunners Arrive 180 comments
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."
[+] Linux: Debian On the Openmoko Neo FreeRunner Phone 167 comments
BrianWCarver writes "It was inevitable. One can now run the entire Debian distribution (ARM port) on the Openmoko Neo Freerunner. We previously discussed the July 4th launch of this GNU/Linux-based smartphone, which is open down to its core, with the company providing CAD files and schematics for the phone. Openmoko released an update to their software stack earlier this month, called Om2008.8, which is still a work in progress. But now one can use these instructions on the Debian wiki to open up the possibility of using apt-get to access Debian's more than 20,000 applications on your phone, which, due to integration with freesmartphone.org efforts, can also actually be used as a phone. There were previous efforts to run Debian on the predecessor product to the Neo FreeRunner, the Neo 1973, but with the wider adoption of the Neo FreeRunner and the hard work of many Debian developers at the ongoing DebConf 8, carrying Debian in your pocket has just gotten a lot easier."
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  • Woops, My Bad (Score:5, Informative)

    by msgmonkey (599753) on Friday July 04 2008, @03:25AM (#24055979)

    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.

  • Just to clarify (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kombipom (1274672) on Friday July 04 2008, @03:40AM (#24056049) Journal

    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.

  • Sweet. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by NaishWS (1263540) on Friday July 04 2008, @03:48AM (#24056097)
    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 [zdnet.co.uk]. Openmoko are definitely in the right direction, I wish them much success.

  • but...what does it DO??? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by soundguy (415780) on Friday July 04 2008, @04:51AM (#24056417) Homepage

    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.

  • Gentlemen, start your lawyers (Score:5, Funny)

    by chord.wav (599850) on Friday July 04 2008, @09:44AM (#24058153) Journal

    -Harry, there's someone in the house! Call 911!
    -Can't you see it's compiling, woman?!?!? C'MON!!

      • Re:Availability (Score:5, Interesting)

        by kylegordon (159137) on Friday July 04 2008, @03:51AM (#24056117) Homepage

        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.

        • Re:Availability (Score:5, Funny)

          by rugatero (1292060) on Friday July 04 2008, @04:25AM (#24056313)

          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.

          • Australian immigration office: "So how do you plan to support yourself in Australia?"
          • British immigrant: "Flogging cars"
          • AIO: "Visa application denied!"

            • Re:Availability (Score:5, Funny)

              by onkelonkel (560274) on Friday July 04 2008, @12:15PM (#24059547)
              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.

        • Re:Availability (Score:5, Interesting)

          by TheRaven64 (641858) on Friday July 04 2008, @07:40AM (#24057295) Homepage Journal
          3G usually means UMTS, and most UMTS phones will fall back to GSM for voice and fall back to GPRS for data if a UMTS signal is unavailable.

          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 [gsmworld.com]. 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.

    • Re:Nice to see GSM technology still around (Score:4, Insightful)

      by hedwards (940851) on Friday July 04 2008, @03:52AM (#24056127)

      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.

    • The rest of the world has moved on? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ya really (1257084) on Friday July 04 2008, @04:06AM (#24056211)

      Oh really?

      Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe Spécial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. Its promoter, the GSM Association, estimates that 82% of the global mobile market uses the standard.[1] GSM is used by over 3 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories.[2][3]wikipedia.org [wikipedia.org]

      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?

    • 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.

    • Re:Nice to see GSM technology still around (Score:4, Insightful)

      by iLogiK (878892) on Friday July 04 2008, @04:51AM (#24056419) Homepage
      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.

          • Re:Nice to see GSM technology still around (Score:4, Insightful)

            by KlaymenDK (713149) on Friday July 04 2008, @07:48AM (#24057355) Journal

            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.

      • Re:freaking is back ... (Score:5, Informative)

        by TheRaven64 (641858) on Friday July 04 2008, @07:28AM (#24057223) Homepage Journal
        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.

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