Canadian Firms Get Behind OpenMoko/FreeRunner

mario writes "Now that the OpenMoko platform has stabilized enough to provide the OM2008 image (supporting the three major toolkits), things are starting to heat up. Linuxdevices is reporting on the start of a port of Devicescape's connect application. Koolu (another Canadian company) is also doing development for its W.E. phone (a branded FreeRunner). Which leads me to ask: Where are the American companies?"

Working on other things than immature phones

[Buran]

The OpenMoko project has been around for a long time but it's been development only and unusable for the end user. US cellphone companies want to be able to sell something to end users now. They don't want an unfinished piece of junk that they don't know anything about -- they want their existing suppliers to give them USABLE phones.

Once this thing becomes polished and usable, at least as polished and usable as cell phones get, then we might see some interest.

Re:This is a very good thing

[gumpish]

No camera.

Re:Cellphones and America

[corychristison]

I'm frustrated about the number of SDKs to pick up, Symbian, Windows Mobile, now iPhone SDK.. Google's Android and then this!

It should be noted that this has been around longer than the iPhone/SDK as well as Google Android. The OpenMoko project was announced [openmoko.org] January 20th, 2007.

Re:This is a very good thing

[felix85]

Yeah and the cool thing about this phone is that it can act as a USB master so if you have a digital camera you can just plug it into the phone and upload your images without a computer.

The Neo1973's mini-USB port can be configured to act as a usb host instead of a usb device. This opens up a range of possibilities, such as USB cameras and usb input devices.

Thats for the Neo1973 but it should also be true for the FreeRunner.

Re:This is a very good thing

[Buran]

True, focus often sucks. A tip: autofocus is sometimes based on contrast so look for high-contrast areas to place in your photo, if possible. Some AF algorithms also lock more easily onto vertical lines, like the bars of a fence. Also, there is a minimum focus distance with nearly all lenses -- perhaps you're too close? I've gotten lousy images due to that before.

Not saying phone cameras are perfect -- just useful in a pinch.