Openmoko's Open Source Phone Goes Mass-Market 247
nerdyH writes "Openmoko has begun shipping its Linux-based, open source Neo Freerunner phone to five newly announced distributors, in Germany, France, and India, says the company. The Neo Freerunner features an open hardware design, and a Linux-based operating system that users are free to modify. The project originally hoped to produce a mass-market offering last October. The $400 Freerunner will remain available direct, online, too. A 2.5G GPRS/GSM phone like the original iPhone, it boasts a 500MHz processor, WiFi, 3D accelerometers, a 4.3-inch VGA touchscreen, Bluetooth, and built-in GPS."
2.5G (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:2.5G (Score:2, Interesting)
except, it's not EDGE, so I don't know how it's 2.5G, it's GPRS with boost, but I don't know that all the stuff with GPRS will be compatible with the EDGE network for speed. I'm doubting it will, which will leave you with speeds back at 2G GPRS.
For all the people asking why X/Y/Z is missing (Score:5, Interesting)
WIFI wouldn't have been included if they didn't find an appropriate chip (for mobile phones) with open drivers etc. or at least the possibility to write an open driver with NDA'ed docs.
I'll be ordering online (Score:3, Interesting)
I can't wait, I've developed _serious_ blueballs waiting for this thing. Lets see... www.openmoko.com... store...
Invalid security certificate? D'oh!
Hope that gets fixed soon too. wasn't there a discussion [slashdot.org] about that recently?
Finally a hackable phone (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm really considering buying a Neo Freerunner. At 300 euros it's reasonably priced.
Some improvements I'd like to perform to it that a normal phone does not have:
- depending on who's calling perform any of these behaviors:
* ring, vibrate or ignore the call
* answer the call with a dynamic or static message for example where i am (coordinates or city name), why i'm not answering (eating, sleeping, meeting)
* install an operator menu ("Jos is in a meeting, i'm openmoko his assistant. do you want to make an appointment for him to call you back?"
- record my accelleration and position all day (because i can)
- switch an annoying caller to a signal of strange noises or a helpfully scripted assistant or a nice song to put them on hold with
- put a filter on incoming and outgoing sounds to give them echo or change the pitch
- record every call i make
Re:2.5G (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Finally a hackable phone (Score:1, Interesting)
Well this phone isnt the greatest, I would rather have the sony xperia as it has a real keyboard, 800x480 display, etc. http://www.sonyericsson.com/x1/
However you gave me an idea that is easier to do when you have the code for the dialer app, and that would be voicemail on the phone. The caller pays to call you and leave a voicemail, why pay to retrieve it (at least you pay in europe generally to call your voicemail).
Recording calls is possible through a variety of apps for windows mobile, however again that would be easier to do again when you already have some base to just stick that feature in.
You missed an app though, VSA, voice stress analyzer. Basically there is a frequency that when mixed will pass through the phone network. Its generally low about 9-11Hz, by picking that out (the gsm codec may ruin that, especially AMR) you can tell relative stress in someones voice, which would be present if they are lying and afraid of being caught but also if they are emotional over something unrelated (be context aware). By displaying this realtime on the phone it can be amusing (although not entirely accurate).
What you are wanting though is generally not going to be that good, for example if you do TTS stuff, good stuff takes up a lot of space (unless its limited domain which would work for your apps) and to make it sound good takes a lot of work (why festival doesnt sound as good as it could - work equates to time, which equates to money). TTS stuff can also be a bit cpu expensive.
Pitch shifting and other things also can be cpu intensive. It really depends on the amount of audio mangling that is acceptable.
Re:Neo 1973 (Score:3, Interesting)
Article is kinda short on web shop links - anyone know where you can buy this already?
Re:2.5G (Score:5, Interesting)
These are the things I'm under the impression that the Neo phone will support that the iPhone does not have:
A2DP (Bluetooth Stereo)
MMS
Replaceable Battery
Expandable Flash Memory
Cut and Paste
Voice Dialing
Bluetooth Tether / Modem support
Flash Support
Re:Some Experience (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Kind of expensive (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Mod parent fanboi down (Score:2, Interesting)
Okay, thank you for your fanboi insight's. There are 1500 more of your kind on the mailing list. But last not least: how many developers have jumped your train? The answer is: zero. Nada. Even a developer who worked for Openmoko said on his blog -ironically being spread via planet.openmoko.org- he would never buy it.
Now go and spend your fanboi money if you really have to.
Re:2.5G (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't think that's right... I remember reading in the mailing lists that people couldn't overclock (or in this case, normalclock) the CPU because of timing/sync issues with other components...
W