OpenPhoenux Neo900 Bills Itself As Successor To Nokia's N900 111
An anonymous reader writes "The latest device in the OpenPhoenux open hardware family is the Neo900, the first true successor to the Nokia N900. The Neo900 is a joint project of the Openmoko veteran Jörg Reisenweber and the creators of the GTA04/Letux2804 open hardware smartphone at Golden Delicious Computers. Furthermore, it is supported by the N900 Maemo5/Fremantle community, the Openmoko community and the OpenPhoenux community, who are working together to get closer to their common goal of providing an open hardware smartphone, which is able to run 100% free and open source software, while being independet of any big hardware manufacturer." So far, their Indiegogo campaign has raised more than half of the €25,000 they're seeking.
Re:how about a "dumbphone"? (Score:4, Informative)
that's a pretty usual line to say on smartphone thread.
so, why don't you fucking go and buy one so called africa dumbphone. 108 is coming soon from nokia and has a stated 31 days standby.
and dunno if colors are too much but http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nokia-Dual-Music-Phone-Unlocked/dp/B005W3HP26 [amazon.co.uk] http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vodafone-Button-Senior-Pre-Pay-Display/dp/B007EOG0MC/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1383413109&sr=1-2&keywords=mobile+phone [amazon.co.uk] or http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-E1200-Sim-Free-Smartphone/dp/B0079JZ4O2/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1383413125&sr=1-3&keywords=mobile+phone [amazon.co.uk]
you know why they don't make headlines? because these kind of phones have been 20-40 bucks unlocked - unsubsidized - for years and years now.
Re:The keyboard is fine! However, the screen... (Score:4, Informative)
Fairphone seems like a more capable candidate for an open smartphone.
http://www.fairphone.com/ [fairphone.com]
Re:Non-free parts include (Score:4, Informative)
Please. Calm down.
GSM - free GSM module doesn't exists, replacing sw means revoke of certification and using non-certified device on public network is illegal
What a bunch of FUD. On your shitty network in a country with broken laws? Maybe.
dos1 is from Poland. I'm pretty sure that's not the broken-lawed country you were thinking of.
In the real world out there, operators don't "certify" devices.
And he never said they did. However, the FCC in the US, and the corresponding authority in other countries, do certify cellular terminals, and do make it illegal to operate uncertified ones (in the normal way, on a public GSM network).
They provide a SIM and the SIM is used in the whatever device the customer pleases.
Yes, and if you build yourself an uncertified GSM terminal, you are practically free to slot your SIM and use it -- you'll be breaking the law, but as long as your equipment really does conform to the specifications, nobody will notice or care.
However, you can't presently get someone to sell you a prebuilt GSM module with open firmware, because (at least in USA; I'm not sure how the policies of radio comms regulators in other countries compare, but they're unlikely to be much better) the FCC will not certify such a device, because open means the user could load modified firmware that would cause the device to not conform to specifications. (If firmware is only distributed as a binary, that's all ok, because apparently FCC thinks reverse-engineering doesn't happen...)
AFAIK there's not a big enough market for such things to motivate some Chinese factory beyond the FCC's reach to develop and produce open-firmware GSM modules, but even if there was, that only helps if each user is getting their own parts through customs and assembling it. If GolDeliCo imports such a (necessarily uncertified) module and uses it in a phone, that phone will then have to be certified, which not only is a ridiculously expensive process, but also will be impossible (at least in the USA) because the FCC still applies the policy that such firmware cannot be open. And selling an uncertified mobile phone for use on the public GSM networks will get you in trouble in a way that building your own for yourself won't.