Openmoko's Neo FreeRunner, an open-source cellphone that weds freely-available CAD plans with custom-cut Linux software and beefy specs, is now yours for $400 at its online store.
Though it lacks 3G data, it has 128MB of RAM, 256MB of flash, a 2.8" 480x640-pixel touchscreen display, Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi, aGPS and motion sensors.
Product page [Openmoko via Wired: Gadget Lab
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the latest
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pretty.
I saw the "1973" prototype last year, which was itself quite sexy. Looking forward to getting to play with this.
It should be pointed out that the software is absolutely not consumer ready. If you're willing to hack on it, you can get a phone with stable calls (and not much else) and battery life of 24 hours. Or you can get a phone with mostly stable calls, a crapload of great OSS software letting you use the gps, bluetooth keyboards, internet, bash terminal, etc, and a battery life of about 6 hours.
The hardware is great, and is essentially as open as it can possibly be. The software is also as open as can be, and there are lots of great pieces of software. But as of now, there is not a release that gives you all those great pieces of software in a package that works together.
I've owned a neo1973 for about 7 months, and used it as my primary phone for six, but I'm a hacker, and tolerant of losing a phone call every 2-3 days. And I keep it plugged into a charger (or my PC) almost all day.
Hm. I could deal with some instability, but the battery life is an issue. What are they expecting the life to be after power management has been improved? (Should be predictable given the chipset and experience of other phones, right?)
I'm still sorta surprised that this is so complicated. Seems to me that the easy (and hence lower development cost) solution would be to take off-the-shelf phone components (of the type which are now available at throw-away prices) and slap a standard low-power controller on top of them in place of their normal keyboard. OK, it isn't quite that simple, and the result wouldn't be the most compact possible, but... frankly, I don't want to muck with the telephony layer; I just want an open-source palmtop integrated with a phone.
@TECHNOGEEK
Well, the thing about the hardware is that it is completely open as well. You can even download a CAD file of the hardware. It also has a usb port that can act as a host, which is the first time I've ever heard of a phone with such functionality.
Also, NEC, the hardware manufacturer, is backing OpenMoko. If they don't sell hardware, they don't have much of a reason to fund OpenMoko...
I'd love to get one of these as soon as it is more stable and I have more spare cash.
@#4, TECHNOGEEK:
With suspend/resume (which will wake on an incoming call or sms), the battery life is expected to be almost a week (> 6 days) once the kinks are worked out of the software.
@musicalwoods/correction
It's FIC, not NEC, that is backing OpenMoko and manufacturing the hardware.
I find it hard to understand that it only covers 1 band (choice of 850 or 900). It seems AT&T and Alltel are the the only realistic choice in US.
@shuut You are mistaken. All FreeRunners are tri-band phones and are simply called 850 or 900 based on the band that differs. That is, the two models are 850/1800/1900 (US) and 900/1800/1900 (Rest of world). In the US, you should be able to use any GSM-based carrier, which includes AT&T, T-Mobile, and Alltel.
Gosh blimey but it's fugly, to go with the apparent flaky. I love the ideological attitude, but I choose usability and smooth UIs over that.
Wurp - What would be your best guess on when the rest of us would buy? I keep looking at these and our contract is up late this year.
When my current phone dies, it's gonna be this or an iphone.. I sure like the idea of having ssh on my phone without having to depend on somebody else to hack into my device for me..
@#11 FOETUSNAIL:
If you're happy with stable phone calls, SMS, GPS and media player, and lots of other apps that may or may not be stable, and if you have a linux machine or live CD and are comfortable following instructions to do stuff on the command line, my guess is 2 more months (i.e. September).
If you are wanting something more oriented at an end user (just buy it & use it), it's probably more like six months.
Those figures are painful to write.
@#13 Wurp - Thanks, I'll keep an eye out.
I could wait 6 months... I'll definitely be considering this phone!
Don't forget the point, did you read the article?
This "phone" is meant for hardcore nerds. If you want an iPhone, go buy one! It isn't an iPhone, nor is it intended to be. I don't complain that my sunglasses are utterly incapable of making toast, do I?
It's exactly what I want. A mobile computer that has network connectivity, and I can sometimes talk on it. It has the same OS that I use every day, and I can make whatever I want, not depend on 3rd parties to develop something kinda-sorta like what I want, but not quite.
Nerds, not marketing, earn vertical markets.
Camera and video .... a must have. Hopefully with the open CAD some hardware hacker geek will figure out how to add those ...