The Linux iphone

[Mateo]

There might have already been discussion about this, but it doesn't come up with search, so I'm posting. It's the Neo1973 smart phone. It's completely touch screen, like the iPhone, but runs on linux. I think OpenMoko is the linux OS they use. What is great about this phone is the same thing that is great about linux in general. It's completely customizable and upgrades are free. You can install anything on the phone just like with your computer. So the phone itself only comes with the basic features that you want in a phone, a good address book and texting system. They leave the music applications and such up to the user to decide.

I suggest reading the presentation, which is really cool because the guy says his favorite thing in the world is "apt-get install". Also the webpage with some pics. I'm salivating over this already. Must own.

http://openmoko.com/files/OpenMoko_Amsterdam.pdf

http://openmoko.com/press/index.html

[Shay Stephens]

I am looking forward to that phone too. There was a thread about a week ago talking about the iphone when the openmoko was brought up:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=335088&page=2

It really makes sense to support something like that rather than the iphone and all it's restrictions. Hooray freedom!

[Gargamella]

Amazing, really!

Nice project,so brave!

[Pobega]

Is there talk on pricing for this thing? I'd love to pick one of these babies up when they get released (I need a new phone anyway, mine's old as hell itself, literally)

[Shay Stephens]

I have heard $350 and that is unlocked, you can use it on any carrier or even prepay system.

[banjobacon]

I think this lacks wifi, which the iPhone has, which may be a little disappointing to some people. That wouldn't make it useful for VoIP calls.

Hopefully a good starting point for future open, Linux-based products.

[Mateo]

I just hope it has a way to lock the touchpad. otherwise you'll wind up calling people while its in your pocket. That used to happen to me all the time with an old phone, and it had regular buttons, not the sensitive touchpad.

[maniacmusician]

kickass. A phone actually worth its money. I'll be all over it whenever it gets out.

[TheRingmaster]

OpenMoko/iPhone - GoWiki (http://www.linuxtogo.org/gowiki/OpenMoko/iPhone)

here is a chart that compares the moko with the iphone.

[maniacmusician]

hmm the iPhone does have a significant advantage, it seems.

[Mateo]

I don't think that's a significant advantage. The only real advantage there is onboard memory. The rest of the advantages is just software. but with the openmoko you can download comparable software for free. that's the thing about the phone, the user gets to select what it has, he/she doesn't have software forced onto them. It does suck about such low memory though

[Mateo]

you can get 2 gig microSD cards on Amazon for $50. that makes up for the price difference in the phones, i think. I'd likely get 1 of the cards, since I can't see myself ever wanting to install more than 2 gig of software and/or other files onto a cell phone anyways.

[Shay Stephens]

hmm the iPhone does have a significant advantage, it seems.
Like not being able to replace the battery, locked into one carrier, locked into a two year contract, not being able to load your own software, drm, etc, etc.

[maniacmusician]

Like not being able to replace the battery, locked into one carrier, locked into a two year contract, not being able to load your own software, drm, etc, etc.
haha I never said it was better to buy.

But when I looked at the chart 30 minutes ago, the iPhone did have some hardware advantages...I think there was an accelerometer, slightly smaller (not too much), and some other things. Dont really feel like going back to check.

It's still not too bad for 350. somewhere in between 300 and 350 would be better.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

I wish that thing looked nicer :(
It doesn't look bad, but the roundness screams "wasted space!". It drives me crazy when a screen doesn't stretch all the way to the edge of the casing! I know it's difficult to get a device working like that, but look at the difference between a DS and a DS Lite, for example. The DS Lite's screens look /bigger/, because there is so much less border around them; It looks like the screens are as big as they could possibly be.

Oh well, I'm sure they have plans for a visual refresh. A device like this could be one of those great ways to give Linux some attention in the realm of "Ooh, that looks nice!".
First up, get rid of that weird, illegible gold text printed into the casing.
(And is that hole at the bottom for a belt buckle?!)


The iPhone has a multi-touch screen, while the OpenMoko does not. I'm a bit sceptical about iPhone's multi-touch, though, because it is a small screen (compared to two fingers trying to draw gestures!) and not really built for use on a table. How can I hold a phone in my hand while drawing multi-touch gestures?

Anyway, there's some very neat stuff there for sure. I've been aware and interested in that and... another one (eek!) since two days ago!


(Erk, I'm all over the place here!)
Hm... it looks like the only USB port does not host other devices, but is rather just for connecting / syncing with a PC?
Seems a bit of a shame... Ah well, it's still a good thing. This one here doesn't seem quite as multi-purpose as it could be, on the hardware end, though. Does it do WiFi?

[zachtib]

I have heard $350 and that is unlocked, you can use it on any carrier or even prepay system.

now, what exactly does any carrier mean here? Will it only work on GSM networks with sim-cards, like Cingular and T Mobile, or will I be able to use it with Sprint.

and I sort of hope they release a couple of phones using this OS, as this one does look a little big, and it could be slimmed down a bit by not having the rounded ends. Also, I wouldn't mind having an actual keyboard like the Treo 650/700 has.

[riven0]

Okay, I hate phones, but this one has me slobbering. Didn't give the iPhone a second glance... but I may have to think over this one. :p

[Kateikyoushi]

I hope the new design will look better my girlfriend is totally hooked up on iphone and she is very sensitive about the design I would rather recommend her this than the iphone.

[Johnsie]

iphone can't do half of what my exisitng phone can do.... This iphone thing is a load of hype. Apple will not break the phone market with their silly looking phone.

[MedivhX]

This OpenMoko project is cool! I wish there were more projects like this. :( But I question its quality over iPhone's... Apple's products are of excellent quality.


iphone can't do half of what my exisitng phone can do.... This iphone thing is a load of hype. Apple will not break the phone market with their silly looking phone.

What phone do you have??? I think that iPhone will be a hit, and it's not silly looking at all, I like it very much, but still I would choose OpenMoko because it would be much cheaper (even when it would be worse quality than iPhone), and have almost the same options (some are even better).

P.S. Both phones need 3G support which they don't have... EDGE is nothing comparing to 3G, and GPRS in OpenMoko, umm I think that they should integrate EDGE at least...

[insane_alien]

wow, i thought the iPhone was sexy but that thing blows it out the water. i only use my phone for basic things anyway so lack of 3G doesn't bether me in the slightest but bluetooth would be nice for that phone. EDIT: D'oh i read over it and it was staring me in the face.

revised conclusion: I WANT THAT PHONE!

[shanepardue]

I like how the iphone shows voicemail like email where you can choose which voicemail you want to listen to. I wonder if we'll see something like that with this phone.

[kripkenstein]

Note that besides the OpenMoko, there is also the Qtopia platform (Greenphone), and also all the new Motorola phones are now Linux-based (Motofone) - although perhaps they aren't as 'open' as OpenMoko and Qtopia.

In particular the new Motorola phones use the new 'realtime' capabilities of the Linux kernel, to save on hardware costs. Interesting stuff.

So, looks like good news for Linux in the phone market. Much more interesting than the iPhone ;)

[banjobacon]

I like how the iphone shows voicemail like email where you can choose which voicemail you want to listen to. I wonder if we'll see something like that with this phone.

That sounds like a carrier-specific feature to me, so probably not, unless other carriers are on their way to implementing this feature.

[riven0]

This OpenMoko project is cool! I wish there were more projects like this. :( But I question its quality over iPhone's... Apple's products are of excellent quality.


Honestly, I don't know about that; my iPod shuffle is kind of flimsy.

[shining]

Phones suck, laptops rule. Enough said.

[bvanaerde]

About the iPhone, here's a presentation of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_f-KK140vM

Looks quite nice :o

[Mateo]

That probably belongs in one of the many iphone threads.

Here's a video on youtube about Openmoko though. he doesn't say anything you probably don't already know, but you get to see the relative size of the phone, as he's holding it in his hand:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRvtAAXTIlg

[sophtpaw]

About the iPhone, here's a presentation of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_f-KK140vM

Looks quite nice :o

WoW, that looks hot.

[banjobacon]

Here's a video on youtube about Openmoko though. he doesn't say anything you probably don't already know, but you get to see the relative size of the phone, as he's holding it in his hand:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRvtAAXTIlg

The phone in his hand doesn't look that attractive to me. Maybe it's just the color.

The phone's interface also looks really unimpressive. Again, this is probably due to the colors. It has a gray background and some orange here and there. This is pretty bland compared to the iPhone's colorful icons. I wonder if the interface would look any better with some Tango icons.

Hopefully its functionality isn't unimpressive. I'm not in the market for such a phone, though, so I won't find out any time soon.

[TheRingmaster]

Linux-powered iPhone killer available online in March (http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2657814070.html)

one more update

[myoldryn]

I think that OpenMoKo and FIC Neo1973 will kill the iphone...

Latest rumors say that v2 of Neo1973 will have wifi, 1gb of nand flash, better cpu and maybe powerd usb2.0 host...

One intresting thing about iphone presentation... the man said there that iphone have highest resolution in smartphones -> 160ppi...hmm... neo have 285ppi...

And this is only hardware...think about software...have you ever played tuxracer on mobile phone?

[dbbolton]

what about the motorola e680 ?

http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS4604576509.html

( notice the date )

[myoldryn]

what about the motorola e680 ?

http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS4604576509.html

( notice the date )

http://www.sicherheitsschwankung.de/gallery/v/openmoko/IMG_8341.JPG.html Same phone running the OpenMoKo.

Motorola phones aren't 100% open.

[banjobacon]

http://www.sicherheitsschwankung.de/gallery/v/openmoko/IMG_8341.JPG.html Same phone running the OpenMoKo.

Motorola phones aren't 100% open.

The Neo 1973 isn't 100% open either, apparently. Some parts are closed (GPS and GMS/GPRS), according to this (http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2986976174.html).

[dbbolton]

the PDF said that this phone would be released in January of 2007- but i'm guessing that's not right. has anyone else read about a potential release date ?

[hanzomon4]

Can these phones be used with US cell phone service providers?

[dbbolton]

Can these phones be used with US cell phone service providers?
if i remember correctly, T-Mobile and Cingular provide service on 2 GSM frequencies.

but that won't matter if we can't buy the bloody thing.

[myoldryn]

Can these phones be used with US cell phone service providers?

This phone will work on any gsm network!

The development device will be released in a week or two. Then you can order it directly from FIC. And maybe in september it will be released for a mass market. I think that final device will delayed again. But it's worth waiting...

GSM/GPRS modem and GPS is closed because there is no openframework for them, but they made them both accesible as posible...

[Sunflower1970]

I'm in the market for a phone, but not in any hurry. So, I may hold out for this one. I like the no contract especially.

[macogw]

It has the same problem as the iPhone. You can't dial without looking. What is with this new obsession with touchscreens? I want to be able to dial the phone while driving (my eyes have to be on the road, I should be able to dial in my lap without looking). I was to be able to dial the phone in the dark. I want to be able to dial without ever looking at my hands. Buttons should be raised, and they should give a solid feeling of having been pressed when you press them. I'm due for a new phone, but all of the new ones have those darned non-clicky buttons, so I may have to keep this one til it's even more unusable than it currently is (no calculator! and it sometimes doesn't connect when I have 6 bars or drops to no bars where I usually have reception)

Is this the phone-with-a-dead-battery that was at Ubucon?

[rotten777]

Sorry to revive but July 9th these things will be available to order!

http://lists.openmoko.org/pipermail/community/2007-June/006005.html

[luca_linux]

Yeah, the phone is good, everything's good but, please, improve that website...it's not gonna help it spread and look appealing to people...