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Beamerboy
January 20th, 2007, 02:11 PM
OpenMoko Neo1973 Opensource Linux Phone


As promised, OpenMoko have last night announced the launch Roadmap for their revolutionary Smart Phone.

The Neo1973 will be the first truly opensource phone, running Linux 2.6 Kernel with Bluetooth, GSM and GPS. The only parts of the phone which are not opensource are the GSM and GPS stacks, the rest of the phone is 100% Opensource and Linux hacks will be able to play around with it until their hearts are content. The phone boasts touchscreen display, 128MB SDRAM, 64MB Flash RAM with a microSD memory card slot for increased memory.

The phone will be sold world wide by direct order from the manufacturer FIC in Taiwan for a global price of $350 USD (+ shipping I presume) and will not be locked to any provider.

The now official roadmap for the first generation Neo1973 is as follows:

2007-03-11 Phase 1: Official Developer Launch
We will sell the Neo1973 direct from openmoko.com for US$350 plus
shipping. Sales and orders will be worldwide. We are specifically
targeting open source community developers.

2007-09-11 Phase 2: Mass Market Sale
Online sales will continue. We will also be available in a retail
stores and selected carriers around the world. At this point, we
hope your mom and dad will want to buy a Neo1973, too.

The 2nd generation OpenMoko device will also be introduced at this
time. We have something special in the works, but again, you will
help shape this device.

And the hardware is now also confirmed:

* 120.7 x 62 x 18.5 (mm)
* 2.8" VGA (480x640) TFT Screen
* Samsung s3c2410 SoC @ 266 MHz
* Global Locate AGPS chip
* Ti GPRS (2.5G not EDGE)
* Unpowered USB 1.1
* Touchscreen
* micro-sd slot
* 2.5mm audio jack
* 2 additional buttons
* 1200 mAh battery (charged over USB)
* 128 MB SDRAM
* 64 MB NAND Flash
* Bluetooth (2.0)

The roadmap comes hot on the heals of Apple's recent launch of the iPhone, which will be more expensive, closed source and locked into a 2 year Cingular contract when it is released in the US later this year (no information on UK providers regarding the iPhone yet).

The Neo1973 will become the first mass marketed Opensource Smartphone in the world (to my knowledge) and is bound to set the open source community alight with enthusiasm.

For more information visit http://www.openmoko.com

Direct Link to Roadmap Announcement: http://lists.openmoko.org/pipermail/announce/2007-January.txt

The Future's Bright, the Future's Moko.

Paladine

GStubbs43
January 20th, 2007, 02:37 PM
The Linux iPhone (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=340690)

Same topic. Different Thread. ;)

Beamerboy
January 20th, 2007, 02:41 PM
The Linux iPhone (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=340690)

Same topic. Different Thread. ;)

Actually not really. My thread is about the official roadmap which was only releaed last night. The other thread is older.

However, had I seen the other thread I would have probably posted there, although that doesn't mean this thread can't also thrive.

Paladine

EdThaSlayer
January 20th, 2007, 03:23 PM
A linux smartphone?That sounds pretty neat! But what GUI will this smartphone use?
I don't think that GNOME or KDE can run on a smart phone...

ZylGadis
January 20th, 2007, 05:32 PM
There are quite a few options. The most popular are GPE are OPIE. The Linux-enabled Sharp Zaurus has been around for quite a while (since 2001) and people have been fiddling with embedded software for it. Not to mention the multitude of more recent Linux-enabled devices.

Beamerboy
January 20th, 2007, 11:13 PM
A linux smartphone?That sounds pretty neat! But what GUI will this smartphone use?
I don't think that GNOME or KDE can run on a smart phone...

The joy of an open phone is you can use anything you like or can develop. It has libX11 support which is enough to get people started. Also it comes with a GUI (although at the moment I am not sure which as I just woke up.)

Paladine