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A first look at the OpenMoko Neo 1973A first look at the OpenMoko Neo 1973Posted Aug 30, 2007 23:37 UTC (Thu) by N0NB (guest, #3407)Parent article: A first look at the OpenMoko Neo 1973
It looks interesting from a Free Software and technical standpoint, but I'm the old grumpy sort that just wants a phone to do the job of a phone! This summer I got a Motorola W315 flip-phone and I like it. It does the phone function well and I don't need it to do anything else. I don't even have a music player as I'd much rather listen to the world around me than tune it out.
As in the UNIX paradigm, a tool should do one job and do it well.
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A first look at the OpenMoko Neo 1973 Posted Aug 31, 2007 0:44 UTC (Fri) by giraffedata (subscriber, #1954) [Link] As in the UNIX paradigm, a tool should do one job and do it well. A Unix system has hundreds of those tools mashed together, kind of like the Neo. I like modular tools as much as anyone, but since there's no practical way to put half a dozen separate boxes in my pocket, I'll settle for one box that does it all. If it can let me snap software in and out, and maybe even some of the hardware, so much the better. And if you're grumpy about this "phone" being more than a phone, you're not grumpy about the device; you're grumpty that people keep calling it a "phone."
The information Swiss Army knife Posted Aug 31, 2007 5:56 UTC (Fri) by eru (subscriber, #2753) [Link] but I'm the old grumpy sort that just wants a phone to do the job of a phone!That's what I used to think too ... until I got one of those phones with more functions, and found them surprisingly useful and fun. It has camera (still and video clips (although the latter do look much like what RealPlayer clips used to 10 years ago on dialup)), does web browsing, and plays mp3:s. While their implementation certainly is inferior to what you get on more dedicated devices, the fact that the whole package fits in my trousers pocket without bulging makes the the phone more than the sum of its widgets: I can easily always carry it with me. If I see something interesting I can take a snapshot, if I wish to check what is the latest here on LWN while waiting for the local train, no problem. The key here is that the whole thing is small and robust enough to carry always. I think a phone any larger would be less useful, even if it had better features. And forget about carrying the equivalent number of discrete gadgets.
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