Openmoko ships Neo FreeRunner Linux phone (ZDNet) [LWN.net]

Openmoko ships Neo FreeRunner Linux phone (ZDNet)

Posted Jun 27, 2008 14:29 UTC (Fri) by flewellyn (subscriber, #5047) [Link]

Oh come on!  People these days use their mobiles as PDAs, GPS devices, and gaming platforms!
They don't care about using the PHONE to make PHONE CALLS...

Openmoko ships Neo FreeRunner Linux phone (ZDNet)

Posted Jun 27, 2008 15:10 UTC (Fri) by NAR (subscriber, #1313) [Link]

Actually a review of the GPS function could be useful too... I mean anything more than the
press release.

Openmoko ships Neo FreeRunner Linux phone (ZDNet)

Posted Jun 27, 2008 16:02 UTC (Fri) by flewellyn (subscriber, #5047) [Link]

I don't expect much from ZDNet.

Openmoko ships Neo FreeRunner Linux phone (ZDNet)

Posted Jun 27, 2008 15:14 UTC (Fri) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]

> It's too bad that the review doesn't mention that the reviewer could make an actual phone
call with the device...


I think it's one of those things that goes without saying. 

Anyways it's not really a review. Linuxdevices.com don't review products, as in test them and
give their resutls, they simply mention them, talk about the capabilities and thats it. It's a
website for companies interested in Linux embedded systems to find out what other companies
making those systems are, well, making. 

=================

Personally I am going to get this phone as soon as they start selling it on their website. I
am going to get the dboard also.

This thing is going to be fantastic and I am going to have a lot of fun playing around with
it.

great!

Posted Jun 27, 2008 15:32 UTC (Fri) by ccyoung (guest, #16340) [Link]

will you write a brief _real_ review?

great!

Posted Jun 27, 2008 15:50 UTC (Fri) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]

Sure. 

But I expect there are people playing around with it right now. They are selling it to a few
retailers, but not online yet. So I don't know when I'll get one.

Openmoko ships Neo FreeRunner Linux phone (ZDNet)

Posted Jun 27, 2008 16:23 UTC (Fri) by iabervon (subscriber, #722) [Link]

It's a tri-band phone (IIRC, there are 2 bands it always supports, and 2 bands that it
supports one of, depending on which components were put on the board), and it's not sold
through a provider, so it's possible to end up with a combination of SIM card and phone that
doesn't actually make calls. The hazards of developing a phone in a country where the cell
network is less crazy than in the US.

It's possible that they got quad-band working and I wasn't paying attention, but I thought
that was going to wait until the next major revision, in interested of getting hardware that
can be made to work into the hands of outside programmers in a reasonable timeframe.

Openmoko ships Neo FreeRunner Linux phone (ZDNet)

Posted Jun 27, 2008 16:58 UTC (Fri) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]

According to their website they have a 'North American' version which will support
850/1800/1900 bands. The rest of everybody else should use the 900/1800/1900 version.

If your traveling with a N.A. phone, for example, it may be possible that you end up in a
region were they are only using the 900 band, then you won't be able to get service. A visa
versa with the 850 band if your traveling in the U.S. with a non-N.A. version.

The lower frequencies tend to propagate better then the higher frequencies, but the higher
frequencies have more bandwidth. This means you more likely to run into 850/900mhz in rural
areas. However, at least in the US, the 1900mhz spectrum is the far more popular one and
people have been transitioning away from 850mhz for some time (as they build more towers then
long distance performance gets less and less important), if I am correct. Not very sure about
all of this.

The biggest issue with people in the US is that GSM is less popular then CDMA. GSM tends to be
much more popular in other areas. I have friends at work that use SIM cards with Nokia GSM
phones and they quite like them, haven't had any issues, as far as I know, with having
service. This does limit the carriers you can use though. 

For the record; T-mobile in the US only uses the 1900 band...

Openmoko ships Neo FreeRunner Linux phone (ZDNet)

Posted Jun 28, 2008 6:18 UTC (Sat) by Cato (subscriber, #7643) [Link]

GSM is quite popular with North Americans who travel internationally as it works in every
country except Japan.  In the US, you can use two of the four major carriers, i.e. AT&T and
T-Mobile, so it doesn't limit your choices too much.

The 4G evolution of GSM, known as LTE, is also going to be used by Verizon, so it's possible
that CDMA and GSM operators will converge on LTE within a few years.

Openmoko review

Posted Jun 27, 2008 19:30 UTC (Fri) by sdalley (subscriber, #18550) [Link]

It appears that this is possible, according to the summary review of the latest snapshots -
http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Snapshot_review

Openmoko review

Posted Jun 30, 2008 14:07 UTC (Mon) by NAR (subscriber, #1313) [Link]

That's more useful. Although I might seem insatiable, but this does not cover the GPS
functionality, the other thing I'd be interested in :-)