Openmoko FreeRunner looking good for early July release

Unless you're very, very special, you haven't yet had an opportunity to run your hands over Openmoko's latest open-source creation, the FreeRunner, which was announced several months back with the hope of a spring release. Unlike the Neo1973 before it, the FreeRunner's said to be chock full of enough spit and polish to take on an audience larger than the original's hardcore developer base, and while a springtime date with destiny is now out of reach, it looks like they'll only miss the mark by a few days. A recent message from Openmoko's VP of marketing on the community listserv said that the retail phones should be packed and shipped by tomorrow and -- if all goes well, of course -- should clear customs by the first of July, meaning buyers should be able to get them delivered in the first week or two of the month. If they'd been able to squeeze in 3G, we'd hardly be able to contain ourselves, but even as it is, we suspect there's enough buzz to get units sold; let's just hope they're already hard at work on version three.

[Via The Inquirer Spanish]

[KEROLiUKAS @ Jun 22nd 2008 6:50PM]

These things look nice, though i've never seen anyone having one..(the original i mean)

[Technodragon @ Jun 23rd 2008 11:53AM]

The original was limited to something like 400 units (if I remember correctly) and released to developers/hackers/hardcore gadget junkies on the understanding that it was by no means ready for consumer use yet.

This is the consumer version that you will hopefully see in peoples' hands.

[R Nair @ Jun 22nd 2008 7:03PM]

Looks sweet, but what does it do? A video may be great at this moment :)

[michas_pi @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:00PM]

It's a mobile phone.

[ethana2 @ Jun 22nd 2008 7:22PM]

Sweeeeet. Let the war of the mobile distros begin!

[Sergio @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:25PM]

Good one.

[broli @ Jun 22nd 2008 8:07PM]

I remember when they were supposed to ship in October to the mass market. It felt like just yesterday.

[DJZeratul @ Jun 22nd 2008 7:30PM]

Blatant Pantech Ocean ripoff?

[Matt @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:04AM]

I'd say Ocean is a ripoff ...Open moko saw the daylight (the developer edition) before Ocean was released.

[livefire @ Jun 22nd 2008 7:31PM]

put OS X on it

[livefire @ Jun 22nd 2008 7:49PM]

it was a joke

[Reader @ Jun 22nd 2008 8:00PM]

There's such a thing as unfunny jokes. That was one.

[livefire @ Jun 22nd 2008 9:18PM]

@ reader
There's such a thing as a douchebag. You are one.

[Abuzar @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:28AM]

Truth hurts huh? Maybe you learn something instead of responding with an insult.

I'm sorry, I just don't like you livefire.

[Noir @ Jun 23rd 2008 1:04AM]

me either livefire is too passionate about what product he/she .

OS X isn't the answer to everything rofl seriously.

Just to add fire and truth, Windows Vista is great Operating System :)

[Tom @ Jun 22nd 2008 7:36PM]

Here are some specs:

The specs share some features with the previous Neo1973 such as

* A very high resolution touch screen (1.7" x 2.27" - 43mm x 58mm) 480x640 pixels
* 128MB SDRAM memory to allow operation of many applications at once
* Internal GPS module for map and tracking programs
* Bluetooth for local data exchange
* Physical appearance will be the same as the Neo1973. See openmoko.com for more.

but will gain the additional features of

* 802.11 b/g WiFi for fast web browsing and data transfer
* A faster 400Mhz processor (up from 266MHz)
* A hardware Graphics Accelerator chip allowing the acceleration of a limited set of operations.
o Unfortunately, this is on a shared slow (7M/s) bus with the SD card.
* 2 3D accelerometers so that the phone can know its orientation for example switching to landscape mode automatically
* 2 LEDs illuminating the two buttons on the rim of the case (one bicolor [blue|orange] behind the power button, 1 unicolor [red] behind the aux button)
* Tri-band GSM and GPRS for North America (850/1800/1900 Mhz) and the rest of the world (900/1800/1900 Mhz)
* USB Host function with 500mA power allowing you to power USB devices for short periods (will drain the FreeRunner battery faster)

A full list of the hardware specs and components of the Neo FreeRunner (internal codename GTA02xxx) can be found here Neo FreeRunner GTA02 Hardware

A comparison between Neo 1973 and Neo FreeRunner is here: http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Neo1973:_GTA01Bv4_versus_GTA02_comparison

[JAmerican @ Jun 22nd 2008 8:07PM]

Wish it could support US 3G. Especially T-Mobile 3G.

[Jubei @ Jun 22nd 2008 7:40PM]

What many are missing is the incredible wealth of creative and high quality applications coming into the Apps store. This is the feature that will kill these "me to" devices. A powerful OS running the iPhone, rich SDK for developers to create almost whatever they wish and the app store for users to easily see "all" apps within their fingertips. No need to hunt and peck apps and hope it will work fine. The fact that the apps are approved by Apple will nearly guarantee compatibility and quality for the user.

[Karel Jansens @ Jun 22nd 2008 7:45PM]

Well, you sure earned your pay for today...

[Reader @ Jun 22nd 2008 8:07PM]

Sad face... every article these days.

[Eli @ Jun 22nd 2008 8:19PM]

Remember when spam posts were people advertising sales of stolen phones and Viagra?

Those were the good old days...

[jerbils @ Jun 22nd 2008 10:55PM]

I may have an iPhone, but I at least I'm not an out-of-line fanboy about it. I love my phone, but even I'm tired of hearing about the thing.

[Sergio @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:48PM]

Dude you just ruined the thread. Hands down f%%%%d the dam thread.

[Chino B @ Jun 22nd 2008 7:43PM]

It reminds me of Nokia 7370: http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/wireless/detail-page/B000SZTUTY-nokia-7370-brown.jpg

[Chino B @ Jun 22nd 2008 7:43PM]

http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/wireless/detail-page/B000SZTUTY-nokia-7370-brown.jpg

[Chino B @ Jun 22nd 2008 7:52PM]

It reminds me of Nokia 7370

[deyanimay @ Jun 22nd 2008 8:05PM]

how many times must you say that?

[brad @ Jun 22nd 2008 10:38PM]

Now if only we could find a link to an image of this Nokia 7370... possibly a brown one...

[Charles Han @ Jun 22nd 2008 7:49PM]

Man i wish carriers will pick up this phone, but i really doubt that will happen. Looks to be a promising phone, but I don't think it cant make any considerable sales as not many ppl outside of tech arena have even heard of this phone, and not many ppl are willing to fork out unlocked prices for a phone.

[Redstripe @ Jun 22nd 2008 10:39PM]

As long as you use a carrier with a SIM you don't need for a carriers to pick it up. If there was a larger profit margin and a more dedicated community of developers this would be much more popular. Unfortunatley, by the time this gets some steam, all the android phones will be out putting this in the realms of other great gadgets that never caught on.

[Matthew @ Jun 23rd 2008 10:25PM]

News flash for the drooling:

No EDGE network. No 3G network. = No reasonable internet access for people with a data plan.

No UMA.

Plus this thing has been promised to release "soon" since 2006. I'll believe it when I see it.

[AdamY @ Jun 22nd 2008 8:59PM]

Wait, no EDGE?

I saw the GPRS, and just assumed EDGE I suppose. Really? No EDGE? How is there no tirade? No outrage? Apple got crapped on because they didn't include 3G on the first go-round, and OpenMoko gets to scrape by with GPRS?

I spell hypocrisy on the internet, shocking I know.

[Wii60 @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:35AM]

Woah, you're right there is no EDGE on this device.

That is such a shame I was looking forward to this. I can't fathom buying a phone without at leastEDGE these days.

[Babau @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:34AM]

Something that doesn't get discussed enough with this phone is the USB host mode it's capable of. In short, you'll be able to plug a thumb drive into it for dirt cheap extra storage.

Once the software matures a bit it's a short hop to using your freerunner to transfer all the pictures on your camera to a thumb drive. Fantastic for when you're travelling since you won't need to carry a laptop.

I've been majorly excited about the openmoko project for about 18 months now, but the lack of 3G data and Android on the horizon means I won't be buying. Bring on the HTC Dream.

[badger @ Jun 23rd 2008 5:24AM]

@Babau: I'm right there with you. USB host mode (aka usb-on-the-go/OTG) is the big thing I'm excited about on this thing. I'm a photographer. With the freerunner I'll be able to plug my digital camera cable or memory card reader right into the usb host port and upload images to flicker/ftp from anywhere.

if the iphone (or blackberry bold) got hacked to have usb host ability, i would buy it. if the openmoko is not out by july 11, i may buy an iphone anyway. I've been following the OM community for a while now and I'm just so worried they won't have a product that non-star-wars fans will like/understand.

[Alex @ Jun 23rd 2008 2:03AM]

I'm going to be a bitch and mention the iPHONE!!!

iPHONE!!!!

would you please, stop mentioning the iPHONE.

[Kris @ Jun 23rd 2008 5:11AM]

How much will this thing cost?

I cant seem to find anything on the site, it just says sold out...

[Wii60 @ Jun 23rd 2008 8:51AM]

I think its gonna be 399.

[kingu @ Jun 23rd 2008 2:28PM]

It cant arrive soon enough.

[paul @ Jun 23rd 2008 6:31PM]

No thanks. Android will be out before then and run a Linux-based OSS mobile phone stack on better hardware.

[josch @ Jun 24th 2008 3:52AM]

android has NO open source stack

it runs on linux but is NOT open

if you want an open phone the products of openmoko inc are your only choice atm

[Max @ Jun 24th 2008 2:31AM]

I've been watching these moko phones for a while, but I wont buy 1 until there is a camera. I don't use them for happy snaps all that often, but photos to remember details, visual directions for friends and evidence in case of car accidents is too useful for me.

[Kris @ Jun 24th 2008 7:54AM]

I drive really well. Does that mean I dont need a camera phone?