OpenMoko Neo FreeRunner available for order July 4, shipping July 7
By Joshua Fruhlinger 
posted Jul 2nd 2008 9:15AM
posted Jul 2nd 2008 9:15AM
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didn't AOTS review this phone and give it a shitty review?
you trust attack of the show to review a phone for you. Let me get this straight. You let a tv show tell you what to buy.
yes I do let tv tell me what to buy. Plus Gadget Pr0n and Attack This are the best for reviews.
Since you let tv tell you what to buy and like gadget p0rn. You wouldn't happen to have any extenze pills ould you : D
anything Olivia says is gospel.
Who's Olivia?
SuperCoolSplasdfkjl3!0 please disconnect your computer from the internet. You have been banned for multiple violations of the internet user agreement:
- still using leet
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If you wish to dispute this ban, please indicate by sticking a fork in the power socket nearest your computer.
SuperCoolSplasdfkjl3!0 please disconnect your computer from the internet. You have been banned for multiple violations of the internet user agreement:
- still using leet in sentences
- calling someone a "hater"
- writing so incoherently that it takes minutes to decode your post, only to realise you said absolutely nothing except a yo momma joke
If you wish to dispute this ban, please indicate by sticking a fork in the power socket nearest your computer.
(hopefully not a repost, something went wrong)
hahah read all his other posts, they're all in leet
oh my. what a twisted sense of humor.
Never thought I would see the day.
That said, it's going to be a tough sell for them...with the 3G Jesus phone imminent and Android on the horizon. Specs are nice, but the data rate will make them look bad in this market. Of course, geeks are their only market since this announcement is essentially a tree falling in a forest everywhere else...and as a geek, I'm happy to see them ship, but not happy with a step backward in speed vs. my current Treo.
Of course, open is nice.
Yea, but fortunately for them Android is not a phone. In fact, Android may be the perfect companion for the Openmoko since as far as we can tell, the software side is what's really lacking for it. Android making good use of all the features of this phone would make (IMHO) a phone worthy of purchase. Even if lacking in some areas, it would just be nice to support the company for their open methodology.
OpenMoko is not a phone either. OpenMoko is the software. Freerunner is the phone. The hardware is what sucks about the Freerunner, the OS is fine.
If they reviewed anything, it was the developers edition of this phone. The FreeRunner is the finalized, retail-ready version.
No guarantee that it sucks less, but given how it's an option and it's open... if it's performance is up to snuff, I'd give it a chance.
A full touchscreen device with only EDGE data? Who in their right mind would pay $399 for that?
Oh, wait.
I'm not seeing EDGE up there..... or is that what 2.6G means?
Hehe, I just checked open moko's site, and the specs show this:
"GPRS (2.5G not EDGE)"
That, combined with the stupid lanyard loop, make this one big pile of fail.
Yeah, if it actually had EDGE, it would be an attractive offering at a lower price, but to sell a smartphone without EDGE these days is preposterous.
Moko is Spanish for BOOGER X D hhhaahahaha
The correct word in spanish is "moco".
You get the general idea of what he's saying. Phonetically, "moko" and "moco" are equivalent. It's like when some German company was gonna release the PMP iBeat blaxx (I'm pretty sure that was on BGR), phonetically, it doesn't fly.
This phone doesn't seem appealing to me, it's not attractive and the specs are Mehhh sauce.
If somebody's dying for an open phone, wait 3 more months for Android and get a real one. It can't be THAT urgent.
And Edge only? Who's the target customer? I'm betting those who don't know about 3G are the same ones that don't know what open means.
You don't get it, it's about the software platform as it is as an open device. I much more interested for the wireless and gps capabilities of this thing than anything else. In Germany the first batch is already sold out and the next one will come somewhere around the end of July. Lowest retail price I've seen so far was 299 Euros.
I would already have one if I had the money right now. So far all I see from Android is delays and nowhere to be found hardware announcements. This at least is something that works now and is available now and almost affordable. Considering you can change the hardware and software freely and they provide you with all the specs and CAD data you need to remodel the thing I think it's a pretty cool project that finally made the next step.
Dear engadget users,
Please remember now and for all times never to use Android and open in one sentence ever again.
Android is NOT open. It runs on linux but their whole stack is a proprietary blob.
If I dont tell the truth please show me the source.
Here ya go josch.
http://code.google.com/p/android/downloads/list
I like the idea of the OpenMoko project very much, and followed it closely for awhile, but at present it's $400 and two data speeds out of date.
erm... you fail
would be nice if you would read the links you are pasting.
the source that is there are those they HAVE to publish since the linux kernel is GPL
there is NO SOURCE for the android operating system/framework atop of it
I love that they offer tools to open up the case. But the speed and lack of camera may be an issue.
Actually, the lack of a phone could be a huge selling point. A smart phone (slow or not) without a phone could sell quite well to workers in highly secured situations (i.e. Military). I know several contractors that need to go to highly secured facilities and they are allowed to carry any phone without a camera. Try finding that at your local AT&T or T-Mobile store. Especially one with smart phone features.
My sense of scale is always thrown off in these pictures because the bottom part looks like it's supposed to be attached to a keychain.
http://www.mobilelinuxinfo.com/images/neo-freerunner-giz.jpg
Better now?
This thing looks like a Tamagotchi + has OpenBooger OS + Edge + and is being released a week before iPhone 3G = Epic Fail!
Compares an open solution to the most proprietary crap ever invented + has no sense of technological innovation in open markets + knows what a Tamagotchi is = Miserable education
BTW. would people please stop saying "epic" ... none of the shit you use it for is actually epic. Just because videogame items are named like that in a virtual fantasy world doesn't make it an appropriate term for mediocre bullshit. Taking the closed telephone hardware and software market and pushing into that with an open customizable solution = THAT is epic. Because people in ten years will talk about that ... not about a stupid purple shinplate.
World's premier OpenMoko Loco = EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC FAIL
As if anyone with any sense at all will buy this FAILphone before the iPhone 3G becomes available. They think that releasing this a few days before the iPhone 3G is going to sway the tide. Get real.
@meist3r
Either you forgot to take a dump today,or you just always have a stick of self-righteousness up your ass.
@Ace B: Because I refuse to accept the idea that the internet will deteriorate into a pool of idiots using their language in the wrong fashion and don't have anything sensible to say? Yeah sure.
@meist3r
Dude,it's the internet.Anything goes.Like anyone is really gonna care what ya think?
It would be easier to make Hilary Clinton actually attractive than to get people to listen to your rants and or comments and actually have them abide by it.
@meist3r:
Open trumps proprietary? Is that why Asteroids on my Ubuntu box is only marginally better than the one a couple friends and I put together with no previous knowledge of graphics?
@Ace B: See that's where you are wrong ... anything goes ... but some things just shouldn't. Nobody cares what I say? Then why do you even bother two answer? I get to fight stupid opinions w/o you believing in my success but thanks for your brilliant analogy. If you didn't get that I was sort of thinking out loud on my "rant" (you've never read a true rant have you?) then I'm even more sorry for you than I am right now.
@T-Bone: If open means that I can swap my battery for several Nokia models for a few bucks instead of mailing it in to replace. If it means that I can choose any carrier I want. If it means that I can write applications for the device that I don't have to illegally crack to run them yes it trumps proprietary. And I'll give you the point that open software doesn't have to be brilliant code all the time ... but it means that at least there is a reasonable chance for improvement. Locked down proprietary technology rises and falls with the developing company and their ideas. Open technology grows on ALL ideas. And if more improvement means longer initial adaption phase like we see it with Linux ... good things need some time.
@Steffen Jobbs
Stop filling this space with your shit.
Proclaiming the openmoko to "Epic Fail!" just because the specs aren't as good as closed source phones is akin to proclaiming the PC to fail because you can get much better performance out of an XBox 360 for $299.
@meist3r
a lot of things shouldnt happen,but that's called life now isnt it?
And your replies amuse me.They make me giggle.Which is why I start things with people like you,who will personally take what anyone says to heart.
@ace b
so you're saying no one's allowed to tell you to Ƒuck off?
i mean that's life ain't it?
@Chris Macdonald
You can.But I'll just tell you to do the same.Or ignore it completely and actually do something productive
yeah something productive like "start things" with people on the internet so you can giggle
Wow, for such a great project, that ad fails.
It's the first major release of the hardware and software. If they put an 'i' in front of it, it would be revolutionary. The open source platform is what Android lovers have really been waiting for, they just don't know it. Complete freedom in a phone package. No company to brick your phone, no limitations on which applications you can try.
i would buy this just to support the idea (and the fact the the iphone canada plans are f*ing ridiculous)
but, i need to be able to take the sim out of my bbry and plug it into this...so...maybe some other time. my work is so technically inept that i have to carry a bbry and 2 pagers already, i can't have another phone on my belt, i'd look like batman
"quick robin, the shark repellant!"
I don't see EDGE listed on those device specs.
I see GPRS, and some nebulous reference to 2.6G, though I've never understood that to mean EDGE/EGPRS.
Can someone confirm 2.6G = EDGE. A cursory 'googling' of "GPRS 2.6G" only really brings up this article. Seems absurd to think a device wouldn't have EDGE in this day and age, but you never know...
no it has no edge - a later version is planned to have it
but as i have used the neo1973 for over a year now, i think i can say that gprs is just enough
2G = GSM
2.5G = GPRS
2.75G = EDGE
2.6G = WTF
L2STFW
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Packet_Radio_Service
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_Data_Rates_for_GSM_Evolution
Hi, I'm not a geek but I like to support these 'revolutionary' ideas.
Will it be available worldwide?
Is there a keypad? Touchscreen? or only "laser stylus pen"???
I'm really thinking about it.
Yes globally available check openmoko.com/Products/Buy It Now for a list of vendors.
No Keypad, 640x480 touchscreen, "laser stylus pen" means a regular hi-quality pen that has a stylus tip and a laser pointer built in.
as if the only alternative would be an iphone...if you're considering only, and ONLY the iphone, why bothering getting information about other things...
this is a different thing, open source, free platform to play around..NO OTHER manufacturer offers that. so basically THIS IS THE RUNNER UP and all others are money suckers...if edge is what you want, go and get it for 1000 usd more.
cheers,
ps. finally a device worth paying for!
@ispam
I agree with you 90%, USD400 -is- a little bit of suckage in my wallet.
But I'm truly interested and was about to shell around 300 for an (now "obsolete) Nokia E65... said that, I'm probably getting it on Friday :D
Chances are if you read a gadget blog you are smart enought and tech savvy enough to know where to buy your gadgets cheap. Who the hell pays retail around here?
Okay let me reiterate this point!
It is a fully unlocked open source phone with decent specs.
A freaking unlocked razr sometimes goes for this much. A unlocked blackberry can sell for 700 or more.
$00 is dirt cheap. The old iphone with a two year service could cost more.
Get some money and some research.
With the exception of the data rate... this phone has some very nice specs that paired with a certain OS will make a wonderful cell phone. No more paying ridiculous premiums for buying a high end phone unlocked.
you can already purchase the developer version here:
http://www.gp2xstore.com/Neo_1973_Base_Phone_p/012.htm
That one is last years version and doesn't have AGPS among other things
Actually it does have GPS, but lacks WiFi. Bla.
Yawn @ arguing people.
1. Open Source platform (make your own apps)
2. First run of this product (Newer + more features coming soon)
3. Android will probably steal the market since openmoko has waited so long to release.
4. What ever happened to actually leaving a comment about the article?
Like what?
Dear beloved author,
you've made such a fine selection of words and acronyms to invite our humble minds to this world of truly mobilizing communication technology that my head races with thought on just how much I want to thank you.
Nobody wants to read/write about the News ... do you go to a movie and then repeat every line to your friends? Commenting shouldn't be about the news at all it should be about what people think about the news and what comes from that. That's how stories are made and things happen.
Looks just like the Trekstor Vibez,,,
http://www.trekstor.de/en/products/detail_mp3.php?pid=66
I want an open source phone on verizon :(
They are super serial guys.
:o
It will be cheaper on other gadget sites? :D cool!!
But I kinda drew it and its a pretty big mo'fo IMHO.
*secondthoughts secondthoughts secondthoughts*
Damn, if they're 3 days before launch and they have 4 official pictures of it and no video or something else, kinda fishy innit? Or is it only me?
c'mon guys...
i read almost all the comments, and be sincere here...
some one who's going to buy an openmoko phone, it's not going to buy an iphone, and reverse (some one who's going to buy an iphone don't even look at the freerunner).
there are a few things that don't get from some users.
this device is basically a developer device.
it means you can customize it to your like (even the hardware).
what's the fckn problem if it doesn't have edge?
c'mon
DEVELOPER DEVICE
it have agps, 2d/3d acceleration graphics, WIFI.
tell me, what other phone gives you those specs for less than 400 bucks?
so you have the options there.
you can buy an iphone, and sell your soul to satan
or...
buy a freerunner and put your ass in front of the computer and start programming software for the device.
it's your choice
I ordered one, waiting for it to come in. What I really wanted was an iPhone without a 3yr contract, and without paying $1200 for the device without that.., the whole having to unlock an iphone, and being unable to sync with my Linux box anyways made me want a freerunner. As for if this is 133t or not, my money's going to support the project to make even better stuff down the line. I can write software for this with Qt AFAIK, so I can really customize my phone.... I looked at android, but the whole not really open thing could make it a pain...
For me, open-source so I can customize, non-contract, and open-hardware makes it worth the money and attractive.
Okay get some money by selling your sister to primates and your mother to an experimental slaughter house designed for the betterment of mammal s. Next use your money to buy the phone. Sell your life to gypsies. Then put your sim card in. And shut up.
Thanks.