Open hardware (was: Re: Perpetual quest for GNU smartphone)

[Michael Shiloh]

Shachar Shemesh wrote:
>   Michael Shiloh wrote:
>> Openmoko has departed the cellphone business and no longer makes the 
>> FreeRunner, although you can buy them and there is still very large 
>> community support.
> Quoth the man who has worked for them and have been burned... :-(

Thanks. I have no hard feelings, though. I'm sure we've all worked for 
companies that folded.

I do wish it had been more successful, though, for the same reason as 
the OP: I want a true GNU smartphone.


> 
> Actually, that fact matters very little, if you think about it. If Nokia 
> goes out of business one day after you bought one of their phones, does 
> that matter to you? For that matter, if Nokia issue a new model of their 
> phone, priced exactly the same as the previous one, one day after you 
> bought your phone, does that matter to you (beyond the "damn" effect, of 
> course). A cell phone is a consumer product. Once you own it, it's 
> yours. If the Neo Freerunner is a good phone, then the fact that FIC is 
> no longer contemplating a new version does not really matter to you.
> 
> Having said that, I have moved off the Freerunner myself (except as a 
> portable battery powered Linux machine). It had something to do with the 
> fact that my GSM receiver stopped working, but also with the fact that 
> it suffers the classic "market pioneer" syndrom - it's not very good 
> :-(. It is bulky, heavy, has a small screen (with too high a 
> resolution), and doesn't have a high enough battery life. 

Yup, same here. I have some hopes that the community produces some 
software that is good enough that I can use the phone for something, but 
otherwise, it's another item in box of things I can't use, but can't 
throw away either...





It's a
> wonderful dream, and I still hope someone realizes it. Furthermore, the 
> FOSS model triumphs again, in that, despite FIC not being "the one" to 
> produce a completely free phone, the next one to come along and try will 
> have a better starting position, with much more mature software to work 
> off of.


Not a phone, but have you been following qi-hardware, formed by some 
ex-Openmoko people?

http://www.qi-hardware.com/