OpenMoko Schedule Announced

levell writes "The schedule for the OpenMoko, an open source, Linux-based Neo1973 smart phone was posted to the community mailing list by Sean Moss-Pultz this morning. On Feb 11, free phones will be sent to key community developers and the community websites/wiki/bug tracker will be available. Then on March 11 (the official developer launch) we'll be able to buy an OpenMoko for $350. After allowing some time for innovative, slick software to be created there will be a mass market launch at which point Sean hopes that 'your mom and dad will want one too.'"

Re:First open source mobile? I think not.

[Anonymous Coward]

And, for those of us with experience of using Trolltech's programming tools the Greenphone is a fantastic piece of kit.

Re:better interface?

[anagama]

I'm with you on this. At first I was really excited about the iPhone, and then details came out. This looks like real competition for the iPhone. I don't understand why there are so many negative comments. There are plenty of people who want a phone+computing device. Perhaps not as many as those who want a phone+ipod, but so what. And when you compare specs, this thing isn't bad at all. For example, the OM has a 640x480 resolution. The iPhone has 320x480. The iPhone has a larger built in memory capacity, but the OM will take memory cards and as we all know, they are continuously getting larger and cheaper. As I'm currently in the market for a replacement PDA and phone, I'm interested in the OM. The price isn't bad either.

Re:It's actually kind of obvious...

[imroy]

Forget the U.S. with its backward mix of cellphone networks. Most of the rest of the world uses GSM [coveragemaps.com], often with easy roaming. Put a SIM card into this phone and it will work almost anywhere across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, South America, or the Pacific.

Re:SSH?

[levell]

The Nintendo Wii seems to be doing okay (although there was a lot of discussion here when the name was announced), people seem to be able to get past a homonym if they like the product

Display *under* keypad

[KlaymenDK]

What's wrong with the interface? Describe one you think would be better, maybe someone will implement it.

Okay, I'll gladly bite! Here are a few pet peeves of mine:

For one, why does the display always have to be 'on top of' the keypad? You have to hold the thing with both hands, or nearly drop the phone while reaching for the * 0 # keys. Instead, flip it around so the display is *below* the keypad. Go on,try it with your own phone, right now (just ignore for now that your keys will be upside down):
-- One-handed typing will be much easier, as you can hold onto the phone more firmly while typing. Also note how the 'thigh' of your thumb will not obscure the display.
-- Two-handed speed-texting will be much more 'private' because your thumb's thighs will keep your display hidden from everyone but you (the teens will love this!).

For another, who the hell decided that a phone's keypad should be the inverse of a standard numeric keypad??!? That's just plain daft! Not so long ago, some phones were one way, some the other; but then some moron decided that the One True Way was NOT the way of every single keyboard. What?!?! That makes no sense!

How about that? Who will be the first to implement that? And, will they be able to patent it, now that it's described here?

Small phones are no use...

[Simon Brooke]

The dimensions of the device break the interface: it's 120.7 x 62 x 18.7 mm -- 4.5" x 2.25" x 2/3". The thing if a FREAKING BRICK.

Small phones are no use if you want to do anything interesting with them. If you only want to phone your girlfriend, then fine, get a totty little device. But if you want to present or work with data it's useless. And increasingly as we move into location-aware, network connected devices there is a huge number of applications which just weren't possible before. I've moved from a Sony-Ericsson P910i to a Hewlett Packard IPAQ 6515 - the Sony-Ericson is bigger than OpenMoko, the IPAQ a lot bigger. Why? Because to run real applications you need more screen real estate (and the IPAQ has built-in GPS, which I need for the applications I'm building, but so does OpenMoko). 640x480 pixels is great news. Open API is even better news. I will definitely be playing with one of these, and soon.