Shiny linux-based phone... The Neo Freerunner!

Zeroth · **Posted:** Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:37 am

I've bought this phone, the Neo Freerunner, and am just waiting for it to be shipped.

Features:
Entirely linux based
entirely open-sourced, even the wifi, gps, and gsm drivers.
2 3d accelerometers
2d/3d acceleration(think Doom 2 in 3d accelerated glory)
AGPS
Wifi (b/g)
Highly detailed touchscreen
Open hardware specs/details.

Its... pretty awesome. Anyone else have this, or wants this? Or, has something similar?

Unforgiven · **Posted:** Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:48 am

I hate cellphones, and commonly make fun of people paying through the nose for a little thing to call people.

...but holy crap that thing sounds awesome. Expensive (for a cell phone, by my standards), but awesome. From the sound of it, it's nearly a hand-held laptop, especially since you can even connect USB devices to it (a keyboard and mouse, maybe?).

wtd · **Posted:** Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:57 am

I don't see a price listed anywhere.

I am offended if only for this reason. Companies that make me click through several links to buy something online, then don't list a price anywhere... well, let's say I just don't wish them well.

Unforgiven · **Posted:** Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:21 pm

wtd @ Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:57 am wrote:

I don't see a price listed anywhere.

I am offended if only for this reason. Companies that make me click through several links to buy something online, then don't list a price anywhere... well, let's say I just don't wish them well.

Koolu (based in Mississauga) sells them for about $400 CAN

It's running linux, but is there a list of software specifically for it? I've never run linux on a handheld of any kind, so I'm not at all familiar with it. For example, I can't imagine using vim with a touchscreen.

Zeroth · **Posted:** Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:47 pm

They're not trying to "hide" the price wtd. Its an excellent company, spawned off from FIC, a Taiwan-based OEM hardware developer.

The phone is however, only for developers right now. It is usable as a phone, and new software is being added all the time.

Heres a great source of info: http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Main_Page

Contains lots of development info, as well as how to setup a development enviroment. A fair warning, it can take about 8 hours to do a full image creation the first time.

andrew. · **Posted:** Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:15 pm

That sounds very nice, even for $400 CAD. I hope that the Linux on there is as polished as Mac OS iPhone.

Zeroth · **Posted:** Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:41 pm

Not yet, but they are working on it, Andrew. They know there is a huge demand for it. Their target is vertical markets, like hospitals, schools, etc. By making it easy to modify, the hospitals can buy the phones, pay developers for custom software.

wtd · **Posted:** Tue Jul 22, 2008 6:00 pm

If they're not selling it to the general public, they should perhaps not have a link to where you can buy it. Smile

apomb · **Posted:** Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:40 am

I dont know about you guys, but that is one butt-ugly phone with limited functionality right now, I'll wait for a more polished version and more software functionality before even considering something like this.

md · **Posted:** Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:01 am

I'm kinda with apomb on this one; that phone is ugly as heck. And though it is open-source... it's still got a long way to go before it's a usable replacement for my current phone.

octopi · **Posted:** Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:48 am

Weird, I like how it looks, lol

Anything is better than the phone I have right now, its a Nokia 6080. I bought it for $60 after my iPhone stopped working (wouldn't sync, then software fucked up, and since it won't sync I can't fix it)

Zeroth · **Posted:** Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:02 pm

apomb @ Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:40 am wrote:

I dont know about you guys, but that is one butt-ugly phone with limited functionality right now, I'll wait for a more polished version and more software functionality before even considering something like this.

If you want it to get better, write an application for it, or improve one that already exists. There is a very active, organized community working on this, and its a great chance to contribute.

md · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:18 am

octopi @ 2008-07-23, 10:48 am wrote:

Weird, I like how it looks, lol

Anything is better than the phone I have right now, its a Nokia 6080. I bought it for $60 after my iPhone stopped working (wouldn't sync, then software fucked up, and since it won't sync I can't fix it)

Still got hte iPhone? I might buy it off ya...

Dan · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 5:12 am

I got an E-TEN gloFiish M700 a month or so ago, it has Wifi (b/g), GPS, FM radio, 2MP cam, Bluetooth, touch screen, full qwerty keybord, 128mb flash memory and 8gb sd card memory.

The down side to it is that shamefully it runs windows mobile OS, does not support 3g (only grps and edge) and is only 400mhz.

http://www.etencorp.com/products/Communication/m700.php

Aziz · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:30 am

I'll agree it's kindof ugly with half-circle ends. I'd prefer more square edges, even the iphone is a little round IMO.

Exactly how would you get service for this, who would support it?

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