Openmoko trainwreck (I’d rather use my old Nokia 2100)
I had an interesting discussion with a friend yesterday about mobile phones and he seemed to enjoy dissing me (in a playful way) for using an iPhone (hacked) and said I should take a look at the FreeRunner and even pointed me to the FSF piece on why one should avoid the iPhone. Now I’ve heard of the FreeRunner and the Openmoko and even took an interest over the said project (I am subscribed to a number of development lists). Now I must admit I got excited before when it came out and even considered on getting a development kit, but because of the delays and the seemingly cloudy road map of the said project, the momentum just waned for me and decided to go elsewhere. Still not convinced? Try watching this video by Dave Fayram.
So this is the phone the FSF wants me to use because my current one restricts my freedom. Now let’s imagine (in an Orwellian way) if the FreeRunner is the gold standard for mobile phones rather than the iPhone (I consider it the gold standard of the moment because of the copycats coming out). And watch the video again. Do you like what you see? If that’s the case, I’d rather just go back to using my old Nokia 2100 (which I unlocked myself) and wait for an Android handset or a handset running the upcoming open source offering by the Symbian Foundation.
Nice to know the OpenMoko phone is finally out. I was waiting for it for the last 2 years, and it finally faded out of my consciousness until I came across this post.
Excited, I went over to the OpenMoko site to see that it had been released. I went to the shop to see how much they were charging … and oh … out of stock. But they will have more stock on … oh … 25th June. But I could get one from a distributor perhaps? in … oh, India.
10 out of 10 for the idea. 2 out of 10 for the execution.
PS. I’m not about to get an iPhone either.
The openmoko phone will run Android once Google releases the source and someone ports it.
It’s also likely to run the Symbian platform once it’s opened up, and already runs the qtopia smart phone stack, and full linux distributions like Debian.
I agree that all (five or six) of the current operating system options have their share of problems, but things are still just getting off the ground.
@Daniel: I’d love to try it out when an Android port comes out. But until that happens, I’ll have to wait.
@JM: the iPhone is a great and groundbreaking device (in some areas), but certainly not for everyone. That’s why the handset market will still thrive.