I will be watching this device with great interest...


}:^)~
YARR!

WEEEEE!

There appears to be a video titled "OpenMoko UI Train wreck"
http://www.vimeo.com/1366042

The wireless card is a Atheros chipset but does not support monitor mode....

OMG! How low can this sect go? Do they really need a half-baked device made for a niche market of free software enthusiasts and developers to show off that their jesusPhone has a bigger one?

EDIT:
keyboard. bigger keyboard.

i was not aware that the freerunner shipped with 2007.2 and not ASU as the default firmware...

I think this is a device with a lot of promise, but a loooong way to go. I have one right now, but unfortunately I also have a Nokia N95 8GB.

I dig the open-source-ness of this thing, but this seems to cripple the device as well. App development is slow. Heck, the UI framework development is even slow (and changing). For example, the only way to configure the device is to (a) set up USB networking and (b) use the commandline and gconftool. There is no configuration/settings app. The only way it comes close to my N95 is that I can use it as a phone.

I know that this is a young platform and that an open source phone is very cool, but for Openmoko to survive against the phone biggies, it's gotta develop fast and have an interface that at least comes close to popular phones. It does not feel like open source is going to make that happen.

the big diff is that what we see in the open with the openmoko is what goes on hidden in the phone corps.

hell, most phone corps keep slapping on the same old os with minor tweaks on new products. a os that have been around for years and years.

I agree. However, concepts -- like openness and freedom and liberty -- don't sell phones or devices. Implementations do. I worry a lot that, while open source is a great thing, it's going die unless commercial companies work like Nokia has -- to lead with semi-open software and let developers work the rest.

it seems to sell good enough, for now.

problem is that the press made it out to be a ready phone for the masses, while openmoko planned it as a upgraded neo for developers and enthusiasts. or at least thats the impression im getting these days.

basically, its a similar product to what bug labs are selling.

The press weren't the only people that made it out to be ready for mass market. I believe the openmoko's roadmap slated a consumer ready device to be ready by the Spring of this year...