Openmoko FreeRunner now available

Posted Jun 25th 2008 8:50PM by Eliot Phillips
Filed under: cellphones hacks

Openmoko began selling Neo 1973 phones direct to developers last July. The phone is an open source project designed to ease development on mobile platforms. The Neo 1973 has since sold out, but a new Linux phone intended for the mass market has been released, the FreeRunner for ~$399. The screen is 640x480 with 3D acceleration and a 500MHz Samsung processor. The new phone has WiFi and 2.5G GSM support. It has some truly unique features like USB host mode support. You can find the differences between the two phones here. This new phone release should help strengthen the community since average users were discouraged from purchasing the original. Pictures of the phone's internals and a component diagram can be found on the Openmoko wiki. We wish more manufacturers would explicitly tell us how to get console access.

[via Slashdot]

Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. Gosh!! With that name who wants to use it. Don't people make basic research on names? Moko in Spanish (moco) is bugger!! Same happened to a car and to many other things... Do a research, for God's sake!

Posted at 9:03PM on Jun 25th 2008 by san

2. 400 MHz CPU according to their wiki..

Posted at 9:52PM on Jun 25th 2008 by Cross_

3. I would also argue that putting "1973" is a poor move. But the beast IS sexy...

Posted at 4:06AM on Jun 26th 2008 by Iv

4.
um this phone seems pretty 'in stock' here...
http://www.gp2xstore.com/Neo_1973_Base_Phone_p/012.htm

I discovered this phone about a year ago when looking to buy a gp2x
http://www.gp2xstore.com/Gp2x_F200_Handheld_Game_Console_p/002.htm
a cure for air plane/car ride boredom.
there is even a pitch...

http://www.gp2xstore.com/Neo_1973_Advanced_Phone_p/014.htm
"This Hacker's Dream Box is a heavy duty, mysterious black box that houses the OpenMoko development board. The Advanced kit is padded to protect your Neo 1973, development board, and accessories for hackers in transport."

Posted at 9:05AM on Jun 26th 2008 by kvmanii

5. "Available" in a manner of speaking. They just shipped to Indian and European distributors and they're coming soon for direct online sales. Soon, but you still can't just go buy a Freerunner.

Posted at 11:46AM on Jun 26th 2008 by freewheel

6. No hardware buttons / jog dial = FAIL.

Seriously, now I can't use it as a media player (no eyes-off track/volume control) or a text reader (have to put my finger in front of the stuff I'm trying to read to scroll)? What's wrong with these guys?

Posted at 11:55AM on Jun 27th 2008 by James

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry: inappropriate or purely promotional comments may be removed. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.