Open Source in Mobile Phones

[MetalheadGautham]

I thought I can start a thread dedicated to open source adaptation in mobile phones. While Desktops and Laptops with distros are waaaay too common, linux has been making great entrances into the just emerging nanobook/umpc platform. But in mobiles, its alwats been an up and down story, since buyers are almost totally dependant on manufacturers to load a proper OS.

So far we have seen three cool mainstream phone platforms - the MotoMing, the Palm OS and the yet to release ANDROID.

Then comes OpenMoko which is a totally unique mobile phone with both OSS hardware and software.

Moto ROKR E6 is perhaps the most noticable linux mobile, since its relatively cheap compared to other linux mobiles and flaunts features like ability to play DOS games which make even BlackBerry users jelous *sometimes*.

Palm has based its latest platform on Linux, so most future Palm OS based devices will run linux.

So what do you say guys ? Shall we get a discussion going on this topic ?

[j1n M@tt]

ya gud move....

btw I like ANDROID and OpenMoko Freerunner the most

[MetalheadGautham]

whats the hardware specs of OpenMoko ? I heard its really awsssome...

[Pat]

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

whats the hardware specs of OpenMoko ? I heard its really awsssome...

http://www.openmoko.com/product.html

[Pathik]

You should mention LiMo and Maemo as well.

[j1n M@tt]

Neo FreeRunner's inner view......



if u know a little h/w modding, u can create a phone of ur dreams, apart from all those s/w modds...

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

whats the hardware specs of OpenMoko ? I heard its really awsssome...

• High resolution touch screen (1.7" x 2.27" - 43mm x 58mm) 480x640 pixels
• 128MB SDRAM memory
• Internal GPS module for map and tracking programs
• Bluetooth for local data exchange

• 802.11 b/g WiFi
• 400Mhz processor (up from 266MHz)
• 2 3D accelerometers so that the phone can know its orientation for example switching to landscape mode automatically
• 2 LEDs illuminating the two buttons on the rim of the case (one bi color [blue|orange] behind the power button, 1 uni color [red] behind the aux button)
• Tri-band GSM and GPRS for North America (850/1800/1900 Mhz) and the rest of the world (900/1800/1900 Mhz)
• USB Host function with 500mA power allowing you to power USB devices for short periods

Physical appearance is almost the same as the Neo1973.

Source:

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by Pathik

You should mention LiMo and Maemo as well.

what-mo ?

[Dark Star]

Marmo = Nokia Project for its Internet Tablet
Limo = http://www.limofoundation.org/

[praka123]

N810 = Debian Sarge with busybox small footprint.
available for Rs25K AFAIK.

[aditya_v]

Android is being speculated to be dead, since no update has come for a long time on it and developers are loosing interest fast.

However, MID devices are going full steam, backed by Intel Open Source division and the top-of-line ATOM processor, these devices in current form can play UT2004 at high! They have already gathered support in industry and are lookin at q4 2008, q1 2009 release time.(www.moblin.org)
There are also quite a number of other projects there, check the community section ( they are putting ATOM in every possible corner )