
An Open Source Phone That’s Completely Unlocked, Hardware Too - dil8
http://www.fastcolabs.com/3021652/an-open-source-phone-thats-completely-unlocked-hardware-too
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jmillikin
According to [http://neo900.org/faq](http://neo900.org/faq), an assembled
device is expected to cost from €600 to €850. For that price you get a bunch
of obsolete[1] hardware packed into a case design so outdated it's still got a
physical keyboard.

Also from the FAQ, their goal is to manufacture somewhere around 200 devices.

[1] [http://neo900.org/specs](http://neo900.org/specs)

    
    
      * CPU: Texas Instruments DM3730, 1 GHz
      * RAM: 512 MB/1 GB
      * Storage: 1 GB NAND + SD card
      * Screen: 3.5" TFT, 800x480, resistive
      * OS: Debian GNU/Linux

~~~
pekk
Argue it's obsolete if you want, but it isn't progress to require me to use a
touchscreen with my giant fat fingers

~~~
justin66
Is using the keyboard with its tiny little buttons really that much better for
you? As someone who can touch type reasonably well I have always found both
the touchscreen virtual keyboard on my Android phones and the n900 physical
keyboard rather annoying.

~~~
chimeracoder
> Is using the keyboard with its tiny little buttons really that much better
> for you?

It's way, way better.

On my old Blackberry, I could type as fast as I could write by hand. (The
Blackberry didn't even do any form of auto-correction or text-prediction).

I don't even have very large fingers, but there's a huge benefit to having the
tactile feedback when typing quickly. Similarly, I'm dramatically slower on a
full-size touchscreen "keyboard" than on a physical keyboard.

Of course, this effect is more noticeable the faster you type. I notice it a
lot, because on a physical keyboard, I can theoretically type ~100 wpm[0]. In
practice, this means I end up typing as fast as I think (which is obviously
slower than 100wpm).

On a touchscreen "keyboard", I can't type as fast as I can think, and it's
incredibly frustrating to keep halting my train of thought so what's on the
screen can catch up.

[0] for a typing test, where I don't have to stop and think about what I'm
typing.

~~~
justin66
> Of course, this effect is more noticeable the faster you type.

I type pretty fast and I've never noticed it, so this seems like a very
subjective thing to me. I'm just trying to understand that point of view.

I would have to go back to the n900 and use it for a while to get a handle on
why I really never missed its keyboard much at all. It has been a while. The
only thing I remember missing is the ease of using modal keys versus the
android (Samsung, I suppose) touch keyboard app, where you have to shift to a
completely different keyboard to use symbols and then switch back when you're
done. I find that distracting.

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kunai
I'm still puzzled as to the manufacturing of these devices. Is the Neo900 just
updated internals in a refurbished N900 case, or is it actually a fully
manufactured phone based on the design of the N900?

~~~
wmf
It's a new mobo for an existing N900.

~~~
kunai
That's disappointing. I wish it had been an original venture, but with
Nokia's, and really every other OEM's massive patent warhead I guess we can't
expect these sorts of things anymore.

~~~
wmf
If you have the money I'm sure a desperate phone maker like ZTE, HTC, or LG
would be willing to build any phone you want.

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g8oz
Life inside the Matrix is pleasant isn't it?

~~~
wmf
I love this comment because there are two opposite but legitimate
interpretations: that N900 fanboys are living in the Matrix or that mainstream
Android/iOS users are stuck in the Matrix and haven't "woken up" to the
superiority of the N900.

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citrin_ru
I doubt it is fully open phone. At least soft, that works on baseband
processor probably closed. More about this problem:
[https://laforge.gnumonks.org/papers/gsm_phone-anatomy-
latest...](https://laforge.gnumonks.org/papers/gsm_phone-anatomy-latest.pdf)

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gwu78
This is beautiful. I'm not a Linux fan, but if I can get BSD to run on this,
it's instantly more powerful[1] than any "smartphone" I can buy.

1\. My definition of "powerful" includes IP forwarding and packet filtering.
iPhone could use one of these as a gateway.

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selectodude
For those who want a Nokia N900 and only want to pay $199, it's still on
Amazon.com.

[http://www.amazon.com/Nokia-N900-Unlocked-Computer-
Touchscre...](http://www.amazon.com/Nokia-N900-Unlocked-Computer-
Touchscreen/dp/B002QEBX5E/ref=pd_cp_cps_0)

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joenathan
I just get a blank grey page.

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milkandtang
"Smartphones only become obsolete because the manufacturers design them to."

…and hardware getting faster, new sensors, etc. This line is getting pretty
tired.

~~~
groups
I agree. In 2011 when I got my smartphone, I remember mobile websites being
simpler than they are today. My phone isn't as zippy, not because of planned
obsolescence, rather the internet has become more demanding in two years. It's
like PCs in the 90s. People used to complain about their PCs being obsolete in
six months. You don't hear that any more because PCs are fast enough.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
> _It 's like PCs in the 90s. People used to complain about their PCs being
> obsolete in six months. You don't hear that any more because PCs are fast
> enough._

Instead, you get people pining for the days when PCs were obsolete in six
months, "before consoles dumbed down PC development."

There's just no pleasing some folks.

~~~
TillE
While I don't understand people who scream for ever-fancier graphics year
after year, the previous generation of consoles did badly cripple PC game
development for one reason: their lack of memory.

As a quick illustration, look at the size of levels in Thief 1/2 vs Thief 3.
Or the seamless outdoor world of Morrowind, compared to the loading screens of
Oblivion and Skyrim. With just a little bit more RAM (say 1GB instead of
512MB), developers could've done so much more.

Instead, we've had a whole generation of 3D games in cramped and/or lifeless
worlds with simplistic gameplay. But hey, they're pretty. It wasn't always
thus.

