Bobby

Dallas

Software engineer

I can't believe you talk about "open phones" and totally skip FIC's Neo phones running Openmoko!

I own a Neo 1973, so I can speak pretty confidently when I say you can buy an open phone right now. Trolltech quit manufacturing the Greenphone when the Neo came out, because it fills the role of an open developer friendly phone.

The firmware for the GSM is closed, but I believe that's a legal requirement in most areas.

The Neo 1973 & Neo FreeRunner are linux ARM computers with full GPS, bluetooth, GSM/GPRS, USB (client & unpowered host) and 480 x 640 touchscreens. The FreeRunner also has two accelerometers and wi-fi. You can only buy the Neo 1973 used now, since FIC is gearing up production lines for the FreeRunner, available in March or April. Unfortunately, the software won't be end-user ready at that time :-( but my neo works fine as my primary cell phone now, so if you're a developer interested in an open phone, you're crazy not to buy one.

You can (of course) play video, music, and run PDA apps on the devices. You can also view PDFs and the web, use bluetooth keyboards (or bluetooth anything else, for that matter), or do anything that you or someone else cares to port from the desktop, assuming the hardware resources are sufficient.

I've been playing with my Neo 1973 (currently recommended only for people willing to debug, and tolerate alpha level software) for a few weeks, and I'm having a great time with it.

Not only the software is open - you can get CAD files for the case, and schematics as well. There are also i2c, etc. bus standards used so adding new hardware is easy as well, if you're so inclined. Obviously the real market there is for a cottage industry distributing neos with extra hardware built-in, but the hobbyist can experiment at home, too.