OpenMoko
I thought I'd dork around a little bit with recording videos featuring the Neo1973, running OpenMoko. This video is running an older version of OpenMoko (2007.1) so it isn't current. It's also worth noting, to use the phone, you don't have to do a full shutdown and bootup, you should really only ever need to do either if you're a developer, or when you first receive the phone.
Hello Moko.
I bit the bullet last thursday and started playing with some of the 2007.2 OpenMoko snapshot images, 2007.2 denoting the next iteration of the software. Whereas my previous photos were from 2007.1, the interface was a bit weak, and wasn't much to be proud of. The direction that the interface is now heading in is not only sleek, but much more usable. One of the most important changes, in my opinion, is the addition of acceleration-incluenced scrolling throughout the interface. The new scrolling allows you to do a quick swipe with your finger and have the interface scroll quickly and then slow to a stop, as if your scroll had momentum behind it.
OpenMoko Boot screen
2007.1 |
2007.2 |
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I'm not going to try to explain too much here, but I received my Neo 1973, the OpenMoko-based Smart phone today. While it's a developer preview, it's incredibly exciting. So far I've been able to use my Cingular SIM card, if you use AT&T/Cingular, you can check if yours is supported on the wiki. I can run the general built in suite of applications without too much trouble, I also made a phone call, which worked! Unfortunately however the latest build that I have on my Neo doesn't have sound properly working, which sagacis from the #openmoko channel on Freenode is helping me with currently. I'm a bit over-excited so I'll let the images do the rest of the talking for me.
Meet OpenMoko
Some Assembly Required
My RT ticket #3824 was finally filled late last week, so I should be receiving my OpenMoko-based (developer preview) mobile phone sometime in the next couple days.
As far as getting Mono functional on top of the device, it seems that the OpenEmbedded project and their BitBake build tool.
I'm wondering how easy the device will be to develop for in terms of getting Mono, IronPython, etc running on top of it, but if it really is the fully-featured Linux-based phone it's reported to be, this could turn out to be lots of fun (regardless of whether or not I can actually use it as a replacement for my miserable Cingular phone).
I've already ordered my OpenMoko-based phone already and anxiously await its arrival to the U.S. from FIC. The first order of business will of course to see if I can use it as a real phone, which I'm not holding out for since it's very obviously both beta hardware and software. More importantly however, I'm very excited at the idea of getting Mono running on the mobile, Linux/arm-based device.
In the meantime, I've been playing around with the OpenMoko platform inside of the QEMU-arm emulator. Enjoy :)
Meet OpenMoko
