[LUGSB] Ars.Technica OpenMoko review

[Ilya Sukhanov (dotCOMmie)]

Chris Wright wrote:
> There are three images for openmoko: the 2007.2 image (and its
> successors, the ScaredyCat line), the ASU (which includes Qtopia), and
> the FSO (Free Smartphone Organization). All of them are capable of
> making phone calls. The FSO image is only capable of making calls (and
> Milestone 1 was only released a few weeks ago).
> 
> For text messaging, there's a console app and a python/gtk wrapper
> around that console app. I'm not sure if the Qtopia stuff in ASU can
> handle that, but it probably can, and in a more integrated and pretty
> way.
> 
> As for coverage, you can use it with any GSM network. There are two
> tri-band varieties (850/1800/1900 and 900/1800/1900), so you should be
> able to use either one in most places in the US and Europe, though
> you'd have to go through AT&T or T-Mobil in the US. I'm not sure how
> good the GSM receiver in the Freerunner is compared to other phones.

I didn't realize they were actually tri-band.

> One of the more pressing issues is battery life. Since suspend is not
> working very well, the Freerunner's CPU is always active, which
> reduces the battery life to roughly 20 hours idle. However, there has
> been progress on this front, and the Freerunner should have similar
> battery life to other smartphones eventually.

I recall reading a while back that in suspend mode its supposed (according to
design) to halt pretty much everything but the GSM chip -- which sends
interrupts on incoming calls. So the issues they are having now are purely software?

> Additionally, there have been reports that some SIM cards do not work
> with the Freerunner. There are no correlations to manufacturer or
> network, though, and getting a new SIM card usually helps.

For a list of which work follow this link http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Carriers#USA

> ...

Thanks for the info.