First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973 - Gizmodo Comments

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

AntonDvorak — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 02:29:06 EDT

An iPhone with a Dvorak keyboard? Count me in. Just don't "approve me;" how nauseating.

AntonDvorak

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

agbortol — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 19:41:52 EDT

I've read several comments here and at other sites bemoaning the shape of the device. While I agree that it does look childish, the rounded corners have two major advantages in real world use.

They will prevent your phone from slowly rubbing holes in your pants (I can see the "imprint" of my phone on the outside of my pants after about a year). The rounded edge will greatly slow this process down.

And when your phone is in your pocket, and you are in your car, how many times have you missed a call because the edges of the phone (not to mention the external antenna nub!) get snagged on the rim of your pocket?

Not sure if the design team had those kinds of issues in mind, but I didn't even think of them as soluble problems until I saw this device.

agbortol

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

matt buchanan — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 20:20:52 EST

K7AAY: Mr. Moss-Pultz said they can do a CDMA version if they get a carrier, though for the time being it is GSM only. In terms of likely carriers, likelihood in this context refers to their possible receptiveness to an open phone, at least as Mr. Moss-Pultz sees it.

matt buchanan

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

izzyd3434 — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 15:28:44 EST

I had seen photos on another site they didn't look real to me....so it is good to see that the device actually exists. I just wish that we could get a review from someone who has got to use the phone for a few weeks. I'm looking forward to it and glad that it is releasing before the iphone.

John
http://www.monomachines.com

izzyd3434

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

K7AAY — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 23:17:52 EST

> Given the generally closed systems that
> Verizon and Cingular favor, the biggest
> hope seems to lie with Sprint and T-Mobile
> for U.S. carriers.

Bzzt! WRONG. Is there a proof checker in the house?

Cingular uses GSM as does T-Mobile and Cingular plans to phase out 800MHz in favor of PCS (1900MHz).

Sprint, like Verizon, is a CDMA carrier.

K7AAY

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

whiskey — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 20:55:37 EST

Sum: Sounds interesting, although it seems a bit pathetic, trying to position it against the iPhone.

Not if you take into account the next question: Will the iPhone play Doom?

whiskey

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

bitfactory — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 19:54:44 EST

We'll see where they end up. As of right now that thing is f'ing ugly - and a design nightmare with those curved end pieces. Put all those features in a regular candybar and you've got a winner. Don't try to product design, too - it ain't working so far.

bitfactory

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

StackyBotrus — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:07:55 EST

Id buy that for a dollar.

StackyBotrus

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

Monty — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 12:05:42 EST

Is that a (gasp) replacable battery? You mean someone figured out that 4 hours of talk time on the iPhone might require the ability to swap out the battery? Genius!

Monty

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

jmdecombe — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 11:20:07 EST

The form factor is not great with the round top and bottom. Not only does it look like some kind of baby monitoring device but it's not gonna be very convenient to keep in your pocket, in your car, etc.

The openness is the cool part, which will limit its market to ultrageeks but it's still cool. Nothing wrong with that. Apple is already coming up with all sorts of lame reasons why they want to keep it close (like... the carriers don't want geeks to mess with their infrastructure, blah blah).

jmdecombe

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

Amby — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 11:12:10 EST

Ubiquitous Computing: functions, which I can ALREADY use today! I use automatic profile switching based on cell information (it's not perfectly accurate outside, but works better in buildings than GPS) and also Calendar information (meeting/pager/silent profile during meetings, outdoor on the metro etc.).

It works on Nokia phones, but I guess other Symbian/non-symbian phones also. The "presence" based functions (availability, office, meeting, etc) are also enabled in Nokia phones (for a year or two now!)

Sum: Sounds interesting, although it seems a bit pathetic, trying to position it against the iPhone.

Amby

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

jermjerm — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 11:07:07 EST

Gotta remember, this is the developer's phone. By the time they are ready for mass market, the phone will probably have double the power and half the thickness... at least we can only hope.

Also, I am pretty sure Sprint, like Verizon, puts their own Sprint OS on their phones now. At least that's what I saw when I sold cell phones this last holiday season.

jermjerm

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

weatherman — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 10:19:01 EST

Just what I wanted the iPhone to be. Maybe a little on the chunky side though. I'll buy one, if it's real.

weatherman

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

EMoShunz — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 09:57:48 EST

Its a great start. As it is price to feature it's better than the iPhone. It all starts somewhere.

EMoShunz

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

qwertypoet — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 09:43:46 EST

OpenMoko Neo1973, from the people who gave you the command line.

qwertypoet

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

bourgeoisie — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 09:18:46 EST

PS the specs don't seem really anything to get excited over either..?

bourgeoisie

First Look: the Anti-iPhone, OpenMoko's Neo1973

bourgeoisie — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 09:16:18 EST

Very cool but could that time frame be a little far out? Surely another manufacturer will release a linux powered smartphone and then the linux community will pretty much take over from there as far as apps, right?

Forgive me if that's naive...

bourgeoisie