OpenMoko for Mortals

OpenMoko Neo Freerunner Finally Available on July 4th

The FreeRunner is here! My current normal phone reports that I'm using GSM 850/1900 with AT&T. The FreeRunner supports this frequency band. My SIM card (63698 A 1002) is reported to be working so I just need to install it to have working voice. However, I'll need to add data service like PDA Personal for Internet access. I should be able to do all of this online (without talking to anybody) in five days for $400 + $30/month.

It comes with a 512M microSD card but 8G chips are ~$40.

What programs can you run? Using the OpenMoko Emulator (video) might be the best way to test the software. Note that qtopia has also been ported.

• Standard iPhone-like stuff
  1. Media Player (video)
  2. Web Browser (video)
  3. GPS (video)
  4. Kinetic scrolling
  5. Smart Keyboard
  6. E-mail
  7. YouTube
  8. Wikipedia
  9. Picture Viewer
  10. Alarm Clock
  11. Weather
• Innovative Stuff (that you may not have without Freedom):
  1. Voice/Text Encryption
  2. Mesh Networks
  3. Low Cost Calling
  4. SMS Mashups
  5. Audio Recorder
  6. Musical Instrument Tuner
  7. Python

Update: arstechnica has a nice overview.