Comments on: Openmoko Neo Freerunner Review

By: Amit ABhishek

Amit ABhishek — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:45:22 +0000

My writing style is def. not fluid as yours . Your review is awesome and you did well to avoid any jargon bull$hit. Waiting for your views on Android.

By: pachai

pachai — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:14:59 +0000

Great Review! I have had my doubts,
based on some reviews, etc. that I saw.

One observation. A few times you
indicated that it can’t do something,
or there’s no way to do X.
I think you meant to add “yet”
at the end of those sentences.

remembering User’s preferred volume?
ought to be possible.

Here’s my killer app – for the future,
when it will be safe to let my wife
use one…..
“Navigate To…….MY WIFE”
“Navigate To…….MY KID!”
“Navigate To…….My Stolen Car!”

By: Robert Bieber

Robert Bieber — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:42:09 +0000

OM2008.8 is much better, feature-wise, but also very buggy. I’m hoping OM2008.9 will be a little better in that regard. Both 2008.8 and Qtopia (which I’m now using as my primary distribution) have working suspend/resume, though, which has done wonderful things for my battery life: now I can easily go a full day without a recharge. Qtopia is also much more responsive than any of the OM distributions, which I’m afraid may never change, as it’s probably just a byproduct of running just Qt, as opposed to Qt, GTK+, and an X server like Openmoko does…

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:22:44 +0000

I have been using linux for some time now. I am really excited for this phone. I am probably getting one in a month or so. I think though for the time being until a more stable version of the openmoko software is released I will be flashing Qtopia to the phone. just a question if I may. have you tried the OM 2008 software? how has this effected usage?

By: Robert Bieber

Robert Bieber — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:25:20 +0000

Bought mine direct, so I’m afraid I can’t comment on any retailer…

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:51:10 +0000

Where did you buy? I’m considering buying from koolu.com, but the website looks a little sketchy. They are listed as a distributor with Openmoko, so just curious if you can vouch for their legitimacy.

By: m4c

m4c — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:34:11 +0000

Nice review! Thx

By: Cesare

Cesare — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 19:20:29 +0000

Hi,
I have recently purchased the FreeRunner (neo). I love it, but I have problems on using the phone as a normal communication device. It is definitely a “toy” for the tinkerers at this point.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:18:41 +0000

As for interacting with the FreeRunner from Windows, it is possible.

To FLASH the phone from Windows, check out this page: http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Dfu-util-windows

To connect to your phone via SSH over USB networking, check out this page: http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Neo_1973_and_Windows, and you will need an SSH client such as PuTTy: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/ (or http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/putty_portable), and maybe an SCP client (like an FTP client, but secure) from http://winscp.net/eng/index.php, http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/winscp_portable, http://filezilla-project.org/, or http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/filezilla_portable

It is also possible to interact with the FreeRunner from MacOS X: http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/MacOS_X

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:26:57 +0000

Excellent review! I have been watching Openmoko for some time now and biding my time before my current wireless plan ends. I have had almost no luck finding useful reviews of the Freerunner since it released earlier this month; yours was a breath of fresh air. I’m a fairly experienced Linux user, so it’s good to know that my background should make the phone usable (some reviews would suggest otherwise). I have until November to make a decision and jump ship from Verizon so I have my fingers crossed for leaps-and-bounds upgrades to the software stack before then. Thanks for your well balanced, helpful review!

-Eric