[wellylug] Phones and Linux

Andrew Tarr andrewtarr at gmx.net
Sat Aug 15 19:03:38 NZST 2009


My elderly alcatel cellphone is in dire need of replacement, so I'm on
the hunt for a new phone. 

I don't really use my phone all that much.  I think I spend between $20
and $30 a month on average, so it's not worth taking up a plan - in
fact, I think I'll do well to move to 2degrees, looking at their
pricing.  

So the principal thing I want is the ability to backup contacts and
messages to my linux computer.  Calendaring I doubt I'll make much use
of at the moment but could conceivably be useful in the future.  Having
a decent SDK and therefore the possibility to install 3rd party apps or
even write stuff myself also sounds good, especially if it increases the
possibility of decent interfacing with Linux.  Other stuff I don't think
I care too much about - if I can get a camera too fine, but I'm not
going to want to pay a lot extra for it or compromise the features I'm
genuinely interested in.  I'm not very gadget-focused, I'm afraid. 

So far it seems that USB connectivity might be the most useful thing to
go for. 

Having said that, I do have an interest in supporting open standards,
open hardware, and free software, so I would be prepared to pay more to
support this, especially if it makes it more likely to interface well
with Linux and bring other benefits, such as the software platform
continuing to be supported after the hardware manufacturer has lost
interest in it. 

However, the two obvious contenders for open phone platforms don't look
like they'll work out for me, being a bit expensive and in the case of
the Openmoko one, potentially unreliable.   

Android looks great, but given my needs are modest I'm not going to
shell out over a grand for a phone - that seems to be about what DSE and
Vodafone are asking for an HTC Magic.  Pricespy indicates that one might
be able to purchase one for $800 or so, which is probably still beyond
my budget (although I haven't ruled it out entirely as yet).  There
seems to be an issue with getting root access to these devices, which
doesn't sound too open to me. 

Openmoko are selling their A6 model Neo Freerunner for $250 USD: 

http://us.direct.openmoko.com/products/neo-freerunner

 which at the moment looks like about $400 NZD, which I would find an
acceptable price for a phone of this sort.  However, this is the model
with an annoying buzz with some transmitters.  While apparently we don't
have such transmitters in NZ, that doesn't mean we won't one day, and I
could conceivably want to take the phone overseas.  They also appear to
be without any kind of warranty - they're basically offloading a faulty
product for cheap. 

The A7 looks like it will be more like the cost of the HTC Magic - $800
- $1000 

Also, these posts indicate that there's problems with the software: 
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=100&topicid=38703
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=100&topicid=32516

Also, also, OpenMoko seem to be walking away from the mobile market in
favour of 'Plan B', whatever that is: 

http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/openmoko-throws-everything-behind-plan-b

I actually think $800 is not at all unreasonable for a phone like this,
so long as the software is reliable, given it has built-in GPS. However,
I'm not particularly interested in GPS so for me it's probably too
pricey, and definitely so if I'm going to wind up with problems with the
software.  I want a phone that works, not a fun weekend hobby. 

As far as syncing software goes, Funambol seem to be offering an open
source SyncML server: 

 http://funambol.com/

It isn't clear to me which phones will work with this, however.  It
seems that SyncML is only a sort-of standard, with individual phones
having their own ideas of how to speak it? 

Anyone got any useful suggestions along phone lines? 

-Andrew.   





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