lee jones wrote: > If there is to be any sort of nanonote successor Alas, the group of people who would be interested from the technical side, and the group of people who'd say "oh, that's a great idea, let me find the money to make it happen" (and then actually do so) don't seem to reach each other, let alone intersect.
Also, crowdfunding is more oriented towards production than towards R&D, so that's not really an option for setting up a "from scratch" development process. > It's really hard (if not impossible) to find a open/free phone to use! Well, if you don't mind going retro, you could probably still snatch up some Openmoko FreeRunner :-) As far as "open by design" is concerned, the Neo900 is probably the best contemporary choice all around. It also has the benefit of coming with a proven set of applications. For Firefox OS, you seem to have two paths: 1) run on an Android kernel, so the kernel would be as open or closed as whatever you can find for Android, and 2) a "native" port. Don't know the technical details of the latter. > Plus firefox os > supports advertising (*yuk*) and "in-app" advertising (*double-yuk*). No sources for user space ? I'd find that a bit surprising, given the origin. > Not sure about ubuntu touch No idea what to expect from Ubuntu either. If you choose an Android route, you should at least try to find something that can run Cyanogenmod. I think that a good rule of thumb would be that the more the Replicant project likes a device, the more likely it is to have good and durable Cyanogenmod support. > maybe now we need a freedomphone? Could that be an idea? If you're in shape to build a phone from scratch, godspeed to you ! ;-) If you want to start a bit more slowly and spend a bit less, say, just a few tens or hundreds of kUSD/kEUR/kGBP/etc., instead of millions, you may want to consider investing into eliminating some of the external dependencies Neo900 still has, e.g., by designing and manufacturing a case, keyboard, display module, etc. :) They may also have some use for help with replacing some of the closed source that is still part of the N900 legacy. > Just a thought though. Was just thinking aloud -- maybe the successor > of nanonote dosen't have to be a clamshell type device. I'd say the keyboard is its key differentiator (and a clamshell has advantages over a sliding design). Else, you could just get a cheap smartphone that has halfway decent Cyanogenmod support and ignore the telephony part. > Incentally FYI in the end I *downgraded* my phone to an older non-smartphone! Yeah, my current phone is the technologically least exciting I've ever had as well. My hopes are on the Neo900. Ironically, it'll even pass as "super compact" in today's world of phat-phones ... - Werner _______________________________________________ Qi Hardware Discussion List Mail to list (members only): [email protected] Subscribe or Unsubscribe: http://lists.en.qi-hardware.com/mailman/listinfo/discussion
