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Introducing Neo900

neo900.org

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Re: Introducing Neo900

#41

Post by akr »

kristofferR wrote: post #15
regularfry wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

Because it is using a blurry and resistive (barely responsive to finger touch) monitor, making the experience of using the device way worse than the modern High PPI monitors used in other mobile devices on the market today. The use of the term "TFT Display" is also a sign that they're not using any of the more modern types of panels like IPS. If they did they would have said so.

That is simply not true in my experience. The N900 screen is neither blurry nor barely responsive to finger touch. But the hardware is / was not the most interesting point about the N900 anyway.

Re: Introducing Neo900

#42

Post by leokun »

programminggeek wrote: post #10

It looks thick. I don't know why, but it makes me not at all interested. Also, what was so special about the N900 and is that relevant in the market today? I'm genuinely curious, I don't know much about the N900.

> It looks thick.

It does. It looks like it's the phone equivalent of a bathtub. With the cover closed, it appears it will be a brick. I think that box protrusion around the headset jack input on the side is thicker than some of the more recent smartphones.

You would really have to like OpenMoko to carry around a giant smartphone with no apps and no support with probably an old browser. I also imagine the antenna will be poor and the battery life awful and the UI stuttering.

Re: Introducing Neo900

#43

Post by zokier »

ekianjo wrote: post #28
vidarh wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My current phone is 4.7", capacitive, with 1280x720. My next phone will likely be 5" or more, with 1920x1080. The perceived improvement in readability etc. in going up my current phone was fantastic - I've pretty much stopped using my tablets because I can now comfortably do so much more on my phone. Using a phone that small with a resolution that horrible would be like being forced to wear glasses with mud smeared a…

What an exaggeration. I have a device with the same resolution 800*480 as well as a Galaxy S3 with much higher pixel per inch resolution, and honestly I don't see much difference and both are very comfortable to use. That's marketing effect at work.

Especially with such a small display. 800x480 at 3.5" screen is 266 PPI, the parents 720p at 4.7" is 312 PPI, only 17% more.

Re: Introducing Neo900

#44

Post by ekianjo »

npsimons wrote: post #38
ekianjo wrote: post #25

The Open Pandora 1Ghz has the same hardware, and is already very much open as well, and has a better keyboard and a lot of software already available. It can run Android and Slackware, Bodhi linux, Debian and so on, in a pocket size format. The only difference with the Neo900 is that it's not a phone.

The only difference with the Neo900 is that it's not a phone. And that, right there, can make all the difference. Some of us don't want to carry a separate phone and pocket computer. Believe it or not, there are still some places in the world that aren't blanketed with WiFi. Kudos for posting another awesome open alternative, however (even though it could have used a link; but Google turns it up right quick).

http://www.openpandora.org if anyone else wants a link :) Note that this page tends to make it look more like a emulator machine than anything else, but it's really a full mini-Linux computer, that runs Firefox, LibreOffice and all the famous software you can expect from such kind of environment.

Re: Introducing Neo900

#45

Post by zokier »

leokun wrote: post #42
programminggeek wrote: post #10

It looks thick. I don't know why, but it makes me not at all interested. Also, what was so special about the N900 and is that relevant in the market today? I'm genuinely curious, I don't know much about the N900.

> It looks thick. It does. It looks like it's the phone equivalent of a bathtub. With the cover closed, it appears it will be a brick. I think that box protrusion around the headset jack input on the side is thicker than some of the more recent smartphones. You would really have to like OpenMoko to carry around a giant smartphone with no apps and no support with probably an old browser. I also imagine the antenna wil…

Yeah, it was a brick. I remember that my old semi-smartphone (well, I guess symbians would be classified as featurephones these days) would fit entirely underneath the screen when slid open

edit: I guess this answers the question quite nicely: http://i.imgur.com/CNxmvfB.jpg

Re: Introducing Neo900

#46

Post by akr »

For someone who is still using the N900 as his main phone this is a great development. Altough the Jolla phone promises an equally open stack it sadly lacks the harware keyboard.

Re: Introducing Neo900

#47

Post by npsimons »

simias wrote: post #37

Aren't most Android phone pretty open in practice? If you're able to rebuild your kernel then what's stopping your from tinkering with the hardware or installing whatever OS you want? The only closed bits remaining are the firmware blobs for certain IPs but is it really limiting? How many time did you think "man, I wish I could write a custom firmware for my GSM chip!". Not saying that it's not interesting "for the p…

This isn't for you; there, I've said it, and I'll add this: the market is large enough to accommodate things like this. Some of us like to tinker, all the way down to the bits in our hardware. Some of us like having a hardware keyboard, like having emacs in the palm of our hand, with all the power that implies. And we don't really care about high resolution capacitive displays.

Maybe it's not your ideal "everyday" phone; good for you for realizing that. I'll leave you to your locked down android (or (shudder) iPhone) on two year contract; I'd kindly request you treat us tinkerers/hackers in kind and leave us to our toys.

Re: Introducing Neo900

#49

Post by pre »

tromp wrote: post #3

I stopped reading at "3.5" TFT, 800x480, resistive"

Yep.

I still use my N900 most weeks coz it's the only video recording device I've ever owned that does anything like a half decent job of recording in the noise levels of my band's practice studio.

And the most annoying thing about it is the tiny touch screen.

Doubt I'd buy a phone without more pixels than that, and multi-touch these days.

Re: Introducing Neo900

#50

Post by nicholassmith »

jccalhoun wrote: post #40
nicholassmith wrote: post #36

I still really want a device like this, but married with a Psion. Clamshell, good keyboard, but with the modern trimmings of a high quality, accurate touchscreen and persistent 3G access. The Psion's were amazing, and I think a modern version would make a really, really interesting device. So this is close, but it needs a movable screen and a more Psion-like keyboard. Maybe I could hack together though.

I would like something like that too. I think there's a (probably small) market for a device that is about the size of a psion series 5 but perhaps with a more full size keyboard.

Yeah that Psion 5 Series was almost perfect. I do think there would be at least some market for it, but it's not likely to be a huge one anymore which is a shame.
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