Hasta La Gadget!

OpenMoko executive director Sean Moss-Pulz has announced at OpenExpo in Switzerland
that the company will be discontinuing its open-source Neo FreeRunner smartphone, according to Slashdot. Moss-Pulz also plans to reduce the number of staffers in order to stay in business supporting the existing units sold, and “hopes the
community will support the FreeRunner.”

This is a sad but unsurprising end for the OpenMoko phone. When we first saw it at PC Mag headquarters a couple of years ago, it showed tremendous potential. OpenMoko looked to be a way to give developers–and therefore, end users–much more control over the software running on cell phones, and therefore reduce the tight grip that wireless carriers exercised on mobile OS platforms.

Since that time, though, we’ve seen all of the carriers make overtures toward more open environments. Plus, the iPhone, Google Android, and other efforts have brought smartphone apps more into the mainstream, leaving OpenMoko less and less room to maneuver. And all of the usual caveats about open-source development applied–meaning, corralling the necessary resources and just getting the damn handset finished. Unfortunately, it all came together too late for OpenMoko.

While the shortly flaunted N83 never did amount to anything back in the day, we can safely say the device you see above is definitely not what the suits in Espoo had in mind. The touchscreen-based smartphone looks about as thick as an N95, though we can’t recall ever seeing a flavor of Symbian look anything like this. If you care to know, the phone sports a 400 x 240 resolution panel, 0.3 megapixel camera (ha!), dual SIM card slots, Bluetooth, FM radio module, about two to three hours of talk time and a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack. But hey, it’s only a buck ‘o five off-contract, or exactly the price of freedom according to certain puppets.

[Thanks, facelessloser]

Filed under: Cellphones

Keepin’ it real fake, part CXCIV: Nokia N83 is not a Nokia N83 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Mar 2009 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And now, the best use of a BlackBerry Storm I have seen to date: Lewis Hamilton, the British Formula One driver, appears in a YouTube video controlling his F1 car remotely with Research in Motion’s touchscreen smartphone.

Here’s the backstory: A couple of Vodafone subscribers in the UK hacked a BlackBerry Storm to race a toy R/C F1 car around a homemade track. That’s what appears in the first minute or so of the video. The Storm’s built-in accelerometer lets them steer the car by tiling the phone back and forth, while acceleration and braking is controlled with buttons on the phone’s touch screen, according to Autoblog.

Once word got out and Team McLaren heard about it, they invited the fellows to the McLaren Mercedes garage, where they adapted the control system to a real F1 car. “Hilarity ensues when Hamilton himself takes the car out on the track, sans driver, and does a lap behind the wheel of the Blackberry Storm,” the report said. (Video after the break.)

Talk about declaring a price war: MetroPCS has launched their first BlackBerry Curve 8330 smartphone with an unlimited rate plan. The $50 personal rate plan includes unlimited talk, text, web browsing, MMS and BlackBerry email access through BlackBerry Internet Service, while an extra $10 gets you the BlackBerry Enterprise Server version.

That means it’s the first smart phone from the Cricket, Metro, and Boost Mobile unlimited, no-contract group, and the price is fully half of what Sprint is charging for the same thing via their Simply Everything plan—which was a good deal until about 13 seconds ago.

There’s always a catch, although this one is geography-related: the MetroPCS Curve is only available in the older 1900 Mhz MetroPCS markets, not the many newer 1700 Mhz markets. That means NYC, Boston, and Philadelphia are out for now. And to be fair, Sprint is throwing in its optional services, like GPS navigation and mobile TV, although you have no choice but to take them.

Regardless, the MetroPCS BlackBerry Curve 8330 will be available at Best Buy stores beginning today in the following areas: Greater Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento. By the end of the month, the phone will also be in MetroPCS stores. Go get ’em. (Release)

It’s not the first Swiss watchmaker to decide to get into the phone game, but Ulysse Nardin’s upcoming Chairman could very well take both the “most like a watch” and “most insanely badass” crowns when it’s officially unveiled at Baselworld later this month. Billed as a “hybrid smart phone,” the handset — which, we assure you, you can’t afford — will incorporate a visible, fully-functional kinetic rotor that will apparently assist in providing power, just like you might find in a mechanical wristwatch. Beyond that, we know that it’ll be unlocked, will be limited to just 1,846 pieces, and that Vertu should be feeling the heat right about now. Look for full details around March 26 when Baselworld kicks off, so in the meantime, get to work selling your car, your home, your children, and your soul, but not necessarily in that order. Depends on how deeply you love your car.

[Via Hodinkee and Timezone]

Continue reading Ulysse Nardin’s Chairman is the steampunk Prius of phones

Filed under: Cellphones

Ulysse Nardin’s Chairman is the steampunk Prius of phones originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Mar 2009 01:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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