OpenMoko is a GNU / Linux based open software development platform. The OpenMoko NEO1973 is actually the world’s first freed Linux-based smartphone.
The Neo 1973 Smartphone has a 2.8″ VGA TFT color display touchscreen usable with stylus or fingers. It offers a Bluetooth 2.0, Micro SD slot, high quality audio codec and more.
This OpenMoko Smartphone has a subtle retro look lurking behind a sleek modern design. The hardware and software have been specifically designed with openness and ease of developer-access, inviting developers imagination to participate and make suggestions.
Dont forget, the OpenMoko NEO1973 Smartphone runs totally on free software. OpenMoko will give away free phones to selected members of the developer community, while making the full source code to the product publicly available.
“For the core team pushing this project, an open phone is not really even a product. It’s the very embodiment of their vision of technology. They absolutely, passionately, believe that something as fundamental to our lives as the mobile phone must be opened.”
The time has come to “Free Your Phone”.
As an Industrial Designer I felt a little envy of the Open Source community of programmers when I first discovered the Neo 1973. I had just found a new attitude as well as a device that promised to cure all the problems of current handheld communications/computing devices; yet the only way I could be part of this new “ubiquitous computing†frontier would be as an early adopter or beta tester.
Since the CAD files for the first model have become available I now feel I can contribute to the Open Community myself and have as much fun as the programmers have had with the OS and applications, but with the device (I resist to call it just a phone) shape itself!
My first contribution to OpenMoko’s initiative is also possibly what most users would buy right after the phone itself; a flexible skin that fits snugly the Neo’s outer surfaces and provides a rugged feeling to either the Neo 1973 or the upcoming Freerunner (they share the same outer geometry).
I have added a new section to my website where you can view all my future concepts and accessories for any OpenMoko powered device as well as download any 3D CAD files and graphics I used to create the projects themselves under the Creative Commons license. Anyone is welcome to download actual CNC machinable Class “A†surfaces for the NeoSkin project as well as any other accessory or case design I come up for the Neos.
Best Regards,
Guillermo Sureda-Burgos | http://www.sureda.org