Android vs. OpenMoko: Who Will Win?

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Android vs. OpenMoko: Who Will Win?

Last week Google announced Android, which is the newest open-source mobile phone platform. Google is not the only company behind Android but several companies make up the Open Handset Alliance.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=NjE5Mg

[[Rui]]

Android looks like it will carry lots of proprietary software as important dependencies. That doesn't seem right for me, so I'm definitely aiming to get an OpenMoko, which is 100% Free Software.

This is not an "Apache" vs "GPL" thing, both are fine licenses. Just take a look at the hardware companies involved in Android. Which of them have been *really* friendly towards Free Software?

BTW, the article is wrong, OpenMoko isn't GPL, it's Lesser GPL and GPL, depending on wether you're talking about libraries or applications, broadly speaking.

Proprietary applications can be written with the OpenMoko SDK just as much as with Android's, the only difference being that you won't get an OpenMoko phone that has been loked down, or with proprietary components.

Even GPS is made on a separate chip which can talk by serial interface, allowing Free Software drivers to work.

[montgoss]

OpenMoko isn't limited to the Neo1973. See this wiki page for supported hardware: http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Supported_Hardware

The article also says that Qtopia only runs on the GreenPhone. That's not true. They've got Qtopia running on the Neo1973 (GTA01) as well.

[Radon]

The beauty of open-source means that the device is only limited by the imagination. What has really convinced me to buy the Neo on the 20'th December is the Wishlist .

Hopefully they are able to send it to Poland before the new year!

[koolmanoncampus]

I am surprised NVIDIA got involved. More surprised that qualcomm is(they did CDMA). However qualcomm and verizon are pretty close buddies; so that may allow the platform to be adopted by verizon faster. It will obviously be adopted by Sprint & T-Mobile; they are involved in the project. But if Verizon allows the phone platform on their network it would be a huge step. It would also increase adoption.

It'd be epic to see Apple fail with the iPhone after so much hype.
Like if you think about it, android or openmoko are way better than the iPhone in the sense it is not hardware dependent. It would allow for a ton of innovation across carriers & phones. Apple make the same mistake twice? Unheard of.

Personally I see Android getting adopted better/faster than openmoko. Which is unfortunate due to the lack of 100% free software. However if that small fraction of non-free software allows vendors to adopt this technology it'd be much better than the complete lack of adoption of any free software. Who knows someday maybe those non-free dependencies would be eliminated; like what redhat is doing with Sun on openJDK/IcedTea.

[Svartalf]

Personally I see Android getting adopted better/faster than openmoko. Which is unfortunate due to the lack of 100% free software. However if that small fraction of non-free software allows vendors to adopt this technology it'd be much better than the complete lack of adoption of any free software. Who knows someday maybe those non-free dependencies would be eliminated; like what redhat is doing with Sun on openJDK/IcedTea.

I'm not 100% sure what'll get out there more- what you say is true, for Verizon, Sprint, MetroPCS and a few other CDMA based services.

CDMA doesn't DO SIM cards. Verizon likes that because they can control everything and extract more money out of you that way (and if you think it's for network security, etc. you'd be mistaken...).

On the other hand, you CAN use OpenMoko in Europe, Asia, and in the states with AT&T and T-Mobile. With a SIM card, most GSM phones (OpenMoko) just work on the service the SIM is associated with. This means that if I had AT&T service, there's NOTHING they can say or do about me using an "unapproved" phone as long as it complies with the GSM specs.

And then there's Sprint rolling out a 4G service network using WiMax. If they succeed, you could be using something using Maemo to make VoIP calls with. They've already stated that something along the lines of an N810 will be in the lineup for Sprint's official rollout of the service. It'll be difficult to say whether the other wireless service players will follow suit, but it's compelling if you consider that Sprint will eventually end up with nearly the same coverage as AT&T and Verizon on their Cell networks with less gear and less expense.

It's going to be interesting, whatever happens.