[GTA04] When is the next and more powerful openmoko releasing

[Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller]

Am 26.10.2010 um 16:52 schrieb Ed Kapitein:

> On 10/26/2010 03:17 PM, W. B. Kranendonk wrote:
>> 
>> --- On Tue, 10/26/10, Andreas Fischer <cyberfrag at gmx.net> wrote:
>>> On 26.10.2010 12:14, Dr. H. Nikolaus
>>> Schaller wrote:
>>> 
>>>> How many new cases would you and your friends buy if
>>> it costs:
>>>> * 20 EUR
>>>> * 50 EUR
>>>> * 100 EUR
>>>> * 200 EUR
>>> (...) 20 Euros is
>>> a no-brainer (...)
>>> 50 Euros still sound ok to me. Anything above 100 Euros
>>> seems to be a
>>> bit steep for me.
>> I agree on the 20 and 50 euro options, when talking just about the case. When talking about (fictive) 350E for a complete phone, that seems OK if you don't know that it's 150 for electronics and 200 for the case.
>> 
>> Over 100E might be steep for only the case, but combined with the "foundation" idea Nikolaus launched it might get interesting: 
>> *  20 E
>> *  50 E
>> * 100 E and one share in the Opencase foundation
>> * 200 E and two shares in the Opencase foundation
>> or a similar scheme. In case (no pun intended) we use a production method that scales well, the average case price will lower over time and after a break even the foundation could pay the shareholders. Probably gives loads of headaches in administration, but could be an option :-)
>> 
>> Boudewijn
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Openmoko community mailing list
>> community at lists.openmoko.org
>> http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
>> 
>> 
> Hi All,
> 
> Since it seems so hard to have a custom made case, why not use an
> existing case for a HTC, nokia, iphone or the like?
> (or a chinese replica)
> The layout of the PCB needs to be alltered ofcourse, but it seems that
> it might be an easier thing to do.
> Just my 2 cents.

Interesting idea to think about.

For me, this raises some questions.

The first is: which one should we take? There are many candidates...

Second one: do we want to become dependent on the availability of such products and/or
spare parts? We need a source for pure spare parts where none of the *big five* can
make our life even more difficult.

Finally, it might become quite tricky to design a new PCB that fits into their cases because they
use even more special tools and components than the Openmoko design does. If you look
inside such a device they sometimes e.g. have multiple PCBs interconnected by Flex PCBs.
Or they have custom designed connectors, buttons, springs, screws etc. Which is no problem
if they produce 1 million units per month.

Sean has given us a very important learning: we should use catalog components (e.g. DigiKey,
Farnell, Mouser, RS-Components) as good as possible. Unfortunately they don't have a
smartphone case.

Nikolaus