GTA02 is now an expensive brick

[Ian Darwin]

Craig Woodward wrote:
> ---- Ian Darwin <ian at darwinsys.com> wrote: 
>   
>> There is no place  that OM has said that the current *software* is ready for the masses. 
>>     
>
> That's really mincing words...  You're right, OM never said the software was ready for the masses, but FIC said the FreeRunner was "consumer ready" when it was selling it 8 months ago.  That to me implied the hardware AND software were ready.  But months later we're learning that *neither* is ready, and that both camps will probably drop support for the device before a stable, reliable platform develops.  (As they've already done for the GTA01.)
>
> Happily I've never had to deal with this battery mess because my current phone is a Nokia 6230i, which uses the same battery as the FR.  The 6230 can charge the batteries from dead, and never fully drains them to start with.  Frankly I find it unacceptable that ANY phone would fully discharge it's battery, doubly so when it's hardware isn't capable of trickle charging it from a "NOPOWER" state.  
>
> But rather than trying to fix this hardware issue in software, OM chose to change architectures *twice*, and is now focusing work on changes for as yet unreleased hardware, including the GTA03. Way to build a customer base folks...  And what happens when this new hardware become vaporware as people realize the market has dried up?  Do you really think during a recession that people are going to drop big bucks on a GTA03, with no major hardware changes, after the first two FAILED and have no support now?
>
> I'm pretty sure I'll have my GTA02 up on ebay within the week.  It really sucks, since I WANT an open source phone with the features the Neo promised.  It also sucks that I dropped a pretty penny on what was claimed to be consumer ready, and 8 months later am still using my 5 year old phone for daily use.  I will very likely take a hit on reselling my Neo, but what's my other option?  Hold on to it in the hopes that a stable platform emerges before OM totally stops support?  And if it doesn't, how much do you think I could re-sell a custom "phone" for with that can't be used as a phone, has half finished unstable "open source" software, and absolutely no support?  
>
> The worst part is that by making promises and not delivering, FIC and OM have set the open source movement back for phones.  They've pretty much killed any chance of an open source phone being taken seriously any time soon unless it's backed by a huge company (like Android).  Who's going to invest in the next private open source phone after reading how the GTA failed twice, and delivered non-functional multi-hundred dollar hockey pucks instead?
>
> Anyone want a GTA02v5?  You get the whole box set, plus I'll throw in a stand alone battery charger and a 2G uSD card too boot.  Make an offer.
>   
You accuse me of mincing words. Let's see if you'll stand by your words. 
If you really feel the device is that worthless, sell it to me for $10.00.
Final offer.