Sean's speech at ESC about making a 3G device

[Steve Mosher]

Rask Ingemann Lambertsen wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 03, 2009 at 11:27:02PM -0700, Steve Mosher wrote:
>> The GTA03 as a design had a recamping bug. it kept changing. and changes
>> of course, are perceived as "easy". after all, hardware is just like 
>> software.. I won't go through all the iterations of GTA03. But it's 
>> processor changed, the RFs changed, in the end the design had no
>> Wifi and no GPS. Raise your hand if think that a GTA03 with no wifi
>> and no GPS is good thing to sell to the community? Raise your hand if
>> you think it was a mistake to kill this?
> 
>    Yes, I think GPS and Wifi/WLAN can be considered a requirement these days
> for anything else than a basic cell phone.
> 
>    I kind of like the GTA02.5 idea (see Tim Dobson's message) as a follow up
> to the GTA02:
> 
> Upgrade S3C2442B to S3C6410.
> Take out the Glamo, including
>    - using the S3C LCM interface for the display.
>    - using the S3C SDIO interface for the SD card connector. This means
>      finding somewhere else to hook up the Wifi chip (and in turn finding
>      another Wifi chip I guess).
> Upgrade Calypso GSM to Cinterion MC75i.

   That's pretty close to one iteration the design went through.
> 
> Time, space and cost permitting:
> Camera on S3C6410 camera interface.
> Stylus with middle and right "mouse" buttons.
> Increased maximum display brightness.
> Increased maximum speaker volume.
   Design had a capacitive screen and a camera.
> 
> Generally keep everything else as in GTA02v8.
  More had to change, like wifi chip vendor.
> 
>    Most of this was already being worked on for the GTA03 - certainly the
> kernel patches suggest so. So I'm curious what changed so much in the
> intended usages of the GTA03 (compared to GTA02) that it had to be cance^W^H
> postponed. The Neo1973 was released in July 2007 and the Freerunner in July
> 2008, so with about the same number of changes for the new device as between
> the two previous ones, perhaps a "GTA2.5" could have been out in about July
> 2009. It must have been more than just the volume up/down buttons that did
> it.
> 
  One of the schedules had a July Ship date, essentially as you 
describe. 6410, agps,wifi,camera,BT, accels. 2.5G ( after some early 
flirtations with 3G which just set us back ) the difficult was threefold:

  1. Getting price separation from the FreeRunner. could I charge 499 for
     such a phone. With FreeRunner at 399 would processor bump and a 
camera justify a +100 dollar adder.
  2. Fitting all of this inside the ID we had for the phone. The ID is
   complete as well as mechanical and there were issues with the latter
   fitting in the former without some serious work and comprimises.
  3. Some manufacturing challenges for the case. a few key unknowns.
  4. Antenna design issues. With all those RFs in the case we had it was
     a serious concern whether it would work or not.