Least-hassle method of getting a usable Web browser + telephony support while GPRS is enabled?

[Al Johnson]

On Thursday 17 December 2009, Brolin Empey wrote:
> Hello list,
> 
> I am using QtMoko v14.  AFAIK, QtMoko does not support GSM multiplexing,
> which means even if I had a working and usable Web browser for QtMoko, I
> could not use telephony functionality, such as making and receiving phone
> calls, while GPRS is enabled.  If I wanted to have Internet access on my
> FreeRunner, what is the least-hassle method of getting a usable Web browser
> + telephony and SMS support while GPRS is enabled?  Am I better off finding
> a usable proprietary phone?

Since you've already got the phone you may as well give the other firmware 
options a try. We keep finding people have different definitions of 'usable' 
so you'll have to see what suits you.

SHR should be easy to try, and is supposed to do everything you want. There's 
a GUI for the GPRS config. It has multiplexing so GPRS, SMS and telephony 
should work together (I say should as I haven't tried GPRS recently.) Midori 
might be a suitable browser, although there is a problematic interaction 
between the illume keyboard and midori's address autocompletion at the moment.

Debian or hackable:1 may be worth a try too. They have a wider selection of 
browsers available, but I don't know the status of the telephony side.

> Please do not suggest the iPhone because until
> the iPhone 3GS was released, Apple refused to accept my money even though I
> wanted their product:  the only way to buy a new iPhone in Canada from a
> store was to sign a 3-year term contract with Rogers or Fido.  That is
> illogical.  If I want Apple’s product, Apple should sell it to me.  I do
>  not want to sign a 3-year term contract.  I have no term contract with my
>  Fido monthly plan.  With Rogers, I would have had to sign at least a
>  1-year term contract, pay a 1-time activation fee plus a System Access Fee
>  every month. I still had to pay a 1-time activation fee with Fido, but I
>  do not pay any System Access Fee nor did I have to sign a term contract. 
>  Anyway, I decided I am not buying an iPhone because I do not want to
>  encourage Apple to not sell their products to consumers, such as me, who
>  can afford them but do not want to sign a 3-year term contract.  Why would
>  I want to develop an application for a device (the iPhone) no one in
>  Canada can buy new from a store without signing a 3-year service
>  agreement?  My users would have to jailbreak their iPhone just to use my
>  app because Apple wants control over their platform.  I do not want an
>  iPod Touch because then I still need a separate phone.  I already used to
>  have a separate phone and PDA.  I want less devices to always carry with
>  me, not more.  Anyway, I know this post has turned into a rant about the
>  iPhone.  I think if I had to choose a proprietary phone, I would be
>  limited to non-Android Linux phones because I want the same OS on my phone
>  as on my PCs, which run Ubuntu and Windows NT (Vista, but it is still
>  Windows NT, not Windows.), not iPhone OS, Symbian OS, Windows CE/Windows
>  Mobile/Pocket PC/whatever it is called now because Microsoft loves
>  renaming things, BlackBerry stains, or some other crappy, ephemeral, and
>  proprietary OS used on only 1 type of computer (cell phones and/or PDAs). 
>  Windows NT does not run on ARM even though modern embedded computers are
>  more powerful than the desktop computers Windows NT originally ran on. 
>  Ubuntu is based on Debian, which runs on the FreeRunner, so QtMoko/plain
>  Debian it is.  I do not want to start an Android rant, but let’s just say
>  I am avoiding Android because it is non-standard,
> proprietary, uses Java (I hate Java because it is gross.) and is hyped by
> the same people who hype Java:  non-programmers who do not even use it.
> 
> Thanks,
> Brolin
>