OM future

[Toni Mueller]

Hi,

On Tue, 23.02.2010 at 01:05:31 -0800, Mike Crash <mike at mikecrash.com> wrote:
> Actually, I don't know, why everybody needs a phone.

I can answer that: I want a fully open phone that I can configure to
meet *my* needs. If I am allowed to dream a bit, despite my OM not
being in good working order yet, I'd like a phone that has no known
bugs for whatever "service" you might think of, which sports high-grade
encryption as a standard feature (ie, zphone), and can seamlessly be
used as a device on a PBX, too (possibly with semi-automatic handover
when entering/leaving an an appropriate wifi zone).

> The community should aim at simple PDA with GPS, WiFi, BT and camera.
+ IR
> This all is without any license fees and can be made to work.

That would also be good, but generally, I'd prefer to have only one
device to carry around. That's why I often don't have my camera with me
- it's too bulky already.

Also, this device needs some way to hook up to the Internet, so I can
surf and read emails, and ssh into one of my machines. And there you
have it again, the airwave part that would not be part of your PDA
design.

> but what I need always - is a phone. I want to call when I'm in a car, in a
> bus stop, in a restaurant, in a wood and I don't want to break my
> navigation, mailing, browsing every time I get a phone.

I don't want to do that, either, but poking at one of "accept/reject"
should not cause much interruption. For the rest of the problem, you
have headphones or an external mike + speaker combo.

> with OLED display (LCD is out). Camera would be nice, but not needed. Forget

I'd very much appreciate a camera, too.

> the phone, it will be always problem for open source.

Then that's required to change, imho. I'm just not prepared to accept
this kind of limitation.

> There is not big problem in designing such a device. And also, it will have
> longer life then a phone.

Why? GSM and UMTS technology change ever 10 years or so, but this PDA
stuff changes all the time.

> it? It needs to manufacture thousands of units - so thousands of buyers.
> Will be?

Not while my GTA2 is generally ok. After that, maybe (ie, for probably
500 Euros at most, _system_ price).

> We can create a phone as a next step in the future, but not now. This is a
> very bad idea.

I can't judge that, but have my set of requirements that I have
outlined above. Whichever device will meet them in a useful fashion,
will probably end up in my pocket, although only one piece.


Kind regards,
--Toni++