Crowdfunding an Ubuntu smartphone (right now)

[Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller]

Hi,

Am 03.10.2013 um 05:15 schrieb Stefan Monnier:

>> Production problems show almost immediately, even if there is only one
>> person.  And they show after making let's say 20 units.
> 
> As you know, that has not been the experience with the GTA02, where
> audio quality output (works fine for line-out but not for headphones),
> GPS issues, and the "1024 issue" have appeared over time and some of
> them took a long time to track down and fix.
> 
> I can bet that your tests for GTA04 did not catch problems along the
> lines of power consumption issues that will only show up in particular
> usage scenarios that will only be used by the customer number 1462.

Yes, I agree that such tests can only be found by a field test (beta test or however
you like to call it).

But they are not "production problems", but problems in the circuit design.
With production I mean making n identical copies of a piece of hardware.
And a production problem is if those are not really identical.

Compared with software, they are not compiler of kernel problems but
in the source code of some application.

Running field tests is a common practice in hardware development and
that is why some guys did loose their new iPhones before they were
announced in some bar... And even Apple did not find the antenna problems
before product launch.

So this type of bugs need a big community of persons really using a design.

> 
>>> Also, if you can upgrade the screen and the CPU separately, you might
>>> attract a few other users, who aren't so interested in Freedom but do
>>> like the idea of customizing their phones.
>> That is a dream that is not realistic. Every display has a different
>> connector (there is no standardization!). And every CPU has different
>> signals and power supply needs. I.e. you can swap an OMAP3505 for an
>> OMAP3530 or an DM3730 but nor for an OMAP4 or OMAP5 or Snapdragon or
>> i.MX6.  Because they are not designed for this way of use.
> 
> I know.  But I'm not talking about swapping the actual CPU or the
> actual display.  I'm talking about swapping the "CPU module" or the
> "display module".  I.e. create a standardized module interface around
> off-the-shelf (i.e. non-standardized) components.

Yes, there is even a standard for an interface between displays and CPU.
Well, even two or three:

MIPI, LVDS, HDMI/DVI.

> It would have its own cost (in money and in size), but in the long run,
> I hope the benefits of relying on standardized interfaces would make up
> for it.

MIPI is already doing all this:

http://www.mipi.org/specifications
http://mipi.org/about-mipi/mipi-interfaces-mobile-platform
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Industry_Processor_Interface

Everyone is there, ARM, TI, even Apple:

http://www.mipi.org/member-directory

But none of them is building modular devices. I wonder why.

> 
> From what I can tell, Free Hardware projects don't benefit nearly enough
> from each other's efforts.  Not sure we have enough Sisyphus around to
> keep them all alive.

The problem for us is that we do not that easily get MIPI compliant
components or documents (for members only) than others. And we have
to use components that someone is willing to sell to us at a reasonable
price.

BTW: their monthly fees are public (different type of openness :):

http://mipi.org/join-mipi

-- hns