The Neo1973 GSM cell phone from FIC in Taiwan is eagerly anticipated by the approximately 1500 developers and enthusiasts who have placed their order for the “P1″ or phase 1 edition.
The followers of this phone know the meaning of patience. In November of 2006, it was estimated that orders would be taken in January of 2007. After months of near total-silence from FIC and weathering the tidal wave of iPhone interest, the “New Ocean” of phones that run on 99.99% open source software went up for sale on June 27th. There are an estimated 1000 P1 phones manufactured so far with an estimated 1500 orders placed to date.
The first 500 phones, called “shipment 1″ have been shipped from Taiwan to FIC America in Fresno, California, and arrived on July 16th. Although many orders were taken in June, the first charges to be made to credit cards started happening at the end of last week. On the Openmoko community mailing list, people announce the fact that their card has been charged - presumably a water-tight bond that a phone would be shipped to them very soon. To date, no announcements have been made of someone receiving a UPS tracking number but I expect this to start next week.
Everyone knows what the iPhone can do. Here are a couple things the Neo1973 does better. It has a GPS receiver. It has a CSR bluecore 4 chip with full linux support - the iPhone bluetooth support is restricted to the headset profile. It has a smaller screen size but twice the pixels (640×480@2.8″) of the iPhone (320×480@3.5″). Its got a removable MicroSD slot, although for some reason they put it under the battery. Its missing a wifi radio, but the next phase adds that and more.
At the OSCON Open Source Conference in Portland, Oregon this week, there will be an Openmoko BOF (Birds of a Feather) session on Thursday night.
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