[OSM-talk] lazyweb: what linux-based wifi gps phone would you recommend

[Phil! Gold]

* John Smith <deltafoxtrot256 at gmail.com> [2010-05-19 09:32 +1000]:
> On 19 May 2010 09:29, jamesmikedupont at googlemail.com
> > our group in albania and kosovo is not just promoting and working on OSM and
> > freedom of the maps, but also of software and knowledge, we promoting linux.
> > If given a choice, we will choose to promote freedom.
> 
> In which case your only options, to the best of my knowledge, are the
> nokia n900 and the freerunner... Android phones are usually too locked
> down to be considered free by most FLOSS groups...

There's also the Palm Pre (or Pixi, but the Pre has nicer hardware).  The
phone is Linux based and doesn't require rooting or jailbreaking; just
installing the Developer SDK gives you access to a root shell on the
device.

The drawback is that there still isn't a whole lot of software for the
phone, though there are a few apps that use OSM data (mostly just rendered
tiles, but there are alpha builds of Navit available).

I'm not sure how much I'd recommend it--of the various smartphone
platforms, it's both the most ambitious (multitasking, nice UI,
well-integrated phone environment) and the slowest (the hardware isn't
quite up to some of the tasks it's asked to do, and battery life is
atrocious)--but it's probably one of the most open Linux-based phones
short of the FreeRunner.

-- 
...computer contrarian of the first order... / http://aperiodic.net/phil/
PGP: 026A27F2  print: D200 5BDB FC4B B24A 9248  9F7A 4322 2D22 026A 27F2
--- --
No, being mentioned on my website doesn't necessarily disqualify you from
getting a government job.
                       -- vees
---- --- --