14 DAY TRIAL // Neo Freerunner, Openmoko's open-source Linux-based smartphone unveiled at the end of 2007, is finally on its way to online retailers and will be available starting the first half of July. This comes after the smarpthone was initially announced for an April release, but it was delayed because of some unnamed hardware problems. Well, now everything's fixed and the Linux smartphone can already be pre-ordered. The suggested retail price of Neo Freerunner is $400 (around 255 Euros).
Coming as the successor of Neo 1973, released in a limited number of units last year, Neo Freerunner is presented as being a "completely open, hackable hardware platform". This allows users to customize the handset however they like, with no restriction (save for the one that limited Linux knowledge might bring).
As Neo 1973, the Freerunner has an unusual design for a mobile device, featuring an ovoid case. The specs of the handset include: a 2.8 inch TFT touchscreen display with a VGA resolution (640 x 480 pixels), 2D and 3D graphic accelerometers, advanced audio codecs, Wi-Fi, GPS and A-GPS, Bluetooth 2.0 USB 1.1, a 500MHz Samsung S3C2442 processor, 128MB of RAM and 256MB of ROM. In terms of network connectivity, the new Neo is a tri-band GSM/GPRS handset - either 850 / 1800 / 1900 MHz or 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz.
Neo FreeRunner measures 4.75 x 2.44 x 0.73 inches (120 x 62 x 18.5 millimeters) and weighs 6.5 ounces (185 grams).
Talking about the new smartphone, Steve Mosher, VP of marketing at Openmoko, said: "We have moved beyond the early adopter stage and are now ready to release the next generation Neo Freerunner to markets where we are seeing early traction."
In order to find out more about FreeRunner's distributors from your country, you can check out OpenMoko's website, found at this address. Note that, for the moment, pre-orders can be made only for the UK, Germany, France and India.
