Group: Hardware/TODO/TO SORT/Smartphones

Introduction

First let's define a smartphone,

A smartphone is a phone with at least 2 processors:

• one where runs the operating system(like Android,GNU/Linux etc...), it is usually called the Application processor
• another that interface with the GSM network(for instance it reads the sim card,interface with the GSM tower etc...). It is usually called the baseband.

Historically both processors talked to each other trough a serial port, with AT commands(also known as Hayes command set ).

While freedom is possible on the GSM processor too,we will focus on freedom on the Application processor(because it's illegal to run modified GSM processors on carrier networks and also very dangerous)

Possible Free SmartPhones target comparison

Hardware freedom

	Openmoko Freerunner	Nokia N900	HTC Dream	Nexus one	Palm pre(normal,plus or version 2)	Nexus S	GTA04
Non free firmwares	No	Yes: Wifi(wl1251_spi) Bluetooth(broadcom) camera(many components) DSP(note that the CPU and mplayer do a better job than the DSP but consume more battery)	Yes: Wifi(wl1251_sdio) bluetooth(broadcom)	Yes: Microphone Sound card WIFI(bcm4329) Maybe others?	Yes: Wifi(libertas_sdio) Maybe others?	Yes: Wifi Bluetooth NFC: Near Field Communication MFC: Multi Format Codec (hardware video encoding/decoding)	Yes Wifi
Modem can be flashed	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes, the main CPU loads the firmware from NAND trough the free ril library during boot.	?
Modem can be unpowered	Yes	Yes	?	?		?	Depend on hardware versions(A3 had a bug)
Audio path under modem's control?	No	No	Yes	Yes		No	No
GPS under modem's control	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	There is a GPS without antenna attached to the modem, it's not used. The GPS that is used is attached to the CPU trough serial port.
Free Bootloader	Yes	No	?	?	Some work has been done(must check status,not usable yet,abandoned?)	No	Yes xloader uboot
Modem can access the main CPU memory chips	No (the connection is a serial link)	No (the connection is an HSI link)	Yes	Yes	??	Yes	No USB connection

Hardware Features

	Openmoko Freerunner	Nokia N900	HTC Dream	Nexus one	Palm pre(normal,plus or version 2)	Nexus S
USB host	Yes (not strictly needed since no firmwares are needed),limited to ? mA	Yes(with 2.6.28 power kernel), limited to ? mA	?	possible, untested, unpowered	?	possible, untested, perhaps unpowered

Hardware and software capabilities

	Openmoko Freerunner(FSO+SHR)	Nokia N900(FSO+SHR)	HTC Dream(Replicant)	HTC Dream(FSO+SHR)	Nexus one(Replicant)	Palm pre(normal,plus or version 2) (FSO+SHR)	Nexus S (Replicant)
Data connectivity	GPRS only(hardware limitation)	3G working in SHR	3G working in replicant	3G working in SHR	3G working in replicant	3G working in SHR(not tested by me)	3G working in replicant
Hardware features support	See The FSO page about the supported hardware features	See The FSO page about the supported hardware features	see The replicant page about the supported hardware features	See The FSO page about the supported hardware features	see The replicant page about the supported hardware features	See The FSO page about the supported hardware features	see The replicant page about the supported hardware features
Capable of viewing a video	from Very difficult to impossible	yes(with mplayer in command line)	yes(example Youtube using rstp:// or with the integrated player(not tested) )	Difficult(need to be rotated before etc...)	yes(example Youtube using rstp:// or with the integrated player(not tested) )	?	yes(WebM playback works with the integrated player)
Capable of playing music	On speakers only ( sound quality is very bad on headphones because of a capacitor which value is too low )	yes	yes(without issues)	yes(prevent phone ringing)	yes	?	yes
Web browsing	Very slow with the default browser(eve) uses 100% CPU while loading pages	yes	yes	yes(with midori, the default browser(eve) is too slow)	yes	?	yes
mail client usage	claws mail	claws mail	k9(obtimized for the screen), great integrated hardware keyboard(very fast)	claws mail	k9(obtimized for the screen), capacitive screen + software keyboard for writing mails makes it very slow	not tested(claws mail)	Android mail app works well, k9 should also work, capacitive screen + software keyboard for writing mails makes it very slow
IRC	yes(xchat(need to be configured for the DPI),else irssi), software keyboard used with stylus(medium speed)	yes(xchat)	yes(yaaic), great integrated hardware keyboard(very fast)	yes(irssi under xterm(else there is a Tab key issue)),great integrated hardware keyboard(very fast), xchat not very obtimized for the DPI	painful with the software keyboard(used with fingers since the screen is capacitive => very slow) (bluetooth keyboard is better but require a non-free firmware, and a table)	?.has an hardware keyboard	painful with the software keyboard(used with fingers since the screen is capacitive => very slow) (bluetooth keyboard is better but require a non-free firmware, and a table)