Open source phone firm regroups around Wikipedia gadget

By Eric Brown
2009-10-14

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Openmoko, the company known for the Linux-based Neo FreeRunner phone, is shipping a portable reader device devoted to Wikipedia. Running on two AAA batteries, the tiny, $100 WikiReader has no operating system or connectivity, getting updated with new Wikipedia content via SD cards, says the company.

The new WikiReader runs on a 20MHz ARM processor, and has "no operating system," as an Openmoko spokesperson put it in an email. Yet, the platform is billed as being open source, and developers are encouraged to suggest new ideas for the device.

Running on two AAA batteries that are said to last about a year, the handheld device provides a square monochrome display that can be read in sunlight, according to Taiwan-based Openmoko. A touch interface enables scrolling and hyperlink selection, and there's an onscreen keyboard for entering search terms. Three buttons are also supplied: Search, History, and Random.

Openmoko WikiReader

A microSD slot is located under the batteries to hold the Wikipedia content, the equivalent of 30GB of Wikipedia text compressed into 8GB. Updates cost $29 for two per year, plus taxes and shipping, says the company. Parental controls are also said to be available, although it is unclear whether this is an interactive control, or a selection made ahead of time when ordering an SD card.

The WikiReader can be read in bright sunlight, says Openmoko
(Click to enlarge)

Plan B

Openmoko announced in April that it was halving its staff and discontinuing its planned, next-generation "GTA03" version of the open source, open-platform Neo FreeRunner smartphone. The company was hit hard by the recession, as well as low sales of the Linux-based FreeRunner. Most of all, it was a victim of bad timing, as Google swept in with its own open source Linux Android phone platform just as the FreeRunner started shipping.

The WikiReader was designed by former Apple designer Thomas Meyerhoffer
(Click to enlarge)

Openmoko was forced to make some tough choices, the company admitted in April when it announced its downsizing efforts. The company decided to discontinue the GTA03, and focus on a simpler, mysterious "Plan B" project, which we now know to be the WikiReader.

The company continues to support the Neo FreeRunner phone, which is offered by a number of distributors, and the supporting OpenMoko.org community project continues to develop software for the platform. The group recently released a version of Android 1.5 for the FreeRunner, and they also offer Debian and QtDebian (based on Qt) distributions for the platform.

Stated Openmoko CEO Sean Moss-Pultz, "We created the WikiReader to be fun, easy, informative, and entertaining for all ages."

Availability

The WikiReader is available now for $99, with two updates available for $29. More information may be found here.

More information on OpenMoko.org's distributions for the FreeRunner may be found here, and a list of distributors for the FreeRunner phone may be found at OpenMoko, here.

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