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Geeksphone launches the first multi OS smartphone
- bdg 13y agoI'll have my phone soon, the thing just left spain last night. I'm very excited to have it in my hands and helping me hack on FoxOS after what feels like a year of delays since the peak+
- unificador 13y agoI just bought one and I'm excited. As a developer it is wonderful to have one device 2 operating systems for test my apps. About dual boot there is nothing clear. Any idea?
- Robby2012 13y agoDual boot is very difficult to achieve. On the Revolution you are able to switch from one OS to another but you can't select which OS you want to use while booting
- ForHackernews 13y agoIts an Atom processor? Does that mean it can run any x86 OS?
- Garmonidas 13y agoIn theory, yes. In practice developers may have to do minor changes. About drivers there is nothing published. Geeksphone hasn't said officially anything, but unofficially, it is working in make the device compatible with Ubuntu Touch and Windows Phone 8.
- userbinator 13y agoIt's one of the Atom SoCs which Intel doesn't seem to have a public datasheet on. From what I know they're almost but not quite like a regular PC --- they're missing some bits that wouldn't really be necessary on a phone.
- blueskin_ 13y agoFor half a second there, I thought you said "almost, but not quite, completely unlike a regular PC" and almost laughed out loud.
- Garmonidas 13y agoI played with this phone days ago and it's amazing, really fast. Android and FirefoxOS works smoothly. I would even say it surpasses the Nexus 4 performance!
- Robby2012 13y agoThey say the performance is between a Nexus 4 and a Nexus 5
- aroch 13y agoI wonder if they'll ship the US. I've wanted an Atom SoC phone for a while
- oDot 13y agoI don't know if calling it a SoC is right. It's a CPU and GPU on one chip, but far from what the Qualcomm ones offer (for now).
- aroch 13y agoAll of the recent Atom brand chips for mobile deployment are SoCs. There's a CPU, a GPU and a shared memory package on the same silicone. Intel calls it a SoC themselves [1] [1]: http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2012/01/10/intel-raises-bar-on-smartphones-tablets-and-ultrabook-devices http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2012... Onstage was the world’s first public demonstration of the forthcoming 32nm Intel Atom SoC for tablets and hybrids running on Microsoft* Windows* 8, codenamed “Clover Trail.”
- Robby2012 13y agoI'm sure they ship to the US
- blahbl4hblahtoo 13y agoMore "revolutionary" phones. Wow.
- kimonos 13y agoCool!
- sergiotapia 13y agoCan anyone shed some light, I've never heard of Geeksphone. Can you use Android, and iOS and Windows 8 on it? If so I can see why people would want to buy one.
- talklittle 13y agoThey are one of the producers of Firefox OS developer phones. ZTE being another one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeeksPhone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeeksPhone
- mcpherrinm 13y agoYou probably can't use any proprietary OS on it: Apple certainly would never license iOS, and I doubt W8 would either. Android, Ubuntu Mobile, Firefox OS, Meego, Tizen are more likely candidates.
- ForHackernews 13y agoWindows 8 runs on commodity x86 hardware. Assuming there's driver support, it should work.
- leoc 13y agoCan you buy a licence to run it legally though?
- poloniculmov 13y agoWindows 8? Yeah. You can't buy Windows Phone 8.
- TazeTSchnitzel 13y agoPhones aren't commodity x86 hardware in the way PCs are. The hardware can't be enumerated.
- fphhotchips 13y agoIs it just me, or is there no LTE support here? Seems like a largish oversight.
- selectodude 13y agoIt's a $300 phone, and between licensing and the actual hardware, LTE is very expensive.
- lnanek2 13y agoNot really true. I know quite a few devices in industry currently sold that support Windows CE or Android as desired.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- 51Cards 13y agoThis may be a little OT... but if you want to win me over on a geek focused device... i.e. power users... 3000mAh battery minimum. I know it's not the core intent but personally that grabs my attention as a power user just as much.
- ivanca 13y agoI was thinking someone should make a black and white android smartphone if it helps the battery to last longer. I would take half a week of battery over a color screen but I'm probably the minority.
- Oatary 13y agoYou mean like this one: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/04/yotaphone-e-ink-smartphone-hands-on/ http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/04/yotaphone-e-ink-smartphon... ?
- userbinator 13y agoIf it's successful, soon enough extended capacity batteries are likely going to start appearing.
- mike_esspe 13y agoThere are extended capacity batteries on the market, I use one from zerolemon. For most users they are too bulky.
- Robby2012 13y agoI think the important value for geeks it that you can have different OS in the same phone
- blueskin_ 13y agoAgreed. At least they got the SD card, though.
- leoc 13y agoWhat, only one SIM slot, really?
- superkuh 13y agoOkay, but does the baseband processor have direct memory access to the system RAM? If so, it is useless from a security standpoint.
- justin66 13y agoWhat phones have been made without that handicap? Honest question, I really have no idea. The second question would be if there are any genuinely secure mobile OSes such that it really makes a difference.
- greatsuccess 13y agoTotal entropy, like the 20 variants of linux that cant establish a wifi connection. Please save me from your tower of phone-babble. I dont care, and Im not going to spend time in your insane bouncy house of doom. Fuck off.
- xerophtye 13y agoAren't these the guys that produced the Peak+ etc? I can't seem to locate those devices on their site anymore
- Robby2012 13y agoThey don't sell their previous smartphones anymore, they are focused on the Geeksphone Revolution
- blueskin_ 13y agoLooks interesting, but I think they should have focused more on the spec. Although, I definitely like the SDcard slot and real buttons rather than stupid onscreen ones.