Geeksphone launches the first multi OS smartphone

51Cards 12 years ago |

This 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 12 years ago | |

I 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 12 years ago | | |

You mean like this one: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/04/yotaphone-e-ink-smartphon... ?

userbinator 12 years ago | |

If it's successful, soon enough extended capacity batteries are likely going to start appearing.

mike_esspe 12 years ago | | |

There are extended capacity batteries on the market, I use one from zerolemon. For most users they are too bulky.

Robby2012 12 years ago | |

I think the important value for geeks it that you can have different OS in the same phone

blueskin_ 12 years ago | |

Agreed.

At least they got the SD card, though.

bdg 12 years ago |

I'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 12 years ago |

I 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 12 years ago | |

Dual 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

Garmonidas 12 years ago |

I 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 12 years ago | |

They say the performance is between a Nexus 4 and a Nexus 5

superkuh 12 years ago |

Okay, but does the baseband processor have direct memory access to the system RAM? If so, it is useless from a security standpoint.

justin66 12 years ago | |

What 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.

fphhotchips 12 years ago |

Is it just me, or is there no LTE support here? Seems like a largish oversight.

selectodude 12 years ago | |

It's a $300 phone, and between licensing and the actual hardware, LTE is very expensive.

blueskin_ 12 years ago |

Looks 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.

sergiotapia 12 years ago |

Can 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.

mcpherrinm 12 years ago | |

You 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 12 years ago | | |

Windows 8 runs on commodity x86 hardware. Assuming there's driver support, it should work.

TazeTSchnitzel 12 years ago | | |

Phones aren't commodity x86 hardware in the way PCs are. The hardware can't be enumerated.

leoc 12 years ago | | |

Can you buy a licence to run it legally though?

poloniculmov 12 years ago | | |

Windows 8? Yeah. You can't buy Windows Phone 8.

talklittle 12 years ago | |

They are one of the producers of Firefox OS developer phones. ZTE being another one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeeksPhone

xerophtye 12 years ago |

Aren't these the guys that produced the Peak+ etc? I can't seem to locate those devices on their site anymore

Robby2012 12 years ago | |

They don't sell their previous smartphones anymore, they are focused on the Geeksphone Revolution

lnanek2 12 years ago |

Not really true. I know quite a few devices in industry currently sold that support Windows CE or Android as desired.

leoc 12 years ago |

What, only one SIM slot, really?

aroch 12 years ago |

I wonder if they'll ship the US. I've wanted an Atom SoC phone for a while

oDot 12 years ago | |

I 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 12 years ago | | |

All 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...

     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 12 years ago | |

I'm sure they ship to the US

ForHackernews 12 years ago |

Its an Atom processor? Does that mean it can run any x86 OS?

Garmonidas 12 years ago | |

In 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 12 years ago | |

It'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_ 12 years ago | | |

For half a second there, I thought you said "almost, but not quite, completely unlike a regular PC" and almost laughed out loud.

kimonos 12 years ago |

Cool!

greatsuccess 12 years ago |

Total 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.