[Community] OpenPhoenux News

[Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller]

Hi all,
since several questions came up this week, here are news and answers:


GTA04A4 Production
================
is finally running. Slowly. But running. The reason is that the new
process is still quite shaky and needs to be done carefully, i.e.
slowly and manually controlled. And the earlier failures and
repairs had consumed the memory chips and we had to get some
new ones first. This isn't easy if the manufacturer (Micron) and
all distributors (Avnet et. al.) assume to sell only packages with
1k chips...

But the next batch of GTA04A4 group tour devices has started to
ship this week and the remaining ones will be delivered in the
next weeks.

Unfortunately this batch is sold out and we have to collect
preorders before starting the next one.


GTA04A5 Preorders
================
First of all, we see that there is demand for additional GTA04 units
beyond what we currently have ordered to be produced. Therefore
we have started to plan the next production batch now.

This will mean a new variant of the PCB (GTA04A5) for some small
feature adjustments.

Currently, the plan is:

* add an FFC connector for a I2C bus to connect a keyboard
   http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04%3AKeyboard
   or something else
* replace BMA180 (accelerometer) and HMC5883L (compass) by
   BMC050 (combined function in single chip)
* provide 1 second high precision timestamp (PPS) from GPS
   to GPIO114
* provide contact pads for new earpiece speaker (in addition
   to old)
* some layout adjustments to improve production process and
  device quality
* always comes with DM3730CBP100 (1 GHz CPU) and a
   bigger 512 MByte RAM / 1 GByte NAND flash combination

Nothing else is planned to be changed, so that there will be
a smooth transition from software side.

The crucial point is to plan for the right number of units and components.
Although we always add some reserve, it may be exhausted
at some point in time and nothing is left over for later orders. 

Please help us with targeting for the right number of units, by
stating that you are still interested in purchasing a GTA04
through the wishlist system:

	<http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04>

The final price will be announced as soon as we get a better picture
since it dramatically depends on the number of ordered units. And,
please don't expect miracles. Most likely it will not become cheaper
than the GTA04A4. The reason is that small batches are small batches
and result in add-ons for small-volume purchases.


OpenPhoenux 2804
================
This is a new name for a well known combination: it is the GTA04 board
with a 2.8 inch Toppoly display within a (used) Openmoko Freerunner
case. I.e. ${DISPLAY_SIZE}${GTA_VERSION_NUMBER}

Unfortunately we are really short of used and broken Freerunner
devices/cases and don't have spare GTA04 boards so that it is not
clear when and how fast we can have them in stock again. If you
have ideas how to collect old devices, please let us know.


OpenPhoenux 3704
================
This is a new product variant built around the GTA04 board. It is a
handheld device (not a phone unless you use WLAN and IP telephony
over a Bluetooth headset) and comes with a sunlight compatible
3.7 inch VGA display and a big battery (3900 mAh).

The standard version has no UMTS but WLAN&Bluetooth, optionally
GPS and an integrated 13 MHz RFID reader.

	<http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=OpenPhoenux%203704>

We plan to make it generally available soon. And as usual incl.
manual and schematics.

Since it is built around a GTA04 it will be software compatible. And
all demand for these units will help to bring forward the GTA04
core platform.


Future GTA05?
============
Although it is a litttle early to work on a next generation GTA,
we already want to collect ideas. So please let us know what
you would like to see in a completely newly developed future
OpenPhoenux device.


Nikolaus