[Gta04-owner] Invitation to indicate interest in nextbatchofGTA04A5 boards

[Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller]

Hi,

Am 26.03.2013 um 14:52 schrieb Xavi Drudis Ferran:

> On Tue 26/03/13 13:58 , "Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller" <hns at goldelico.com> wrote:
>> 
>> I think the Linux/Open Source community itself isn't interested enough
>> in what we all (here on the gta04-owner list) do. Did Linus mention us?
>> RMS did, but only because we are not even good enough in his eyes.
>> 
>> We are a small circle of people seeing something good in the GTA04
>> while everyone outside our group doesn't.
>> 
> 
> Well, there was a hypothetical hardware addon that would prevent some
> firmware updates and might have gained FSF blessing, but never got
> designed and I've never thought it would help sales much. But then maybe
> it would. Maybe just being as open as possible is not enough to seduce
> people (because there're still blobs for wifi and 3D acceleration, and the 
> modem is still a black box). I don't know if 100% open phone would be 
> technically possible at all (maybe it would be stoped at regulatory compliance or something,
> even if one day someone would be able to design it, maybe including designing
> custom chips). But I very much doubt it would be economically possible. 
> It would be very expensive to design and produce, and it would become obsolete before
> finishing, even if some millionaire fancied to pour truckloads of money into it.
> 
> But I guess people get frustrated at the technology market and instead of 
> buying the most open possible phone, just buy mainstream. You built it,
> they didn't come. :(
> 
> In any case, IIUC you're guessing just around 555 EUR for the motherboard. 
> I guess complete phones are still off plans ? I can't justify you (or even anyone)

> puting more effort into it if interest is so low, but a lot of effort did already go
> to cases and the phone kit in the past. I don't remember what may still be missing.

The GTA04A5 board includs a redesign so that we can provide all components
that previously had to be taken from a disassembled GTA01/02 (e.g. antenna,
speaker, GPS antenna, earpiece, vibracall motor). And we can provide 3D
data so that a 3D printed case can be designed around that fits.

So to get a complete phone one needs:
* GTA04A5 board
* case kit (as mentioned above)
* display module
* battery
* 3D printed case (basic STL/STEP data would be provided to designers)

> 
> Maybe a complete phone would be more attractive than a motherboard ?

Yes, definitively. But I do not expect the impact to be really big. Since as soon as it
is a complete phone, it becomes compared to iPhone, Galaxy, Nexus, and even the
<100 EUR Android devices at the super-market. And then the added price for being
free and open makes >99% of the potential customers buy the cheap or the hyped
one and not the free one...

Well, we even have a rough estimate. The wishlist has approx. 50% : 50% between
GTA04 (upgrade) and 2804 (complete in Freerunner case). So a rough guess is
that a complete device will double the demand which is still not enough.

> 
> In any case, as you can see I don't have anything new to say, so let me just
> reiterate:
> 
> Thank you for my phone. 

You are welcome!

-- hns