Ane comments on the Geeksphone
 

This weekend I learned about the existence of the Geeksphone. From my newspaper of all sources.

I got interested immediately.

<rant mode>
I have owned an iPhone for some time. But the fun with iPhone is that apps suddenly stop working properly or stop working at all. Ah that is a sign that you should upgrade. Mostly the app, but sometimes the iOS. And then you discover that the jailbreak for iOS 6.0.5.3 doesn't work for hardware version 3.4.3.1.a. What shit gives a phone without SSH?

Then an Android. One should root it to get SSH. Fine. Hundreds of forum post on how to do that. I still have to find some bootable image for Android Marshmallow Fudge or whatever which is guaranteed not to brick the device. Long story short, the Samsung developed a hardware defect, was repaired and sent back with the same defect.
</rant mode>

So maybe the Geeksphone is something for me. It comes pre-rooted. I should be able to SSH. I want to get my e-mail, keep contacts, sync text documents with the could. (Yeah, it is OK if big Google reads my documents). If it comes with GPS and can show my geographical position on a map it would be perfect. If I can insert the GPS coordinates into a picture, I'll order 10 at once.

Any comments from Geeksphone users?

jlinkels

Hi,

I have a Geeksphone Revolution since 2 months, and I use Android on it (it is the default installed OS when you receive the phone, but Firefox OS can be installed instead). I'm happy with it :)

The stock Android 4.2.2 (AOSP) is fully rooted. (maybe Android 4.4 KitKat in the future?)

Sure it has a GPS, and photos can be geotagged.

Google apps are not installed by default but it is possible to install them effortlessly by going into Settings > about phone > update from OTA > install google apps (or something like that)

I personally don't use Gapps, but F-Droid repos, with some good apps : OSMAnd~, Firefox Mobile, ...

Be aware that FirefoxOS (FxOS) is much a work in progress, still has bugs/incomplete features. Updates are offered by the Geeksphone tech team to fix bugs (Still haven't tested FxOS myself).

Have a look at the official geeksphone forums to know more.

Thanks for your reply. It doesn't sound bad. Software which is not completely mature you find on the iPhone and Android as well. I love the SSH capability, I am fully convinced that any computer should SSH. Jailbreaking iPhones has become and art which is beyond what I want to know. Rooting the Android never succeeded. The many on-line how-tos are posted by ignorants and incorrect for 75%. And I don't know which 25% is correct.

However, the chances of buying a Geeksphone have strongly decreased. As so many e-commerce sites, the Geeksphone site uses a commonly available list of countries where you have to select your country of residence.

My country happens to be not on that list, and Geeksphone refuses to take my order by e-mail. Other countries where I think postal and financial services are currently less well organized like Lebanon, Ukraine and Venezuela are on the list.

I can ship it to an address in one of those countries on the list, but then it will cost me about double the price when I have to add VAT, twice as much import duties and taxes and double the shipping.

I had expected a bit more flexibility by colleague geeks.

jlinkels

Are you SSH'ing in or out? I use my android to SSH into servers without root.
I can't figure out what currency that is to convert it to mine (US $) though. Problem I run into is so many phones are $500+ to buy out of contract which makes no sense as I can buy a tablet for $200 which is basically a bigger phone so why do phones cost 2-3 times more.

I'm syncing my contacts/calendar/documents outside of google now by running me own server.

i have an acer revo 1600 nettop (1.6 ghz intel atom cpu / 1 gb ram) running fedora.

would normal x86 based distributions be able to be installed on this computer ?

Schneidz you must have posted this message by mistake in this thread.

But I happen to run Debian x86 distributions on Atom 1.6 nettops without any problems. Some are equipped with Intel 915 graphic chips, others with NVIDIA Ion. I run KDE4 without problems. The NVIDIA Ion types can run most movies with mplayer.

It is not blazing fast, comparable to a 1.8GHz single core laptop from 2004. But power consumption is negligable and no fan noise.

jlinkels

i was wondering about running a full gnu/linux distro (not android/cyanogenmod/firefox-os/ubuntu-fone/...) on the geex-fone since the cpu is the same as the one on my desktop pc that runs fedora-live (however impractical it may be) ?

Ah... I misunderstood your question.

I haven't googled for it yet, but I remember there was some Ubuntu version for the smartphone.

Since the geeksphone runs Firefox OS wich is FOSS, the underlying drivers should be available. The Geeks also state that the geeksphone can run any community OS.

So it might technically be possible, if you have time on your hands.

jlinkels

Lust got it,,, Love it, Thanks for the heads-up!! :v <3