By Are there any geeks out there waiting eagerly for the GeeksPhone One Android Phone that has been doubted, expected and delayed but is now teetering on the border of availability? The company just unveiled the GeeksPhone One box on their blog:
As a commenter points out, this is targeted to Geeks so few likely care about the outward appearance and box but they want to know about the internal make and specs. It looks pretty plain to me… but I realize these folks don’t have a billion dollars in marketing and every little bit counts in terms of margins so right on.
What do you think about the box… and the phone in general?
looks like an iPhone with a slideout keyboard and no home button.
want to give us some specs so we can tell you what we think?
http://blog.geeksphone.com/
Form factor: Full screen candy-bar with flat sliding keyboard
OS: Android-based OS with custom UI
Platform: Qualcomm 7×25 Baseband
Processor: 528 MHz ARM11 (ARM1136EJ-S) Jazelle™ series
Chipset: Qualcomm MSM7225
DSP/RIL: Qualcomm radioOne QDSP5000
RAM: 256Mb mDDR
ROM: 256Mb NAND
Radio: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 & HSPA 2100 (7.2mbps/5.7mbps)
Antenna: Ethertronics Hi-Gain active omni antenna (GSM/WiFi/GPS/BT)
Display: 3.2” WQVGA Fujitsu MVA hybrid-resistive touchscreen
Keyboard: Virtual and 40-key physical QWERTY slider (d-pad and fn keys)
Camera (main): 3.1 megapixel HD camera with AutoFocus
Camera (front): 0.3 megapixel fixed-focus camera
WiFi: Marvell 802.11 b/g
GPS: SirfStar3 with DGPS (WAAS/EGNOS)
A-GPS: Ephemeris QuickFix™ with database auto-update (fetnet server)
Bluetooth: long range BT 2.1 compliant
USB: MicroUSB Client (U-Disk system with SD Reader and USB-modem)
Accelerometer/E-Compass: Yes (3-axis) / No
Storage: up to 32GB via MicroSD (SDHC & SDIO standards)
F-Keys: Call (green), Hang (Red), Multifunction (White), Camera, Volume slider (with mute lock), Power & 3 virtual keys (Menu/Home/Back)
Audio Subsystem: Wolfson DAC/CODEC (ALSA)
Speakers: 2×1 watt RMS wide-range speakers
Microphone: high-end dynamic microphone with digital noise suppression
Headset jack: 3.5mm Headset/Handsfree minijack
Battery: 1110 mAh 3.7V Li-Po
Size/Weight: 110 x 55 x 14 mm / 123g
Others: Includes a retractile stylus; Biodegradable plastic housing.
Don’t get me wrong, i’m happy for another android phone out there…. But it’s the same specs. We want More POOOOOWER!
yeah…this doesn’t have geek-worthy specs :(
I want an alienware phone. They know what we really want…
I agree, if you are going to have “Geek Phone” in your name, it better be a true geek phone. That is the most plain jane phone i’ve seen and the specs are nothing out of the ordinary. I was expecting something to blow my mind in specs and in the hardware. *Tisk Tisk*
Looks great, features are pretty good, still too much though.
it doesn’t have to have the specs to be geeky. It could be able to root without having to find an exploit. It could be another openmoko…but it isn’t.
I’m a geek…and i do NOT approve of the resistive screen.
Fail.
It sucks! No power, its ugly and it looks cheap!
imitation Cliq!
I kind of like it. It’s simple, gets the job done, and looks decent. It stacks up pretty well with my wish list: 3.5 mm headphone jack, usb, up to 32gb SDHC card, qwerty, wifi, bluetooth, and it runs android too! Is it running 2.0 or what? I like the UI.
The only thing that is missing is global touch support. I know that it’s possible with hardware, but people are going to whine until you can swipe your finger to go to the next picture and pinch and zoom EVERYWHERE. Have we learned nothing from the iPhone? Pinch+Zoom WORKS. Use it!
No 1700MHz = no T-Mobile 3G? :(
This phone is already sale in Russia with different name: http://vobis.ru/product/highscreen-zeus/, the price about 400$
Looks like many already said what I came here to say. The phone is not geek-cred worthy. Just an ordinary or possibly shitty phone.
Put in a Qualcomm Snapdragon, provide root access, open up the hardware where possible, etc. *Then* you can get to call it a geek phone.
Keyboard looks nice. Display not so much…comparing to Droid/Eris.
@Noah Y – I know…as underpowered as this is, it would seem it would fit right in with the rest of T-Mo’s lineup. ; )
@SK – Well said. I can see the “Geek Phone” not being flashy on the outside, but it *must* be flashy on the inside. If anyone released a Snapdragon phone with root access out of the box, they’d have instant geek cred.
the ultimate geek phone should also have a usb host port.
reminds me of a touch pro.
Well it’s not especially powerful, but it does have 2 speakers, a rear AND front facing camera, keyboard, and stylus. Name one android that has those? Maybe they’re not your killer features, but it should find a niche. Video calling anyone? Additionally, it might be rootable without requiring an exploit.
oooooooooooooo a stylus… neato
I went to their site and found this message explaining that they mean by “geek”:
http://forum.geeksphone.com/index.php?topic=47.0
And several questions suggest that the phone won’t have the Android Market, but my wife will be happy to know that it has a “vibrator” feature :-) Really, they should rename that to “vibrate”
In addition, this phone is not targeted for the US, so you Americans should probably forget about this one for now. From an admin response in the forum: “EDGE will work everywhere. And 3G will work everywhere except the US and a few more places.” (http://forum.geeksphone.com/index.php?topic=30.msg319#msg319)
Resistive touchscreen? Lol.
This being posted from my DROID (which has to be spelled in. All caps, just because) I’m not intrigued at all. Granted, this could potentially be a nice addition to the android market as a cheap pre paid deal?
To sum this phone up…its like getting a SEGA CD for christmas ’09…its just bullshit.
I know this drum has been beaten to death, but…WHY WHY WHY won’t manufacturers stop stupidly using the 528MHz Qualcomm processors? They are OBSOLETE. Sure, I’m sure the new stuff costs more, but people are willing to pay more for better performance. Why do you think graphics card companies can retail their top models for $600-700? Some gaming nuts pay thousands of dollars to build custom gaming machines, and look at what people do to customize their cars. People are willing to pay for good performance, so PLEASE SELL GOOD PERFORMANCE!!! *whew* Okay, that’s the end of my rant. Sorry. It’s just that I feel like smacking somebody every time I see a new phone’s spec sheet with 528MHz listed on it.
that’s a very good question and you have the answer: none of the phones have targeted the ‘gaming nuts’ yet and there was no spec war as a result. If you are content with flash games and tip calculators then you’re not going to care if one phone has a 1 ghz cpu and the other has an nvidia gpu.
But once the phonemakers go after gamers there will be a major spec war and that will lower prices for everyone else.