Steamd

Yesterday, I talked about a member of the Free Software Foundation and his 5 reasons to avoid the iPhone. What struck me was that this guy is willing to sacrifice quality for the freedom from proprietary software and corporate ties. That kind of philosophy is all fine and dandy and I would applaud him for his efforts, but when I saw what he claimed was the alternative I couldn’t help but laugh. One look at the phone and interface told me everything I needed to know, that this thing was an absolute piece of shit.

Today, I watched a few videos by Dave Fayram off of the Vimeo site where he reviews and shows a comparison of the OpenMoko powered FreeRunner and the iPhone. It’s very clear that this phone has absolutely no comparison to the iPhone:

OpenMoko Train Wreck from Dave Fayram on Vimeo.

Wow! The keyboard alone has me wondering what the hell the developers were thinking. And the shitty scrolling? Please. Even if I shared the same philosophy as the FSF, an interface like that would be completely unacceptable to me. I wouldn’t use it. Period.

Plus, the thing is practically twice as thick as an iPhone. In fact, I think it’s even thicker than the Treo 750 I used to use. The thing resembles a f@#king hockey puck for Pete’s sake. Talk about a really shitty form factor!

More OpenMoko Train Wrecking (Now with Qt!) from Dave Fayram on Vimeo.

My god, is that interface slow!

And it doesn’t play MP3’s? Really? The most popular audio file format and it doesn’t play it. But, hey, it plays Ogg Vorbis files! Awesome! Now I can convert all my existing MP3 and ACC encoded files into Ogg files and waste more time just so my music can sound more shitty. Great idea!

And how many times does he have to tap the same button before it does anything? I mean, really, come on! That by far is one of the biggest blunders of interface design I’ve ever seen! Instant show stopper in my book.

Text entry is God awful. I’ve used Treo’s, played with Blackberry’s, and many, many other types of smart phones and I’ve never seen text entry as bad as this. What a f@$king joke!

I know what the guy from FSF would respond with to my post. He would say that to buy an iPhone or any other phone that requires proprietary software would go against his philosophy. That’s fine. If that’s what you believe and you don’t want to have anything to do with any phone like that then that’s your choice. But to make unfounded claims in an attempt to prove your point is a big mistake. Until you’ve used these phones and really have taken the time to understand what these phones are really all about then how can you have any sort of educated opinion.

The thing I’ve learned is that even though I support open source software I know that it’s unrealistic to think that all software can be open and free. Hell, it’s highly unrealistic to think that you can avoid any proprietary corporate ties in this day in age. Just about everything you use and buy is proprietary in some way or has ties to a corporation. People work to make money. Corporations exist to make money. Regardless of whether you’re developing open source or proprietary software the whole point in doing it is to make money in some shape, fashion, or form. Open source software survives not because of its openness but because developers have found way to profit off it and have learned that good product design is a must if you are to compete with companies that develop proprietary software.

Again, I bought an iPhone because I wanted the best phone I could buy that would suit my needs and integrate into my lifestyle well. The iPhone is the best phone for me. Now, whether it’s the best phone for someone else, well, that’s a matter of personal preference and taste. Apple didn’t put a spell on me. I didn’t buy one just because of all the hoopla surrounding it. No, I bought it because I feel it’s the best smart phone out there. If anyone making open source software for smart phones wants to compete they’re going to have to really create something extraordinary, something so well designed that your average layman simply has to have it. That’s what Apple did with the iPhone. Sure, marketing and advertising helped, but even then the product speaks for itself. Can OpenMako do the same with the FreeRunner?

To say that a FreeRunner is SO much better just because it’s open and supports the philosophy of the FSF, that’s a delusional statement at best. I just don’t get the willingness to sacrifice useability and good design on a somewhat misguided philosophy. The FreeRunner is so poorly designed in both hardware and software I just don’t understand how anyone can look at it and say that it’s an acceptable product. Claiming it to be good enough is accepting mediocrity based on a misguided belief over the use of open source software, which is something I absolutely refuse to do. Now, if it is perfectly acceptable to you then buy one and use it. If not, you will have no choice but to consider a proprietary phone. As it stands though I will likely never ever use anything that resembles the FreeRunner simply because it is mediocre. It it was something that actually came close to the iPhone I could see it, but otherwise I’ll pass.

Keep your piece of shit open phone. I’m perfectly happy with my proprietary phone, thank you very much.