OpenMoko, the open-source Linux cellphone developer behind the FreeRunner handset and the Dash Express GPS unit, have taken the design-your-own-handset process one step beyond offering a custom software platform by making the CAD files for creating a suitable casing open-source as well. Users can now create prototype and one-off designs either for production on a CNC machine or for full-scale manufacture.
“With your current phone, you might be able to change the skin, add some rhinestones. Inconsequential customization. With this, you can change the physical shell”Steve Mosher, OpenMoko
“Freeing up the source allows people to invent things we couldn’t have imagined … People look at the platform, and say ‘Hey, I can do something with this’” Steve Mosher, OpenMoko
OpenMoko are claiming that their target audience remains “makers of things”, the engineers and designers who prompt development. The CAD files are offered in Pro Engineer format and under the creative commons licence.
The next reference handset from the company is expected in April this year.
[via Wired]
As an Industrial Designer I felt a little envy of the Open Source community of programmers when I first discovered the Neo 1973. I had just found a new attitude as well as a device that promised to cure all the problems of current handheld communications/computing devices; yet the only way I could be part of this new “ubiquitous computing” frontier would be as an early adopter or beta tester.
Since the CAD files for the first model have become available I now feel I can contribute to the Open Community myself and have as much fun as the programmers have had with the OS and applications, but with the device (I resist to call it just a phone) shape itself!
My first contribution to OpenMoko’s initiative is also possibly what most users would buy right after the phone itself; a flexible skin that fits snugly the Neo’s outer surfaces and provides a rugged feeling to either the Neo 1973 or the upcoming Freerunner (they share the same outer geometry).
I have added a new section to my website where you can view all my future concepts and accessories for any OpenMoko powered device as well as download any 3D CAD files and graphics I used to create the projects themselves under the Creative Commons license. Anyone is welcome to download actual CNC machinable Class “A” surfaces for the NeoSkin project as well as any other accessory or case design I come up for the Neos.
Best Regards,
Guillermo Sureda-Burgos | http://www.sureda.org