02 Joggler - Worth buying regardless of the new price?

Ola,

Seen this on offer for £50, and IMO seems like a bargain, but the only useful thing people seem to use it for is Internet Radio, but that's about it. I know there is a few games and I think a browser, but not exactly worth £50 tbh as I don't really listen to radio at all.

I have heard they can be hacked to run Linux, that would be worth the £50 easily as I'm guessing that's like a tablet PC for £50, but some people have been having trouble doing it and I am guessing it totally voids the warranty and is there anyway of getting the original OS back on it?

All confusing, but does anyone have one/hacked one etc?

I just got one on Friday, it's certainly not perfect out of the box but it's got a lot of potential and most of it's problems seem to be software related rather than hardware.

I haven't tried hacking mine yet but I'm probably going to have a go at doing something about the backlight to start with, and maybe hack in a few of the apps that are available. And O2 released the official app store over the weekend, though there's not a lot there at the moment.

If you've got £50 spare there's a lot worse things to spend it on!

For the hardware £50 is a bargain, the O2 offering is 'ok' no amazing must have features but the radio (limited to 100 stations though & most of those of no relevance to me) is good.
Youtube is good but gimmicky, will never get used. MP3/video playback is good but no FF/RW and no playlists/etc so it's quite a pain.

On the otherhand...it's £50, its a gadget. The was already a forum dedicated to hacking but someone over on HUKD decided to start another (I reckon as they wanted title of 'Site founder') and it seems more popular than the old one. Some versions running linux but no definitive guide or feature set (ie sounds used to not work properly under linux)

The are already guides on how to get apps from the manufacturer (that O2 dont have) on it Facebook/etc which I've not tried yet as waiting for my second unit to arrive so I always have a working one!

My main gripe at the moment is that the backlight won't shut off completely so I can't use it properly in my bedroom but I've seen a hack for that.

Hmm.

So It's kinda like a gadget that is pretty cheap but not really needed?

I'd use it for Maps, Facebook, Music, Radio, Games etc.

So basically it's all fairly new from the looks of things, so it does have a lot of potential I am guessing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Salazaar

My main gripe at the moment is that the backlight won't shut off completely so I can't use it properly in my bedroom but I've seen a hack for that.

---

I'm going to put my second in my room (if the Wifi range is ok) where did you see the hack? :)

Excellent hardware, poorly implemented OS. Has lots of potential though.

Some really basic stuff missing - For example, I'll never use the Sports news or traffic, but I can't (that I've found yet!) rearrange or remove their icons. Useful stuff (alarm, connect and play) are hidden behind sub menus.

Still, hopefully the drop in price will help get them on the market and people developing for them. Just waiting for a 4GB USB stick to arrive and then I'll have a crack at installing Ubuntu on there.

Edit: Found out how to re-arrange apps!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jiff Lemon

Edit: Found out how to re-arrange apps!

---

Yep, took a while for me too!

Hold down & choose 'move' for anyone who doesn't know!

I've had a quick go at some basic hacking (thanks to the joggler.info forums) and I've got the screen to shut off after 2 minutes of activity. So I can keep it in my bedroom :D

I just hope someone writes a good alarm clock app soon.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rob_B

I'm going to put my second in my room (if the Wifi range is ok) where did you see the hack? :)

---

This to enable telnet access.

And this for the hack itself.

If you're not familiar with Linux (like me) it's not completely obvious but it's easy enough to piece together.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Salazaar

I've had a quick go at some basic hacking (thanks to the joggler.info forums) and I've got the screen to shut off after 2 minutes of activity. So I can keep it in my bedroom :D

I just hope someone writes a good alarm clock app soon.



This to enable telnet access.

And this for the hack itself.

If you're not familiar with Linux (like me) it's not completely obvious but it's easy enough to piece together.

---

Halfway through it now :) EDIT Almost screwed up editing it, those commands are really user friendly aren't they?...#ahem#

Now using this guide to get Facebook & the alarm :)

Isn't there an alarm clock app on joggler.info?

Yay I have Facebook! Now to get a few more on there!

Calender, Facebook, dilbert, alarm, media weather, googlemaps and RSS feeds all on mine so far.

In fact, I've nearly replaced all the O2 apps!

Mine arrived at 7.10 pm :O_o1:, anyhow I started to fiddle about with it while watching Messi destroy Arsenal :D. I admit its quite a nifty device, the stock o2 software is not the best but at £50 I am not complaining.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jiff Lemon

Calender, Facebook, dilbert, alarm, media weather, googlemaps and RSS feeds all on mine so far.

In fact, I've nearly replaced all the O2 apps!

---

Where are you getting all these apps from? Is it the o2 store?

Theres some progress being made on Mer to run on it which would make it a sweet device

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shadowmaster

Where are you getting all these apps from? Is it the o2 store?

---

over here. Most of them are from the US makers (openframe). Some need a little tweaking for before use, all need you to have telnet access to the device to install.

I installed alarm last night but unfortunately it seems to have the exact same functionality as the O2 version. Back to the drawing board for now. I wonder how hard it it to learn how to code in flash...?

ECMAScript is bad enough.

ActionScript is just fricken fugly.

I considered it, but to be honest I would wait a bit as there is a new version of the openframe out/coming out which is faster and looking much better - Openframe 7

http://www.openpeak.com/OpenFrame7.php

o2 seem to be clearing out stocks of the old one now, and since the concept itself is pretty neat, even at £99, there is a good chance they will be releasing the new one also imo. They may even consider the opentablet 7 as an alternative or in addition - especially with the iPad about to be launched. The iPad is useless for its (expected) price and for what Apple intend it for - but for this kind of application with a dock/mount included it becomes a much better proposition..

I'd definitely consider an openframe 7 (or joggler equivalent)..if the price was right!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheAnimus

ECMAScript is bad enough.

ActionScript is just fricken fugly.

---

No probably not worth considering with almost zero programming experience what so ever...?

Well depends, its kind of like drinking Smirnoff if you've never had any alcohol before. It tastes bad, but because you've never had any good vodka, you don't know how bad it really is.

If you want to learn to program, you need a reason, something to drive you to do it, if the fact that you know you can turn the joggler into something better is a reason then you make the best of the tools at your disposal.

Might be worth pursuing as a new hobby then. It's gotta beat spending my evenings necking bottles of Smirnoff :p