O2 Joggler - £50

[The Hoff]

Spotted one of these on HUKD, figured why not and bought one.

They got mixed reviews when launched, but have since improved. Basically a 7" touchscreen with WIFI, Internet Radio, streaming abilities (DivX, AVI usual codecs), can function as a photo frame (via local USB, HDD, NAS or Flickr App), clock radio, calendar (Google and O2), fees apps on store like Twitter, FB and others. Also provides news headlines, weather, and Google maps (with trafficmaster updates).

The killer for me, is will run Ubuntu Netbook, via USB, currently a lot of activity on the community with regard to hacking it. Couple have Ubuntu (with touch support) and are using it as a tablet, and some other nice ideas.

The problem? Well, it has no battery, there are people trying to find a solution (like portable power packs). But for £50 (reduced on O2 store as of April 2nd) as a touchscreen WIFI gadget, I thought I'd order one.

It's an alternative to the iPad, if you squint. Except it supports Flash 10 out of the box

 

[daydotz]

Might be interesting to see how the hacks work

 

[sneeks]

I bought one, seemed interesting enough for £50 but after only a day of use the screen on it fucked up so I returned it for a refund today. Lots of concerns online regarding reliability so I decided to to get a replacement.

 

[Gavin.]

just picked up one of these today, nice piece of kit for £50. all it seems to be missing is a browser

 

[Dyewitness]

seen this on hukd as well, anyone able to post some photos and show it in use?

 

[biojo]

Well its made by these http://www.openpeak.com/OpenFrame.php

so if u can find a way to change software you might get other apps available for it

 

[Gavin.]

just managed to install the facebook app which works ok but seems to freeze and also modified the alarm clock to play full length track from the music folder

 

[The Hoff]

Nice, I won't have mine for another 2 weeks as I'm out of the country. Heard they can be a little temperamental, but are very well made.

I plan to use mine with my Flickr, or as a USB driven photo frame for the most part, but heard that after an hour it dims the screen or something, will be trying to find a way around that if it's true.

What are your first impressions, care to write a little summary?

 

[sneeks]

You can root into the device and alter or disable the screen dimming.

See here for more hacks etc

http://www.joggler.info/

 

[Gavin.]

Nice, I won't have mine for another 2 weeks as I'm out of the country. Heard they can be a little temperamental, but are very well made.

I plan to use mine with my Flickr, or as a USB driven photo frame for the most part, but heard that after an hour it dims the screen or something, will be trying to find a way around that if it's true.

What are your first impressions, care to write a little summary?

I tried to install the flickr app lastnight but the file was missing off of the server , still havnt quite got my head around adding adds yet, facebook worked but i added two more that havnt appeared.

Its not a bad piece of kit for £50, couple of niggles

1. the screen is still to bright for a bedroom on its dimmest setting, i ended up unplugging it last night.

2. my sky news app hasnt updated since the 7th of april 12:45 ???

3. appshop has very little although it only launched on the 1st april

4. youtube videos seem jerky when on full screen, but stuff off of the usb drive is fine

apart from that its great

im thinking of flashing it with the openpeak firmware though as it seems their is more choice on apps/useability although from what i understand you lose the text function

 

[MikeC]

Stupid question, but I assume you need an O2 sim or this requires a monthly fee to go online?

 

[Gavin.]

no not at all, it has a sim built is so you can send texts off the device. you have 50 to start off with and then i assume you have to buy more.

as for the online stuff its all over wifi/ethernet cable

 

[MikeC]

Ohhhh ok... made it that little bit more tempting at £50!

 

[The Hoff]

Pretty quick community effort behind this.

First came Ubuntu, then came enabling of iPlayer, and now we have people working on Android which they have working with touch.

Really impressive device for not a lot of money, just need some sort of decent battery solution.

 

[Gavin.]

which forums are you looking at Hoff? im looking at joggler.info at the mo.

i have telnet fully working on it and am trying to get ssh working to make everything a bit easier

 

[Gavin.]

now have full ssh/scp access

 

[Gavin.]

now have bbc iplayer working too, awesome bit of kit this thing

 

[The Hoff]

Yeah, the rate of development is awesome. I'm watching HUKD deal thread, and joggler.info, but there's also hackthejoggler forum as well.

Can't wait to get hacking on mine, hoping by the time I get it there will be a nice Android image for me to DL ]

How you finding streaming, iPlayer and from PC host? Also interested to hear if you got Flickr working?

 

[Gavin.]

havnt got as far as looking at the android bit yet, streaming is fine bbc1 was a little rough but the rest were ok.

i cant fing a link to the flickr software, the one on joggler.info is down

 

[fulhamfcboy]

These seem to have gone back up to £99? Anyone know otherwise?

 

[sneeks]

The reduced price was only ever planned for 2-3 weeks.

 

[timmmah]

Do you have to have a o2 SIM in to operate this?

I quite fancied using it just on the Wifi and having all the apps running.

 

[The Hoff]

Nope, stand alone though you get a free PAYG SIM with it. Only function relying on the SIM is the messaging function [send/receive SMS].

Seems there's a fully working idiot proof [patched] version of Ubuntu now, though they also have Android and Crunchbang working, all via a USB pendrive.

 

[Gavin.]

^got Ubuntu running on mine with a keyboard and mouse its great, just plug everything into a hub. Works great

 

[DeeKay86]

^got Ubuntu running on mine with a keyboard and mouse its great, just plug everything into a hub. Works great

So you can use it like a netbook??

 

[Gavin.]

basically yes, touch screen works too but the onscreen keyboard can be very fiddly. it has open office on the image too. you dont even have to hack/modify the joggler it all runs off an external usb stick, remove it reboot and its back to its own os

 

[timmmah]

Anyway of still picking these up for cheap, or do I now have to pay £100?

 

[DeeKay86]

so in theory i could get one of these, run ubuntu(or whatever else) off usb, plug in a usb keyboard and mouse, slip in an o2 mobile broadband sim card and use it as an online netbook!

How much can the hardward handle? I mean, can I go on firefox lets say and open up a good few tabs without it lagging like crazy and crashing?

does it support flash??

could I also connect an external hard drive and watch movies off it?

many thanks, this is getting interesting!

 

[Gavin.]

ok,

it has wireless built in so no broadband sim card needed, also has a payg sim built in (non removable) as you can send and receive texts on the standard os.

The hardware seems ok to handle what is thrown at it as far as unbuntu is concerened but from what i can figure, as it runs completely of a usb stick the transfer rate for said usb stick is what causes the bottle neck in terms of performance.

flash works fine

Not 100% sure on the external drive, if you flashed the image to say an **gb drive i assume that will give you plenty of storage space for movies etc. Mine is ony running on a 4gb sandisc drive, it has about 2.1gb free after the image is installed on it

And they are now at £100 as the offer was only on for 2 weeks, maybe try the bay?

 

[DeeKay86]

Cool thanks Gman!! helped a lot!!

 

[Gavin.]

not a problem mate, glad to help.

Plenty on ebay worth keeping an eye on, lol at someone trying to sell free software on a usb stick

http://electronics.shop.ebay.co.uk/...oggler&_catref=1&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282

 

[NB 02 HOT]

these are back at £50. People who have had them a while... Still think they're worth getting?

 

[MikeC]

Still contemplating, getting mixed reviews! But for £50, you can't go far wrong?

 

[Gavin.]

yup well worth it and yes they are back at £50 till the end of may

http://shop.o2.co.uk/joggler

 

[katg]

Win, maybe i'll get another... there great little machines, think if i get another i might try and mount it in the glove box with a HDD and run everything off it, makes a great bedside table media hub

 

[katg]

also from reading the comments above, they don't actually have a sim in them iirc, you get a number to send and recieve txts to and from, but it's using the internet messaging service, so u need to be connected to ethernet or wifi to send and receive, but also means that if you want to use the feature you don't need o2 signal.

 

[Mells]

Nope, stand alone though you get a free PAYG SIM with it. Only function relying on the SIM is the messaging function [send/receive SMS].

Seems there's a fully working idiot proof [patched] version of Ubuntu now, though they also have Android and Crunchbang working, all via a USB pendrive.

Any links to the ubuntu, android dowloads...?

 

[Mot!]

They don't have an internal SIM, texts are sent and received just like they are on o2 webtext.

I've ordered one, can't wait to have a play!

Anyone after a cheap pen drive - currys are selling a 4GB M2 memory card with USB reader for £4.95, I picked one up the other day and it's tiny..should do the trick nicely.

Gonna try and turn mine into a kitchen TV/Radio..

 

[katg]

Any links to the ubuntu, android dowloads...?

best ubuntu netbook remix i found was stephen fords method here:
http://www.stephenford.org/joggler/

it's a good base to have it working and try stuff, and a useful base to continue trying stuff as you'll have the bootloader then.

a good place for general info would be the joggler wiki: http://jogglerwiki.info/index.php?title=Main_Page really gd for finding out hardware based hacks too.

Not sure if the problems fixed, i haven't heard anything so i assume not, so do not do any updates as it currently destroys x, so unless you like bash stay away from that

 

[Mells]

Got mine up and running. Cheers for the links!

I've got to say I'm really impressed with the build quality. Even the box is well put together.

Well worth £50 imo!