I said I'd never blog

I have managed yesterday to release a new snapshot of the DeforaOS smartphone environment, as found packaged on top of the hackable:1 distribution. Unfortunately, there is still one obvious blocker bug before it can be easily tested as a real phone at the moment: as it seems, the modem "forgets" the PIN code a few seconds after accepting it, and is then unable to register correctly.
Of course, my current plan is to investigate and fix this as soon as possible (with a new snapshot). Yet, among the changes since the last release of the environment, you will already find:

• a new finger keyboard, with popup keys (and using Gtk+' theme)
• the addition of a phone log;
• preferences windows for the phone application;
• the return of the background picture, and a preferences window to easily change it;
• last but not least, the final version of my initial attempt at SMS encryption.

With this, I will continue my work on the user experience:

• fix and update the web browser (broken since the switch to Debian testing);
• continue improvements to the finger keyboard (bigger keys, multiple layouts)
• nicer Gtk+ theme and artwork if I manage (screenshots!)
• more actual tests and usability improvements to the phone application;
• power management;
• GPRS support.

I have also begun to implement an application to configure access to wireless networks, with wpa_supplicant's help. It will take another while though.

For more information, as always, check either http://www.defora.org/, the IRC channel of hackable:1 (#hackable1 on Freenode), the respective mailing-lists (devel@lists.defora.org, hackable1-dev@lists.hackable1.org...) or even, feel free to contact me directly of course: http://people.defora.org/~khorben/place/wiki/13/Contact

And before I forget, the snapshot itself is announced and available there: http://www.defora.org/os/news/3394/New-snapshot-of-the-DeforaOS-smartphone