Free (Iliad) has just announced the Freedom v6 Révolution on the 14th of December 2010. This solution that offers 28 Mbps internet access, digital television (IPTV/DVB), telephony (DECT, VoIP, Mobile…), Network Access Storage (NAS) and Gaming is actually based on two boxes designed by Philippe Starck:
- Freebox server: Handles networking (ADSL 2+ /wifi), NAS, telephony…
- Freebox player: Handles multimedia functions with the blu-ray player, digital television support…
Free also released the technical specifications for both devices:
Technical Specification of Freebox Server
- ADSL / ADSL2+ ANSI T1 413 / ITU G.992.1, G.992.3, G.992.5 Annex A
- 4 Ethernet ports 10 / 100 / 1000 Base-T
- SFP Port
- 2 USB 2.0 Ports
- e-SATA Port
- Stereo audio input/output with integrated speakers
- FXS Port (Telephony)
- WiFi 802.11b/g/n 3×3 450 Mbps 2.4 Ghz
- Base Station DECT CAT I/Q
- Internal 250 GB Hard Disk
- ARM9 Processor @ 1.2GHz with 512 MB RAM
- Noise < 37dB (while HDD is working)
- WiFi Authentication: WiFi WEP 64 and 128 bits / WPA / WPA2 – MAC Address Restriction – WPS
- DHCP server
- NAT / DNS / Firewall
- FTP server / Web administration
- CIFS / SAMBA server (NAS)
- Audio/Radio streaming server
- BT / HTTP / FTP download server
- Support for NTFS / FAT32 / Ext4 (RW) file systems
- Power Supply: 12V DC / 3A max
- Dimensions (W x H x D) : 310 x 70 x 220 mm
- Weight : 1.5kg
Technical Specifications of Freebox Player
- Multimedia Connections: USB Peripherals, via UPnP
- Supported Picture Formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG
- Supported Audio Formats: MP1, MPEG4 AAC
- Supported Video Codecs: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VC1, DivX
- Processor: Intel Atom CE4100 @ 1.2 Ghz
- Blu-ray DVD Player: CD-DA, CD-ROM ; CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD+-R DVD+-RW, BD-ROM, BD-R, BR-RE
- DTT Tuner: DVB-T ETSI EN 300 744
- Audio support: Mono, Stereo, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS 2.0 + Digital out
- Video Outputs: SCART , HDMI 1.3 up to 1080p60.
- Power Supply : 12V DC, 700mW (60mA) max (Standby), 15W (1.3) max (Video playback) 25W (2A) max (DVD + Video)
- Dimensions: (W x H x D) : 310 x 70 x 220 mm
- Weight: 2 kg
This product looks quite impressive. For 29.99 Euro per month (Internet access) and 6 Euros box rental fee you’ll get:
- 28Mpbs ADSL2+ internet access
- Free Wifi when you connect to any of all other 3 million Freebox
- Web TV Support
- Public Fixed IP (Very useful for remote access)
- Free phone calls to 103 countries and to mobile phones in France
- Internet FAX Support
- Over 400 TV Channels (179 free of charge)
- Replay Programs within 7 Days (out of a selection of 33 channels)
- Video On Demand (VoD)
- Multiple TV support (You’ll need one Freebox Player per TY)
- DECT Base Station with support for up to 8 DECT handset.
- Power Over Ethernet (PoE) support via “FreePlugs”
- Gyroscopic Remote (Similar to Wii Remote)
- A Game Console with 3D graphics performance between a Wii and a PlayStation 3. A Gamepad is included.
As you can see from the Freebox player technical specs, Intel Atom CE4100 powers the box. This is the same processor as Sony Google TV, so it could potentially support Google TV in the future if Free wishes to do so or if there is enough demand for it.
In the meantime, the software and user interface of the Freebox Player looks pretty neat as you can see in the video showcasing the web browser below.
Gameloft partnered with Free to provide games for the platform. At the launch (6th January 2011) there will be 5 games: Asphalt 5, Uno, Real Football 2011, Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance (NOVA) and Let’s Golf 2.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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For those of you planning to develop apps for the Freebox Revolution, you may be able to use Elixir http://elixir.freebox.fr/ a programming language based on Javascript. However, it seems it only works on the Freebox and only for 2D games, so that may not be very enticing for developers.
It seems Free (Iliad) is really focusing on development companies (e.g. Gameloft) to provide applications to its FreeStore (Marketplace for Freebox) rather than the community of developers.
Freebox also has a development site http://dev.freebox.fr/blog/, but it only lists the available firmware updates and the corresponding changelog. (in French only)