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Motorola To Release Linux and Java-based Phone/PDA
clapton_fan writes "Motorola will release a combination phone / PDA this year in Asia using the Linux operating system and Java software. No U.S. release date set." It also packs a camera, Bluetooth, and a media player. Looks pretty sharp too. Update: 02/15 15:25 GMT by CN : Whoops. We mentioned this a couple days ago, but this time around there's pictures!
For my internship I have been developing software for mobile phones such as this one, using the Java 2 MicroEdition.
:-) But for decent fast working software, please, please use C++ on these things.
Most applications were games, because that is what the market appears to be interested in. (The youth who wants to look cool with the latest Nokia).
Unfortunately, this shrinked-down version of Java is as slow as it's big brother, and not great for gaming. The alternative is SymbianOS programming, which is done in C++ and thus much, much faster.
The bad thing about this is that Symbian is not implemented on many phones.
I don't want Java to be removed from phones, because with Java my mother can still write working code
But now I see that Linux is used, you can expect a C/C++ subsystem which can possible be used.
Well, it *is* an exciting story! In that case, here's a recently updated including recently released photos of the device from linuxdevices.com . . .
Motorola, currently the world's #2 maker of mobile phones ("handsets") with an estimated worldwide market share of 19%, today unveiled a major shift in its embedded software strategy. For future handset designs, Motorola is going with a combination of an embedded Linux operating system and Java-based middleware, along with full multimedia functionality.
The A760 handset (pictured at left and below), Motorola's initial Linux/Java handset offering, combines the functions of a mobile phone, PDA, digital camera, video player, MP3 player, speakerphone, messaging, Internet access, and Bluetooth wireless technology. Motorola says they will initially launch the A760 in Asia in 2003. Its embedded Linux OS was supplied by MontaVista Software.
To provide added perspective, LinuxDevices.com brings you this Special Report which includes the text of the Motorola announcement, and also provides a roundup of some of the many international news stories surrounding this important development . . .
Nokia makes development kits for their phones. One of them runs on linux. I think you can't generalize, but I do know to my cost that although Siemens claims that their development kit is freely downloadable, it was too difficult for me to figure out how to do it. I stupidly bought a cheap Siemens phone with the intention of trying out development on it, but couldn't fight my way through their registration process - even though I've tried using Windows! I've learned my lesson. My next phone will be a Nokia.
Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
Why not? People are already doing that with Nokias Symbian-phones for example. Why would the phone-company be interested what software you run on your phone? Well, maybe it's different in US but here (Finland and rest of Europe) that isn't the case.
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
I've had mine for about 4 months and I still love it. I'm using the crow rom which runs from the SD card instead of a ramdisk. Resume is a bit pokey, 5 seconds or so before you can actually do anything with it. Stable as hell, there's been a couple of times when it's gone wonky. Haven't found a really usable compiler tool chain for it, and haven't gotten a cross-compiler setup on one of my other systems yet. I've got apache, php, and mysql running nicely, though without the options I would have chosen if compiling them myself. Battery life could definately be better, about an hour of hard use with wireless, 4 hours taking care not to drain it too fast, off and on usage for me goes about a week without charging. So far all the browsers I've tried are adaquate for occasional usage, but run into problems with anything complex. All in all, it feels like the ultimate evil genius tool. Tend to giggle when bringing up a mysql prompt on a text console with the realiazation that everything is running local.