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Linux Powers Motorola's Smart Phone
An anonymous reader writes "Motorola unveiled the A760 at CeBIT and claims the handset is the first in the world to blend the open source operating system with Java software. As well as Linux, the A760 has onboard a camera, diary, e-mail program, MP3 player, speakerphone and colour touchscreen."
It seems cool I suppose, I just hope that they are using linux on the phone because it has a genuine advantage over the alternatives, not just to say they run linux on their phones, to appeal to the geek crowd or whatnot.
I would expect such blatant racism on Fark, but on Slashdot? Mods please ban this asshole.
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well this little thing looks like a really nifty tool. it does not have java plastered all over it, but it will probably run java if you want as well as the sources are open. it also does not have a color screen which has limited use in a pda imho, atleast as long as the pda does not have a camera build in. but this thing has everything else you could wish for in a pda/phone and i dont even use sms so i doubt i will use mms
Could be interesting with a built in camera you could do live web serving on location, without any special equipment.
It won't be long (I'm assuming within 10 years) before you come to work, put your phone into your docking station, and use it as your desktop. The UI on the phone itself will be just a special-purpose program running on a general-purpose computer.
I personally can't wait.
Non-US customers can ignore this post and might actually enjoy all the next generation gadgets. How is life in the 24th century?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
All that stuff is nice and dandy, but if I have to retype it all in via keypad, it'll never get used. Why don't all cell phones sync with a PC?
have to have java smeared all over it? Sure its nice, and (hopefully) has the advantage of being easy to port games to from other mobiles, but unless you compiled it somehow, you would end up with a lot slower phone (my biggest gripe with my t68i is that its slow). I also happen to think that java is a horrible language, but that doesnt have much bearing on its inclusion, except to say that I am biased on this subject.
What I really like about the idea of running linux on a phone though would be the ability to completely change the way it works - install a scripting language, and start writing all manner of hacks. Some ideas I can come up with off the top of my head:
- an sms spam filter
- general sms filter to say have a different ringtone for family members, or simply forward to a seperate inbox without notifying you when your gf annoyingly messages you during lectures (okay thats wishful thinking about the having a gf part).
- (assuming it has bluetooth / GPS) different profiles depending on where you are - say turn off the ringer automatically when in a lecture theatre/meeting room (GPS), or turning up the ring volume when leaving your room (bluetooth going out of range).
- Making your own games (nethack anyone). Sorry, just had to put that one in.
- SMS auto responder
- SMS compressor/expander - converts your text in2 sms spk tht nobdy cn undrstnd 2 fit more on a line, and more importantly, translate back what little it can understand of anyone elses sms speak. On a similar note.. proper compression (gzip?) and encryption - a bit less useful re phone compatbility.
- IM client (again on the better SMS theme) - using GPRS/bluetooth/3g/whatever connection it can get.
- A console app... no linux box/brick is complete without this one, although typing in 5557777 to get a listing would be far to much hassle.
Oh yeah.. phones have voice capability as well dont they?
- encrypted voice phones (James bond anyone)
- Voice changer - phones already have a dsp in there.. if they made it easy to access....
- Client side voice mail - a lot more configurable - different messages for different callers, call fielding like traditional answering machines (listen to their message then pick up).
- Okay, completely off the wall... access the radio transceiver and use the phone as a broadcast receiver, ham/cb handheld, gps receiver, weather station etc.. etc.. not feasable atm, but with the advent of software radios, and being able to access the internals of the phone (heres where the linux on phone bit comes in), it may not always be this way.
A lot of these would require subsantial hacks, but if someone implemented linux properly on the phone and made it easy to access properly, I doubt it would be that hard to do at least some of those ideas. The big advantage however, is that everyone can have the phone customised their own way (those who dont know how to program could say just download a spam filter/voice mail system).
That is the sort of phone I would like to see.
I'm not so sure - I don't think Motorola decided to use linux, then add Java. I believe the OS is incidental, it's the Java platform that's important, and the only platform a user will see or hear about, I suspect. So although it's a win for Linux, it's not going to help the cause by putting the name into people's minds.
If there was a CPU that could run java bytecode natively in these phones, it would be in there, running the whole show with no Linux OS in sight.
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.