Motorola+Qtopia=Linux Smart Phone

lems1 writes "Start compiling the excuses you will tell your boss to upgrade your cell phone now. Motorola has opted to use Trolltech's Qtopia to power up the next generation of SmartPhones. Get the scoop/specs from here and a nice high-res picture from this other link. The phone will have 'digital camera, video player, MP3 player, speakerphone, advanced messaging, instant Internet access and Bluetooth wireless technology' capabilities. On top of being Linux-based of course." Update: 11/12 00:44 GMT by T : Yep, this is the same phone mentioned a few weeks ago.

Comments

"Phone"?

[Beg4Mercy]

MP3 player? Video player? These things are awesome, but are we sure we can still call them 'phones.' Somehow I think being a phone is no longer their primary feature.

Re:"Phone"?

[pilot1]

Yeah, you're missing a SSH client.
That would be a perfect phone - for people like us. Joe CellPhoneUser wouldn't even understand what most of the features are, let alone use them.

Re:"Phone"?

[moosesocks]

um.... do any LAPTOPS offer this? (forgetting the whole 'phone' aspect)

do any DESKTOPS even offer all of these functions in one unit?

either way, physical restrictions will prohibit this from being practical (gotta have big antenna to transmit high bandwidths, room for a speaker, optics for the high-quality camera, microphone for the recorder, place ti put your fingerprint for security, somewhere to hold a stylus, room for the VGA port and accompanying hardware. oh.... and a battery big enough to support this beast.

I wish they'd stop...

[HarveyBirdman]

I went browsing for a new phone last week. Everytime I found a form factor I liked with a nice display or whatever, it always have some friggin' blasted camera function or voice recorder. Enough with the added features. Where I work, if I walk in with a phone that contains recording devices of any kind beyong phone number storage, many burly men in black suits will wrestle me to the ground and pummel me into submission while tossing my phone into an incinerator. On the second offense, *I* get tossed in after the phone.

How about a solid, reliable phone that just makes really, really, really good, clear calls? To many of the current generation have that "disposable" feel to them.

Re:I wish they'd stop...

[gl4ss]

you know why those features appear there? most of them don't really 'cost' anything, they're just bits of software. and really, if people just settled a phone that 'just phones well' the sales of phones would be much much much lower, there's been such phones available for years(this year for example massive amounts of people switched to color screen phones, that as phones essentially work exactly like their old phones did). though many just buy a new phone instead of shelling out the cash for a new battery too. the phone can't do miracles about the providers network though.

how about a nice nokia 2100 if you don't want any features? or siemens a50?

the thing is that those phones(that don't have much features) do exist, but they're a horrible deal to actually buy(cost nearingly the same as the next phone in the range with couple of more useful functions), you essentially save a bit(not nearingly enough) of money to have things disabled.

Re:I wish they'd stop...

[salesgeek]

Where I work, if I walk in with a phone that contains recording devices of any kind beyong phone number storage, many burly men in black suits will wrestle me to the ground and pummel me into submission while tossing my phone into an incinerator.

INCREDIBLE! They wont trust you with a five minute digital recorder, but they will trust you with a very high quality four hour long range bug otherwise known as a cell phone? Ask any salesperson - the cell phone is the ultimate bug:

1) Dial out to say your personal cell phone or assistant - make sure called party hits mute on their phone.
2) do not hang up or end call.
3) leave cell phone on table (or floor or chair)
4) listen to prospects discussing your presentation or even evesdrop on the next salesperson or three
5) Hang up (the cell phone will disconnect automagically).
6) Call front desk tell them you think you left your cell phone in the conference room.

My god security is a foreign concept to many human beings. Either they trust you or they dont. Cell phones are bad in sensitive areas. As bad or worse than recorders.

Re:I wish they'd stop...

[10Ghz]

1) the heavier & bulkier it gets.

Not really. Phones have been getting smaller and lighter, despite the fact that they have added features to it (camera, Bluetooth, GPRS, WAP, EDGE, color-screen, polyphonic ring-tones etc. etc.). The size is starting to reach it's limits, since the device still needs a keypad, and the screen (color-screen these days) are getting bigger.

2) the more unstable it gets. There's nothing worse or more embarrassing than losing a call because your phone crashes. This happens even with relatively simple WAP phones, and all the time with the old VisorPhone I had.

What does WAP have to do with disconnecting calls? I get disconnected calls VERY RARELY, so I would guess that your mobile-service just sucks. Of course, I'm in Finland, so.... And my phone has NEVER crashed. Not even when I use WAP over GPRS. Or when I make data-calls through Bluetooth and HSCSD. And my phone is on 24x7x365.

We are currently testing Nokia 6600. Not a single hang-up or crash. We have had the phone for few weeks now.

i am pleased

[myom]

Seems Motorola is showing the way, along with HP and IBM - All of these big companies that I had some antipathy against before are now showing some courage... Guess they are large enough to ignore Microsoft or try alternatives, while the smaller ones are ending up in either the Symbian or Microsoft camps.

But what network does it use?

[Audent]

Anyone? I can't find it on the site. CDMA, GPRS, string? what?

that's kind of important to those of us with a choice.

looks nice though. I never liked the clamshell design but now it's growing on me... much better than having to lock the keypad all the time

Yeah...

[Davak]

Phones, PDAs, set-top boxes, computer games, medical equipment, industrial controllers, and other systems need graphical user interface software that is smaller, smarter, faster: and that runs on multiple platforms: including desktop and server platforms.

What worries me about this wonderful Swiss-Army phone is the software. If it ran Palm OS, I could easily continue to use all my current favorite software.

Where do I find software for this beast?

If it runs pure linux stuff, yeah! But if it runs some hybrid, I'll wait a couple of versions down the line until the software is commonplace.

This is Linux's Omaha Beach

[Ridgelift]

And, the model A760 is ideal for execs on the move with secure and instant access to corporate e-mail and database applications. Everyone loves a multi-tasker.

Cell phones are the battleground where Linux will defeat Microsoft for world domination in the OS war. When executives who buy Linux-based phones note how reliable the OS is on their phone, it's a short mental leap to see it's reliability on the internet, servers, phone systems, and eventually the growing server and desktop.

Many techs think this is naive, but just ask a suit. You'll be surprised to hear the phrase "I thought Linux was dead". Executives are like salespeople; they only believe what they see, and what they see is the end product.

Re:This is Linux's Omaha Beach

[GlassHeart]

When executives who buy Linux-based phones note how reliable the OS is on their phone, it's a short mental leap to see it's reliability on the internet, servers, phone systems, and eventually the growing server and desktop.

First of all, they are unlikely to know or care what OS the phone runs. Secondly, you are asking for a (possibly correct) conclusion based on faulty reasoning, which is a terribly slippery slope. There are many phone (or PDA) operating systems, and most of them are utterly unsuitable on servers, the phone system, or a desktop computer. Finally, neither cellular carriers nor the OEMs who make the phones have strong incentives to emphasize "Linux", because they each have their own brand to promote.

I like Linux, too, but I fear you are overly optimistic.

Hearing Aid Compatible Phone?

[nanospook]

Wonder if they are making this phone hearing aid compatible? For those of you who may not know (probably most of you), a hearing aid has a telecoil that picks up EMF frequencies. Most modern phones broadcast in EMF but cell phones are more spotty. My Samsong A460 does broadcast EMF but also provides lots of static and weird noises..

mistake

[penguin7of9]

I think Motorola made a mistake by choosing Qt/Embedded, and one that may cost Linux the phone market.

Choosing Qt/Embedded means that Motorola is now tied to the fortunes of Troll Tech. The GPL option of Troll Tech's license may be acceptable for open source developers, but it wouldn't be an option for Motorola should Troll Tech decide to take a wrong turn somewhere with where they take Qt/Embedded (some would argue that they already have). Furthermore, commercial developers for these phones have a much higher cost of entry into the market than if Motorola had chosen one of the LGPL'ed toolkits.

Altogether, Motorola is in roughly the same situation with respect to Troll Tech as they would be with respect to Microsoft if they had chosen Windows CE. But Microsoft at least is guaranteed to stay around a little longer.

What is particularly sad is that Qt/Embedded really has technically no advantages over any of the alternatives. Even compared to X11 and Gtk+, Qt/Embedded is slow and memory hungry; it's less featureful and without open implementations.

Congratulations on a good marketing and sales job to Troll Tech. But this is a pretty sad day for Linux and open source.

Re:mistake

[darkheavy]

The huge difference of QT/Embedded Vs X11/GTK _and_ glib is that QT has an API that an eight y/o could code with. Have you ever tried to make "Hello world" with Xlib?

Commercial developers have to pay to use QT? Big deal, it only means that their commercial margin will be a bit lower. And if they don't want to, they can distribute their software as GPL.

But meanwhile there are lots of free software products hitting the internet instead of the shelves from the non-commercial developers. And guess what, they (the developers) don't need to buy a set of OS+IDE+Embedded tools to do so.

Trolltech people had a propietary development and they set it free, under the GPL license. What else do you want, a box of free donuts with it?

QT/Embedded GPL FAQ

Oh, and I think there is a pretty lot of applications for qt embedded already in the market, that could be another good reason for Motorola, don't you think so?

So, sad day for Linux and Open Source? If you want to be a zealot pray Ximian (now Novell) to work out a full implementation of a GTK Framework for embedded devices.