DoCoMo To Use Linux On Their 3G phones

ilbrec writes "Looks like NTT DoCoMo will be using Linux on their 3G phones next year. This actually was reported yesterday in Japan (here), but I could not find any article in English until now. While it's not clear who will be making the Linux phone for them, I would certainly be interested in seeing them once they are out. No word on this anywhere at DoCoMo's website at all, however." Reader paku adds links to similar coverage in Forbes and in Japan Today.

Comments

Well, it's an option anyway.

[Space cowboy]

Quoth Forbes article

DoCoMo does not intend to force them to use the Linux-based software and it does not preclude the use of other operating systems including Smartphone software from Microsoft Corp as future OS candidates for its 3G phones, the source said.

Simon.

It'll be Monte Vista Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

If it's the Panasonic model.

(posted anonymously because I'm working on that project)

Dude, Symbian rocks the house.

[karmaflux]

At the same time, DoCoMo is also looking into the possibility of developing a standard based on an OS made by Symbian Ltd., a British firm whose OS is used widely in Europe and in some handsets in Japan.

(the above from the article.)

My wife's phone uses Symbian's OS. It's very, very nice. Unless someone comes out with a killer phone app requiring the linux kernel, I think DoCoMo would be better off with Symbian.

Although I would give a mint to be able to use regexps on my phone book.

Re:Dude, Symbian rocks the house.

[TonkaTown]

And also here - Japanese mobile operator to develop user interface and service delivery technologies for 3G handsets using Symbian OS

The Symbian OS is nice, I've played with one of the Symbian based FOMA phones, and it's very cool indeed.

Re:Dude, Symbian rocks the house.

[cpeterso]

Except that Symbian is controlled by Nokia. And the Symbian dev tools are sucky. You have to use their wacky C++ variant, incompatible with all your legacy code. They don't even have a remote debugger to debug programs running on the phone! Borland sells a Symbian remote debugger, but you have to pay extra, you have to switch to Borland's C++ compiler, and it barely works.

From the user's perspective, they can't tell the difference (given a decent GUI). Using Linux underneath a user-friendly GUI is an advantage to the phone manufacturer.

a few standards to be available...

[mm0mm]

according to zdnet japan (sorry link in japanese), DoCoMo added Linux as an option for manufacturers to choose from, by setting standardized specs for Linux on 3G. apparently DoCoMo doesn't want to limit choices of OS on 3G. The article says that they have specs (requirement) for Symbian OS available also.

As Japan's largest provider, DoCoMo's relaxed stance on choice of OS may benefit manufacturers and consumers in a long run. Obviously people at DoCoMo can't care less about the OS that will soon be running inside of every car .

Freedom of choice is a blessing these days...

Who is making the phone

[neglige]

While it's not clear who will be making the Linux phone for them [...]

As I recall from the NTT iMode service, NTT just set the technical specifications. Any manufacturer who wants to sell iMode phones has to follow these specs, and they do it, because the iMode market in Japan is huge.

My guess is that the same thing applies to the 3G handset. There probably won't be a dedicated handset manufacturer but each of them will produce a "NTT compliant" phone.

And since the Japanese version of IMT 2000 is "slightly" different than those in Europe and America, you won't be able to use those phones anywhere else without modifications.