Linux Smartphones On The Rise

nostriluu writes "I know, some people want their cell phone to just be a cell phone. To those people, I suggest a second hand phone. For those of us who want to cram as much functionality as possible into a device we are going to bother carrying everywhere, there is the promise of the Linux Smartphone. I've had a P800 for over a year now and while it's great (although a brick), I can't wait for a Linux based device to bring the culture of openness and upgradability, as opposed to the intentional obsolesence and $10 for every little utility someone reinvents for "closed" devices."

Comments

This is neat, but...

[Poster Nutbag]

This almost makes me feel a little outdated. I think I'm the only one left that has a normal cell phone. No gadgets except a couple crappy games, an alarm clock, and the phone itself. I've never thought you needed anything other than a phone when you bought a cell phone.

Does this mean I'll have to hand in my geek T-shirt?

benefits

[the arbiter]

The benefits are twofold, and the same as they are for computers:

1. It's gonna bring the price down, no question. Lots of proprietary software in those little handheld phones.

2. Better security. No better way to iron all the bugs out than opening up the source.

And maybe some cheaper ringtones while we're at it. I'd love to be able to do my own, rather than buying them at $1 each.

Re:benefits

[neil.orourke]

I'm posting from Australia, so I don't know the lie of the mobile land in your part of the world.

1. It's gonna bring the price down, no question. Lots of proprietary software in those little handheld phones.

The first phone I bought this year, a Siemens A55, cost me AU$99 pre-paid. That's about US$80. A $3 data cable from eBay and it was flash-upgraded to become a C55, which enabled the Java and Data Access functions, which leads me to...

And maybe some cheaper ringtones while we're at it. I'd love to be able to do my own, rather than buying them at $1 each.

My laptop has 9,643 MIDI ringtones, and I've found a site with heaps more MIDI's that I like. I simply copy them to the phone via the data cable. Before you jump on me, telling me that this is Windows only crap, I've also got the AT command spec for the Siemens range, and I've written a program in Visual Basic that allows me to upload MIDI's to the phone. The program is reasonably trivial; I ported it to my Mac in Future Basic in an evening (and this included the SMS sending function, too).

Last week I upgraded to a Siemens C60, and the same data cable and software lets me do all the fun stuff with ringtones (and unlocking, for that matter) as before. Since getting it, I spent the weekend learning Java (specifically, J2ME) and wrote a Tetris game for the C60. With a bit of effort, I can get the game running on my wife's A55 (which is also now a C55).

So, why do I need a Linux phone when I have a Java phone?

First things first

[the pickle]

You Europeans and Asians have it so good. You can actually get the P800 or P900 with a service plan there, so it doesn't cost $1000.

Rots of ruck with that here in the US, despite the fact that three major carriers have GSM networks that would work just FINE with the P-series.

I say we worry about getting providers to let us Americans have the *current* crop of smartfones before we worry about whether Linux will be on the next generation of them...

p

"Bringing the culture of openness..."

[JessLeah]

"I can't wait for a Linux based device to bring the culture of openness and upgradability"

Um, what? There is no guarantee that a Linux-based system will bring any sort of "openness" to anything. NEWS FLASH: Corps don't like Linux because it's open. Corps like Linux because it's free (AS IN BEER). It would be trivial to produce a Linux-based phone with a JVM that runs closed-source Java apps that you buy at $10 a pop, or even closed-source C/C++ apps written with a commercially licensed copy of Qtopia or the like...