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DoCoMo to Use Linux on Phones
highwaytohell writes "News.com.au has an announcement that NTT DoCoMo in collaboration with NEC and Panasonic have developed a Linux based software platform for third generation cell phones. 'The main advantage of the new platform will be easy integration of advanced multi-media applications and efficient use of software,' NEC spokeswoman Akiko Shikimori said." This was first reported about a year ago, but the platform looks to be mostly done by now, and a new press release timed to remind us of its impending release.
The main advantage of the new platform will be easy integration of advanced multi-media applications
I also want this on my Linux desktop.
Well.. For now i just stick with my 2g telephone, and uses my laptop and wifi for grapping pr0n :)
Also 3g is way outdated.. Docomo is enrolling 4g in 2006, and they are already experimenting with 5g coorporating with my university.
The best use i can see for this is when you connect the phone to a computer, so you can get broadband wherever you are.. (but thats what WiMax was developed for)
I see nothing here that my current Nokia cant do. Is Linux realy that much better a choice then Symbian? Windows and PlamOS I'll grant you due to the whole stylus problem.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
I think the main advantage will be that when NTT stops supporting these phones, the community can.
Assuming they're down with the GPL.
-- Thou hast strayed far from the path of the Avatar.
How about a project that emulates PalmOS on Linux? A Linux phone that runs PalmOS apps could eat the lunch of both Palm AND Windows smartphones. Not only would the phone add that many more apps to its offerings to consumers (interesting more of them), but lots of those apps are a lot more friendly to users than Linux apps, as they were developed for small mobile devices. Rather than let PalmOS get crushed by the Windows phone onslaught, let's sacrifice it to the greater glory. Everyone wins but Microsoft. If we're already running Wine, and GBA, how hard could a PalmOS API port be?
--
make install -not war
Q: How can you tell the Titanic is sinking?
A: They keep rearranging the deck chairs, and reassuring us that the ship is too big to sink.
See what I've been reading.
I use my phone for making phone calls, not watching movies. How many people do YOU know who need "multi-media applications" on a phone? Not trying to be a troll hree, but seriously, is it a practical application of technology, or a mere technology/fashon fad? Someone please convince me (Joe Schmoe) why I need it.
1> No licensing fees to Symbian
2> More existing apps, most of them networked, run on Linux
3> Giant developer community, free dev tools, lots of them
4> Buzzword compliance
This is good for Linux (the OS, not just the community), especially. They'll add stylus features that we can use on our desktops (and supercomputers, too, if that's your bent). Though we need not use them, just as we can use Linux with CLI or GUI. Personally, I'd prefer to repalce my mouse (trackball, really) with a stylus (my finger, really), using my keyboard only for fast data entry and email, or just when I feel like it. Linux is the OS that can be that flexible. I'd love to plug the phone into my x86 Linux box USB and use it with the bigger form factor of the bigger box and its peripherals.
--
make install -not war
Emacs jokes aside, what would be really nice is to have some scripting language backing these phones so I could have the phone be a little smarter about fr'instance when to interrupt me.
(def ring-loud-p (caller)
"Checks whether the phone should ring LOUD"
(if (and (eq 'girlfriend caller)
(> 10 (getAmbientNoiseLevel))
t
nil)) )
--
Absolutely Normal
The phone is becoming the portable 'thing' you have with you. I know I like to watch some TV on train, take a photo or video snap and send it to a mate (especially helpful when giving directions), and lets face it... Without a dose of neopets while in the doctors waiting room, I'd get much more irritated than I do. :)
:)
Are they useful?
For some, probably not the majority.
But it's still a good thing.
The worst that can happen is you don't use the features, or buy a vanilla phone. No harm.
I hear the DoCoMos will give you a command line that can be activated by voice. So when you call your friend you can really mess with their heads by saying "arr emmm arrr efff star"
Ok, this is the PERFECT opportunity to introduce and deploy SSL to the telephony world. OpenSSL could first be used to secure (and authenticate) mobile to mobile traffic, then mobile to wireline and even wireline to wireline via inexpensive linux-based SSL "adapters" that could go between your POTS jack and telephone(s). The telephony world could use a good dose of end-user-empowering crypto.
That's a sweet lookin phone, but I think DoCoMo's primary motivation is to keep the cost of the phone down. Using Linux goes a long way towards lowering the cost, which means mo money for DoCoMo! It also means they have a very flexible platform on which to base future phones. If you make your money selling OS licenses for low end devices like cell phones, cameras, and PDAs, Linux is going to make your life a living hell!
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
...but do they run Linux?
Someone's going to think I'm a troll, but PalmOS is really far behind. They developed originally for the low-end hardware systems with slow CPU, no MMU, and very little RAM (e.g., 128kbytes) for OS, applications and user data. This worked well for shoehorning usable applications (datebook, calendar, mail, et cetera) into tiny devices. However, PalmOS is now being asked to do things for which it was never designed.
Modern devices have fast CPU's (600MHz XScale) lots of RAM (128MB), external storage (e.g. Flash cards), and network access. If you're ever written programs for PalmOS, you'll know that the API's and development is kind of strange (everything is "Execute in Place" for example). New things like sound, network access, file IO, multi-tasking, et cetera were all added in a rather cludgy way. Linux and Windows CE handhelds work much more like "little desktop machines". As a result, they are much easier to develop for.
My other first post is car post.
"When will the Japanese make their phones compatable with the rest of the world?
People on Slashdot complain about the U.S. being isolationist when it comes to cell phone technology. It's worse in Japan."
No it's not!! What universe have you been living in? DoCoMo has been trying to get into the American market for years. It's our own fault for pressuring our government to impose high import tarrifs so we can hold our heads high buying 2nd gen crap "made in the USA". Why in God's green Earth would the Japanese want to downgrade their phones to be compatible with "the rest of the world". As it stands, DoCoMo's i-Mode technology is spreading quite well in parts of Europe, China, and Korea.
Also, I know for a fact that AU (I think Vodafone bought them last year) has a phone that is capable of roaming pretty much anywhere in the northern hemisphere. I'm also fairly certain that DoCoMo offered a phone with those capabilities, but I had no desire to pay the extra mony and just stuck with my D505i which STILL blows away most of the phones here in the US, even though it's 2nd Gen 2G tech in Japan. I plan on returning to Japan in 2 years and I guarantee my first act after finding a place to live will be to re-acquire a real phone.
Calling Japan isolationist when it comes to cell phones is like calling Italy isolationist when it comes to Lasagna. If you already produce the best in the world, what exactly do you need to import?
I've dirtied my hands writing poetry, for the sake of seduction; that is, for the sake of a useful cause. --Dostoevsky
Emacs jokes aside, what would be really nice is to have some scripting language backing these phones so I could have the phone be a little smarter about fr'instance when to interrupt me.
Future S60 phones might ship with Python out-of-the-box; Now it's still in beta phase.
See, the Symbian world isn't as closed as some people think. It's also not as open as some people (managers) think, but that's a different story...
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak