Three More Linux mobile Phones Coming in Japan

An anonymous reader writes "NEC and Panasonic have developed three Linux-powered 3G mobile phones to be introduced in Japan in the coming months -- NEC's N900iL, NEC's N901iC, and Panasonic's P901i. Of the three, only NEC's N900iL is currently shipping. The N900iL is a dual-network 3G/VoIP handset that works as a 3G mobile phone (using DoCoMo's W-CDMA/FOMA technologies), VoIP terminal, or both simultaneously. All three phones are based on the Linux 3G mobile phone software platform announced by NEC and Panasonic earlier this week."

Comments

Great Idea

[ReeprFlame]

If only we would get great technology like that of Asia and Europe quicker in the US! I always thought it would be a good idea to get a mobile phone merged with voip [though over a WLAN link]. This would allow WLANs to be 2x useful and encourage huge meshes of APs in order to utilize them not on ly for data but voice as well. Only the future will tell us...

Re:will phones be cheaper then?

[Gerad]

Open Source Software is about more than just the bottom line. While a corporation may only consider OSS int erms of what it can save them, OSS is about much more. While the software is free as in beer, it's much more important that it is free as in speech.

First, even though they're using Linux, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're saving a significant amount. Anti-linux trolls have often said that Linux is only free if your time if valueless. While somewhat trite, this statement DOES have truth in it. It takes time and money to switch over to a new operating system - you may save money in the long run but the initial investment is often significant.

Just because YOU don't care what the underlying OS of your phone is, doesn't mean that others don't. Then inclusion of an Open Source operating system is significant for several reasons. It shows the increasing credibility and validity of Open Source. Every dollar spent developing an OSS solution is one less dollar given to Microsoft or a smilar corporation. By buying a product that runs off Linux instead of WinCE or a similar OS, people can be confident that they're not supporting a company that they find morally objectionable.

Open Source is about more than the bottom line, it's about the freedom to study, tinker with, and use software however you want. It's about the freedom not to be restricted by close-minded, selfish licences that will ultimately impede the progress of software development.