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Two New Linux Phones to Ship in Japan
An anonymous reader writes "Japan's largest mobile carrier has announced two new Linux phones with support for push-to-talk, multiple numbers, and other advanced features. Of the six models models in NTT DoCoMo's new 902i-series, the two running embedded Linux are made by NEC and Panasonic, who have been collaborating on a Linux-based software platform for 3G mobile phones. The NEC-manufactured N902i boasts a four megapixel camera, while the Panasonic-made P902i aims to appeal to music lovers, with music jukebox software and an available 1GB MiniSD card. Between these and Motorola's Linux mobile phones, Linux seems to be doing well in Asia, in the rapidly growing feature-phone space, which is projected to comprise the majority of global mobile phone shipments by 2010."
"while the Panasonic-made P902i aims to appeal to music lovers, with music jukebox software and an available 1GB MiniSD card" My phone from nearly 3 years ago did this.
Push-to-Talk? What countries have telecoms that offer that? The US is far behind in cellular technology, but this feature has existed on at least 2 US carriers (Nextel/Sprint and Verizon wireless) for some time now.
> rapidly growing feature-phone space, which is projected to
> comprise the majority of global mobile phone shipments by 2010.
I think I heard that before... something about trying to sell us something... Hmmmm, "3G" rings a bell for some reason...
As an aside, the fact that there're wizzier mobile phones capable of doing weird stuff is great because there're obviously people who like them. The leap to being the "majority of the market," however, seems to me like a bit of a leap of faith. Or maybe desire.
---- Take the Space Quiz!
> Linux seems to be doing well in Asia
Seriously, some distinction has to be made between Asia and South Asia (Orient and Asia, for centuries).
Manojar - pronounced like Manager
"NEC's N902i features a four megapixel camera..."
...And Nokia just got owned.
How much will it $ave me?
Someone save me from this sanity.
haha, cingular supports push to talk, the new LG and samsung push to talk phones will be out soon, ive used them a few times, not bad at all! the LG phone i used for the PTT is setup kind of like a buddy list, you can pull up the list, and see everyone who is "avail" which is a nice feature
I'm sure I'm not alone in wondering what this is, so help yourselves:
Push to walk at Wikipedia.
I'm really happy that the technology is progressing, but I wished they'd progress some in making these expensive phones out of expensive less breakable materials. Maybe some of that aluminum glass over the LCD? In the past couple of years I've bought two expensive phones that both had LCD damage that warranty didn't cover once shipped back.
Freedom is fragile and must be protected. To sacrifice it, even as a temporary measure, is to betray it.
Symbian is the dominant OS. Linux is second.
Something Called "Windows" is in there too.
Here is the article
I'm confused though -- are the Symbian phones not feature rich compared to Linux? I figured that was the whole point; it has better phone features (power management?). I'm guessing that the article is trumpeting Linux's success when it isn't exactly warranted (but at least it is kicking Windows ass).
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
Disclaimer: this is NOT a flamebait, I'm a Linux user and Opensource fan! :) which of course costs license fee but on the other hand is a very customised plattform for mobile phone devices.
I was wondering why they actually use Linux on a mobilephone. Linux is open - which is great - but isn't the GNU license pretty unattractive for something as closed as a mobile phone? I mean the mobile phone companies and providers probably have no interest in opening the source and thus making it available to the competition and allowing people to easily hack the phone.
I would be really interested why a mobile phone company should choose Linux over something like Symbian (or even Windows Mobile
Is that a penguin in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
when vendors don't have an agreement with microsoft that punishes them if they ship a competing product.
Hello - DOJ are you watching?
NEC and Panasonic can think of shipping these phones because geeks cannot easily assemble these phones from legacy parts. If this ever becomes possible, NEC and Panasonic will jump ship on the effort, just like other OEMs in the computer world. That's one of the reasons why it's very hard to find a Linux-ready and loaded notebook.
What's interesting about the Japanese manufacturers use of Linux is that it uses Linux to completely eliminate the users freedom to run whatever software they want, and use their phones in the way they want. Japanese phones are locked up tighter than something very tight indeed, with no installing or using anything you didn't pay for. It's ironic given Linux uses the Free Software GPL even if the project itself is more "Open Source" than "Free Software".
but does it run lin... oh, nevermind.
I had college once, but I drank some fluids and got a lot of rest and eventually it was cured.
I'm a fan of Linux as well. But I gotta say, M$ has done a great job on smartphone, and has made it incredibly easy to program for it. Not to mention the interop with the most popular OS in the world...
My tech blog
Your linuxdevices article is misleading, as it only includes windows mobile smartphones, not the more powerful windows mobile pocketpc phones, such as the HTC Jam / XDA mini, which I am seeing all over the place these days. If you add those devices WM at least matches the numbers of the linux phones, and the phones are less locked down, making them a better choice for people who actually want to do more than make phone calls with their WAN-enabled mobile device. Its actually funny that these devices are being trumpeted here, when at least 20 Windows Mobile phone devices have been anounced/released in the last 2 months (inlcuding 3 with VGA screens and wifi plus 3G).
Surur
Information is the location of things. Computation is moving things around.
Why does Asia get all of this Linux mobile technology first? It seems as if most Linux embedded technology either fails to hit the Western world or else it gets withdrawn. Case in point the Sharp Zaurus line of handhelds. cooler than anything, but the only way you can get one in the U.S. is to import one from a company that reprograms them for Western keyboard functions and whatnot.
Why do people like "push to talk"? If all we had were still walkie talkies like that, the intro of regular mobile phones would make everyone heave a sigh of relief. No more people shouting at their phones and beeping sharply every 3 seconds as they walk around. No more missing people's first/last words as we work an unnecessary button. I understand the appeal of "free". but we've also got free in-network calling with normal phones that don't require we talk like 7 year olds rudely playing "cockpit" in front of every stranger we pass.
I thought Japanese people were more sophisticated phone users, happily phoning without all the beeping/shouting. Will they prove to be just as idiotic as Americans?
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make install -not war
I('m watching the phones from Japan's Access. They bought the PalmOS division from Palm right before Palm went Microsoft this year. That was right after PalmOS acquired China Mobilesoft and announced the next PalmOS would be Linux, with old PalmOS compatibility for the GUI and all the legacy apps. Any clues to which HW that little dream OS will run on?
--
make install -not war
Can it run Apache is what I want to know! Or at the very least SMTP. That way I can have a roaming SPAM cannon and never be caught for selling you ][0M3 m0r7g4g3z and p3n1s p1llz via email.
Linux gets used as an embedded OS. Big whoop.
How is this newsworthy?
Who am I kidding. Look at all these clueless posts.
And this is what passes for in-depth technical knowledge amongst you nerds?
Does anybody know whether the NEC/Panasonic platform uses Qt/Embedded? Thanks.
The only advantage of a phone being Linux is if you can actually get access to the Linux-y bits of it. I have a Linux handset in my drawer at work, and the fact it's Linux is completely irrelevant as I can't get a bash prompt. However, I have seen a Siemens phone running on Linux, and you can actually telnet or minicom to it. It's pretty cool to be able to run bash, ps, ping etc on a phone. It doesn't have a compiler on it though, so I won't be trying to put Gentoo on it.
Get your own free personal location tracker
I have a Motorola E860i. The kernel is available and many people have edited it. You can run bash, telnet to the phone etc. If I mess it up, just load it in 'Safe Mode' & reflash. Found this site to be quite useful: http://www.rcsc.sisrs.com/mfc/
Really.... do the phone customers in Asia whom are buying these phones know or care that it is running Linux? Ask Joe user what OS is his phone running... chances are you will get a reply like "OS?". Only us nerds care about the phone OS. Normal people just care that their phone runs stable and do the features that they bought it to do regardless of OS.