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Another Linux PDA to Challenge the Nokia 770
vhogemann writes "It seems that the number of Linux PDA devices just keeps growing, the German based phone maker Road just announced an Qtopia based Linux Cellphone/PDA. The original article gives more details: 'Opening the clamshell device reveals a QWERTY keyboard and a 640 x 240 display — closed, the unit presents a 102 x 65 monochrome phone screen. The HandyPC contains the usual array of PIM and messaging apps, along with a viewer to read Microsoft Office files. It will ship with PC synchronisation tools, media player software and a web browser. It can even be used as a voice recorder.'" Rather than Nokia's 770, to me Road's phone more closely resembles Nokia's 9XXX series.
With the current growth and popularity of Linux on the handheld, the OS is rapidly approaching ubiquity. This trend will accelerate with the much awaited release of the Linux version of Palm OS.
Information wants a fueled airplane waiting at the hangar and no one gets hurt.
Sure, its cool, and it runs Linux, but will it be manufactured in large enough quantities to make it economically realistic?
I doubt it.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.-TJ
I've played with all of the data carriers and EDGE is just not what it was cracked up to be. Verizon may suck for voice quality, but their EVDO is tops. I'm able to listen to 160kbit streams all day long no matter where I go in Chicagoland on my XV6700.
A QWERTZ kezboard...
Looks rather decent, all the way around. None of the bizarre smaller-than-chicklet buttons in funky curved arrays that mar similar devices. It even has a standard touch-tone pad for phone functions (something many regular cell phones even lack).
Where were you when the voynix came?
This device has it all.. Linux, a real keyboard, half VGA resolution and WiFi.
Also, unlike the Nokia communicator series, it has a touch screen ( useful for VNC, among other things).
I haven't been this interested in a PDA since the Psion series 5. Cool!
Errr...what is a QWERTZ keyboard?
I've heard of DVORAK and QWERTY but never QWERTZ.
Gigaqwertz? Kraftqwertz? Ouch-that-qwertz?
who can tell.
>>>Scanning for I.D.I.O.T.S. >>>
>>>I.D.I.O.T.S. FOUND! >>>
Have they learned that screen real estate is vital on these small displays yet? I can't tell much from the screenshot. The bar along the bottom suggests they haven't. The Linux/qtopia Zaurus I had was absolutely dreadful for wasting the screen. Menus, buttons, status lines, large scrollbars all over the place. Damned near unusable...looks at supplier web site... Nope they haven't fixed it, they're still taking the windows desktop metaphor and trying to squeeze it onto a tiny screen. Well maybe they've improved the keyboard shortcuts.
The Epoc based Nokia Communicator though does make good use of screen space. It should it came from a company who understood how to make a usable PDA.
Deleted
Its German... look at the pics.
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This is the form-factor I've looked forward to most in the phone/PDA market. Easy enough to handle as a phone, and a screen that's wide enough to actually fit 80 characters on. I have some issues with the computer UI, but hopefully someone makes better use of the screen space. I don't need to waste one line of text to show me what else I'm running when I only get half a screen in the first place (I'd prefer a hidden menu-type listing). If I could pick my next cell phone, this is the form factor, if not the actual phone, that I would go for. Sadly, my work supplies Blackberries with their small screen, wide form-factor, and sub-chiclet buttons.
:)
P.S. Of course, it's also the form-factor that Val Kilmer used in The Saint.
Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
init 11 - for when you need that edge.
Is there a CDMA+GSM+WiFi phone yet? That runs Linux, or has HW similar enough to a Linux arch that a port is straightforward? Maybe a Windows phone that can be targeted?
--
make install -not war
They've already made two good choices: a small, but real keyboard and Qt.
Now, if they charge that extra $50-$100 to make it pretty powerful and debug the damn software, they'll be set. That was my biggest complaint about my 770. The software that was included crashed **constantly** and was just... wrong, especially that thing they called a new reader.
This reminds me a lot of the nokia communicator, except its running what will hopefully be a much more hackable OS :) I've always been tempted be one of the newer communicators but EPOC seems a little limiting compared to linux, it was a great OS for running Psion PDAs where the main task was word processing/spreadsheets/games etc but when it comes to networking I always felt epoc fell down a little.
The only obvious limitation is that the screen resolution is quite low they could do with a few more pixels on the vertical axis. Imagine using VNC on a screen that size, you'll be constantly scrolling.
Its been "comming soon" for so long that until I actually see a physical copy, my money is still on Duke Nukem Forever.
This is far, far too cool to ever make it to the United States.
+++ATH0
The 770 doesn't even pretend to be a PDA. It's for surfing the web, period. Yet twice this week we've seen PDAs that were supposed to be compared to the 770. Not just PDAs: PDAs with keyboards. Get real!
I'm guessing lots of clueless marketeers are picking the 770 as the product to position their product against. The Slashdot editors need to tune their filters against this sort of crap.
Not trolling here, I just want to know if this sucker will sync with my Mac's address book, calendar and the like. I didn't see any mention of such functionality on the linked web sites.
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
In Soviet Russia, Road drives telephone business.
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Automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.
Sure, I can see it challenging the Nokia Communicator - essentially a PDA/Phone hybrid - but the Nokia 770? I seem to recall Nokia themselves stating that the 770 was effectively an experimental "internet tablet device", and not a PDA or a phone per se, both of which this seems to shoot for. Comparing apples and pears for the purposes of hype?
:-(
... (counts)... over a whole day now!
I can't believe it. And I've been campaigning for
CAPSoff. Changing the world. One lousy key at a time.
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It's a cool phone if it existed, which is what I thought in March of 2005, but the phone never appeared, so still hearing about it today makes me warry.
Check out the way back machine for february 2005 vs today's page
You'll notice subtle changes, but for something that was announced at least 18 months ago and that still doesn't exist, my patience has eroded somewhat.
Only late by a year.
(And a half)
http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS6443438627.html
Another point is that the display looks wasted due to the widget set and also rather restrictive in terms of vertical resolution. It reminds me of the old Handheld Pocket PC's that were out there 5-6 years ago. I tried porting a couple of handheld apps I had running on other platforms and trying to utilize that 200-odd pixel vertical space was a major PITA. They keyboard looks nice, though. But the display. Oy!
The device has WiFi - there is almost nowhere in my city I can go without access to a WiFi connection. Why would I use EVDO or EDGE or UMTS and pat outlandish bandwidth costs when WiFi is free?
Does it have Sidetalkin'?
This looks like its got a decent sized, usable keyboard, plus it has both wifi and cell support, and qtopia, so a lot of the software made for the zaurus should run on this.
Whatever it is that has the name 9XXX, I want one.
I think a Palm would be the obvious choice.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Ari Virtanen said on CNET "Once you put a SIM card in, it's automatically controlled by the operator."
I don't want to buy any hardware where I am not likely to control both ends of a connection. WiFi uses peers, but WiMAX uses a $15,000USD base station. I'm not likely to buy one of those ever.
So I'll skip out on GPRS, UMTS, WiMAX, or any other technology where I must talk to an expensive base station that will be controlled by a vendor.
I might buy a pocket widget that lets my Nokia 770 talk to the mobile phone network via bluetooth, but I don't want to be forced to buy that.
Shae Erisson - ScannedInAvian.com
Is there some reason they changed the keys around?
3 things about computers: they're alive, they're self-aware, and they hate your guts.
The photo reminds me of the best PDA I ever owned. It's been about four years since my Psion Revo (badged as a Diamond Mako) died. I bought a Windows-based PDA following the sad event, but less than two years after that, I stopped using it. I don't use a PDA today. Why doesn't anyone make a good clamshell anymore? Why doesn't anyone make a good mobile OS anymore? The Revo's UI was a study in pure usability, not trying too vainly to be simple (PalmOS) or trying too hard to mimic inappropriate desktop conventions (Windows Mobile). The 'HandyPC' looks promising--but design-wise, it still looks to me like a predecessor to the Revo.
Your mind is clear / The things that you fear / Will fade with how much you / Believe what you hear
The very first line in TFA is: "German phone maker Road has announced its answer to Nokia's Communicator."
So why even bring up the 770, only to later add that it looks more like a 9xxx??? I know /. has been all over that 770 thing, but do you think this is the only way you can get us to look at a Linux PDA?
Still waiting for my 770 to boot, and there's already a new model out!!!
I'm desperatly waiting for a device like this with HSDPA or a Compact Flash HSDPA card for my hx4700...
Psion recognised that PDAs on their own would be overtaken by PDAs with a phone and connectivity built in. They made a deal with the number 1 phone company, Nokia. The Nokia Communicators are the result of that. They are Psions with phones added on.
I have a Nokia 9210 and yup, it's an updated Series 5 with colour screen, email, web etc etc etc. ok so it's a brick, but it's a brick that's served me well for years, a brick which will bring my life crashing to a halt when it breaks down. My next phone will be either a Nokia 9500 or a Nokia 9300 as replacement, slightly less brick like but still the Psion tech built in and a fabulous PDA OS and UI.
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Road has been making those for years. Ref http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS6443438627.html .
Though when I contacted them on behalf of the company I work for, over a year ago, they replied along the lines of "we have enough customers, please ask again later."
Meanwhile, I suggest using Sharp Zauri for linux-PDA needs and waiting for OpenEZX project to hack open a motorola cell-phone.
I'm sorry, what is it going to challenge the 770 at?
The 770 is crap. Generally you don't compete to see who can be the worst piece of crap.
(yes, I've used it, had one for a couple days.)
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Nice first post, but does it run Linux?
The ROAD website has been there for ages. Certainly it was there in February last year - it's archived in the Wayback Machine from then. The screen images look like mockups to me and I doubt they have any real working hardware.
Which is a shame, because it looks like a great device in some ways & I'd rather like one.
Liam P. ~ "Intelligence is a lethal mutation." (me)