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Linux Cell Phones Coming Q1 2007

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the penguin-in-your-pocket dept.

eldavojohn writes, "Prepare to salivate. D-Link has announced plans to put an unlocked Linux phone on the market in early 2007. Some features: Dual-mode WiFi and GSM/GPRS. Up to 24 MB of memory for user file storage, such as music and videos. 2-inch, 176 x 220-pixel color display. Opera browser. Email client. 3.4 ounces (95 grams). Tri-band (900/1800/1900) GSM radio — meaning it should work with any GSM-GPRS SIM card, including pre-paid SIM cards as well as those from traditional GSM service providers. Will it really be this easy to wean myself from the Microsoft mobile teat?" The phone is expected to list for $600.

13 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. Some things missing by gsasha · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not clear if they are missing from the article or from the phone itself...

    1. Bluetooth - extremely important for connectivity.
    2. Connector. The Qt Greenphone's solution to this is simple and elegant: its only connection is a mini-USB socket.

    On the other hand, D-link does not claim their phone to be an open platform - but if it isn't, think if you will be able to install your own VOIP app? And if not, what's the point?

  2. Agreed.. by Animaether · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ..for that price, it would have to deliver a significantly better bang.

    Dual-mode WiFi - what is that? B/G? cool, but nothing new.
    GSM/GPRS - where's EDGE? Where's UMTS? Where's HSDPA?
    24 MB of memory - okay
    - for storage - not okay. 24 MB? That's expandable by SD/MiniSD/MicroSD, right? And how much working memory is there? Or is this the same memory and do you lose everything when you power down? (a la pre Windows Mobile 5)
    2" screen - not too bad on that
    176 x 220-pixel - wtf is that? Where's 240x320 or even 480x640?
    color display - 4096? 16k?
    Opera browser - pre-installed, they mean, I hope. Can you replace it? (not that I can think of a reason to)
    3.4 ounces (95 grams) - that *is* nice, however.
    Tri-band - quad band, please?

    Now to RTFA because the summary was silly in listing features without detail. Be better if it had been a more generic blurb.

    1. Re:Agreed.. by rec9140 · · Score: 1, Interesting

      For the US market, they may as well give up now.

      GSM - Strike 1 - While this may be the prominent format outside the US. Its is NOT the de facto standard in the US. Remember GSM was MANDATED not chosen by marketplace forces, MANADATED by governments. Have a GSM version all you want, but without a CDMA version, you've locked your self out of 90% of the US market from the start. GSM is not the format to try to push in the US. Have both, better make it a true world phone do GSM and CDMA.

      900/1800/1900 - Strike 2 - Frequency coverage is again way too outside US specific. Lack of the 800Mhz coverage used in many areas means your stuck with 1900 in the US and its poor building penetration and in some areas NO SERVICE as there are 800 only areas. Thats why all the US carriers require 800/1900 coverage. This would also make it more of a world phone by adding in 800 where used.

      If their primary market is outside the US, they are 100% on the spot, but if DLink is going to try to sell this in the US. They will be required to make these changes to get it to sell.

      This won't last in the US very long due to the above 2 reasons alone. Price is another factor. While many of the hordes are buying or getting conned into contracts and subsidised phones, I have not had one in years. I purchase a new phone off EBay, do an online ESN change, done. I don't change my plan (it doesn't even exist any more) and NO CONTRACTS. I its been that way for years, probably 6+ and I have had Verizon since it was BellAtlantic Mobile and they first came along, so thats a little over 20 years for that account. I've had exactly 4 phones during that period. Started with a UBC9000 brick, changed to a Nokia, then had a Audiovox 9000 and have had a 9155 for about 2 years now.

      I won't be purchasing one for the two reasons above. As I am not using either of the two worst networks in the US. TMobile or Cingular. I may as well have no coverage as these two are the worst carriers in the US market. The current marketing crap from one of them is spin on a study thats bought and paid for anyway.

      --
      1311393600 - Back to Black
  3. The high cost of FREEDOM? by Travoltus · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Are you free to put ring tones on these things? Are you free from the proprietary systems of regular cell phones that make you pay for every little tiny thing you add onto them?

    If so, I will gladly pay $600 for one.

    --
    --- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
  4. And the big deal is? by traveller604 · · Score: 1, Interesting

    My Nokia N91 has WiFi and GSM/GPRS, up to 4 GB of memory and a bigger color display. It also has more connectivity (3g), and well loads of stuff really. COmes with a better OS too, Symbian 9.1. Oh and it costs less and is available right now!

  5. Re:You act like it's more expensive... by irc.goatse.cx+troll · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Don't think that this $600 phone is any more expensive than equivalent piece of hardware from T-mobile or Verizon. Considering that I'll be able to install whatever the hell I want on it I'd say it's a steal.


    To my knowledge, you can install whatever you want on the pda/smartphones from the bignames. The only difference here is you won't have anything to install because its running Linux. Linux is nice and all, but unless you feel like writing your own software don't expect this phone to be very useful. The OS a phone runs means little more than what apps you have access to, and Linux on a a phone just doesn't have the selection yet and probably never will.
    --
    Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
  6. What a ripoff by Nightspirit · · Score: 2, Interesting

    First of all you can get equivalent phones for about $300 with no contract here in the US. Maybe not with opera installed, but tack on an extra $30 and you're still way under.

    For that price I would expect it to have 128mb ram, bluetooth (how can it not have bluetooth?!?), miniSD or sd, voiceconnect, speakerphone, and a better screen. And that is what I would expect with a MS phone. One would think a linux phone would be $100 cheaper.

  7. Microsoft phone?! Never seen one by Mr+Europe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Will it really be this easy to wean myself from the Microsoft mobile teat?

    Microsoft phone is a rarity. It's the Symbian-OS which is the majority.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbian_OS

    Microsoft lists ten models with Windows Mobile (in Americas)
    http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/devices/sma rtphone/americas.mspx

  8. Re:Wow! by Norailyain · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You guys don't seem to realize what /*really*/ rocks withe that phone : the Wi-Fi feature that allows you to switch on a cheap VoIP tariff while you're coming back home with a GSM communication going on. (In France, the price of a local communication with GSM vs. VoIP is incomparably more expansive) In fact, this phone has been launched by the French Telecom provider Neuf-Cegetel as the first mobile/VoIP device in France ; and I believe it is sold around 200 ... with a 12 month commitment. By the way, I have been told that the above described feature doesn't work very well for the moment.

    --
    "I may never prove what I know to be true, but I know that I'll still have to try" Dream Theater "The Spirit Carries on
  9. Great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    So now we have to worry about our cell-phones constantly getting hacked on top of dropped calls?!

  10. Re:Umm...Wistron NeWeb?!? by lazyBob · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Made by Wistron NeWeb? I have one PHS/GSM dual mode phone made by this company (distributed through Taiwan PHS operator). So little features and too many bugs make this phone barely useable. I have no trust on this company since then.

  11. Re:You act like it's more expensive... by cyberon22 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hmmmm.... I paid about $40 USD for the last phone I purchased here in China. This was a low-market Motorola with a black and white screen. While slightly cheaper phones were available they weren't much cheaper. Most of the market here involves sales of pre-paid phones that retail for around $100 USD. No-one was taking a loss selling me that phone -- the phone service uses pre-paid cards and can be used with either the China Telecom or China Unicom networks.

    Assume you will get lower costs because this stuff is all being manufactured in China. And then add a 100% markup for stuff sold through American retail outlets. But your average phone should still not cost over $150 USD retail. So I highly doubt that anyone is subsidizing your phone. You are simply being ripped off because of a lack of competition in regional US cellular markets.

  12. New Cell Phone Communications Paradigm? by Hyperi0n.v2 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It is time the Open Source community created portable software for cell phones that allowed an informal zeroconf network to form when any capable phone was in contact with each other. Using p2p technology like BitTorrent, and from stuff like Tor, this ad-hoc network could blanket a large area REGARDLESS of service from cell phone towers, and route messages and data to and from users of the system, and over the internet. For example... Out of a group of a dozen cell phones, two have a WIFI connection at hotspots, 4 are in communications range of the two with wifi, and the other 6 are in range with the previous 4. Like the cross-continental BBS messaging system of 'yore... and the Torrent systems of today, the network information would route itself in a decentralized manner over whatever available means existed. Without having to pay a monthly service... just having this software... you could get: VOIP over internet at WIFI, or if latency is low enough. VOIP and Video Conferecing over the network... similiar to Skype. Texts/IM/email/ringtones/games/etc via WiFi or routed decentralized over network. If this software was completely open, and it was adopted by major manufactures (who didn't have an interest in the current service modal), critical mass could be reached and we could have a FREE AS IN BEER communication system. As storage space becomes more prevalent on these cell phones... software like asterisk can be used to increase features... voicemail 'in' your cell phone, etc not from a big service company. The technology, while young, exists that we can have a FREE COMMUNICATIONS system without the need of traditional cellular infrastructure. How liberating would this be for humanity?