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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.

38 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. Wow! by commisaro · · Score: 4, Funny

    Only $600? I bet that's pocket change for your average Linux enthusiast!

    1. 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
  2. 24 MB of memory? by dohzer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do we need to move the 'M' and 'G' keys further apart, or are we stuck with the low memory?

  3. 24MB of Memory? by aero2600-5 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Up to 24 MB of memory for user file storage, such as music and videos.

    24MB of memory? That's about 4 songs or a 1/3 of a music video.

    That doesn't sound too appealing.

    Aero

    --
    Please stop hurting America -- Jon Stewart
  4. mmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    Prepare to salivate.

    Preparing to salivate...
    Salivating commencing...
    Salivating complete.
  5. Umm... by MrNaz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Where on that page does it say anything about Linux?

    --
    I hate printers.
    1. Re:Umm... by freitasm · · Score: 4, Informative

      http://www.wneweb.com/mobile/more/gw1.htm is the ODM for this device. It runs Linux.

  6. And a design to go with my lifestyle by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 2, Funny

    I guess my lifestyle is 'looks like crap', which is really not that far off, actually.

    1. Re:And a design to go with my lifestyle by Qadesh · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That is one ugly phone

  7. 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?

  8. 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 MrNaz · · Score: 2, Funny

      All the extra feaures are coming in the second iteration, after they've finished suckering in the following:

      SELECT * FROM users WHERE money > bains;

      --
      I hate printers.
    2. Re:Agreed.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
      ERROR: Identifier 'bains' not defined (0xDEADBEEF)
    3. Re:Agreed.. by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Informative

      Remember GSM was MANDATED not chosen by marketplace forces, MANADATED by governments.

      It was neither. In Europe, it was chosen by the operators who were mandated to meet and settle on a common standard for the 900MHz band. For the 1800MHz band, it was initially chosen by operators who weren't mandated to settle on a common standard, but after 1800MHz GSM become widespread, was mandated in the remaining countries who hadn't implemented it yet. Regardless of which, it's a great standard. The "GSM was imposed by governments on unwilling, tortured, operators" is a common meme from Qualcomm's IS-95 shilling operation.

      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

      By "CDMA" I assume you mean IS-95 (the most recent version of GSM, UMTS, uses a CDMA air interface.) In the US, the two standards are currently neck and neck. Cingular, the US's largest operator, uses GSM. T-Mobile and a number of regional operators also use GSM. GSM is available in the vast majority of locations in the US where cellular service of any type is available.

      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.

      This is the one point you've made so far that has any remotely true validity. 800MHz support would help in the US. That's not to say it's 100% necessary, with a number of operators 1900MHz is the only frequency available. 1900MHz isn't awful, it's just there's more coverage when you combine the two, and in certain locations 1900MHz can be difficult to get. Cingular gets a poor (800MHz) signal in my home, T-Mobile's (1900MHz) is relatively good.

      One hopes that the phone's support for 802.11 means that it also supports UMA, which will in the long term counter many of the disadvantages of higher frequencies.

      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.

      Not really.

      First, you presume IS-95 users would want a PDA phone. That's not my experience, and I was a Sprint PCS customer for three years who before that was on GSM networks in the UK and used a PDA phone for a long time while there, so I've been on both sides of the fence.

      The last thing I want to be is stuck with an oversized phone all the time. On IS-95, the only way to have two phones is to have two accounts, complete with seperate phone numbers. On GSM, for those occasions where a smaller phone would be more useful, it's just a matter of slipping the SIM out of one and into the other. The market for PDA phones is thus tiny, if not non-existant, on IS-95. On GSM, Blackberrys, Sidekicks, and others are relatively popular. Sidekicks, FWIW, are also, in practice, subject to the 1900MHz frequency limitation.

      Limiting PDA phones to GSM isn't a bad idea, it's a good one. It's a waste of development time to try and develop such a thing for IS-95 users. When Verizon and Sprint PCS and Alltel stop treating their customers like crap and finally implement RUIM cards, we might see that change. But right now, none of the operators are using a version of IS-95 that is PDA friendly. That's a shame, but that's the way it is.

      Second, as I mentioned above, there are plenty of existing PDA phones in the US that sell fairly well that are limited to the one band (1900MHz). I think it would be a good idea for them to improve that, but it's hardly a "this will make or break whether we can

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    4. Re:Agreed.. by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Insightful

      GSM Is the REQUIREMENT in Europe by MANDATE. You can gloss it over with this or that, the "standards" were set up so one format met those standards, GSM. Suffice it to say you see it one way I see it another, and were not going to agree except to disagree. I heard the various arguments on this for a while and have not changed my opinion. GSM=MANDATED.

      A COMMON STANDARD is the requirement by Europe, and then only on the 900MHz, and after it became defacto on 1800MHz, on 1800MHz too. GSM was the standard that was picked by the operators. GSM was not pushed by any governmental organization, it's a flat out lie to imply that it was.

      Any state government in Europe can also make available other frequencies for mobile phone service running whatever services operators want. Indeed, that's how 1800MHz came about - because Britain opened up that frequency for operators to use. Both operators chose, off their free will, without even having to pick a common standard, GSM. Had they, and the dozens of operators that followed, picked something else, that'd have resulted in a different environment.

      You can gloss over this as much as you like. You can say that because governments told operators they had to choose a common standard, that it's some kind of terrible crime against the holy goal of free marketism. What you can't say is that GSM specifically received government support.

      Quite the reverse. The only standard I see being given mandated government support is IS-95, which the US government has done - often to the detriment of US interests. When IS-95 was pushed on the Chinese by the Clinton administration, the fall-out was immense, with the Chinese Government deliberately using it as a weapon against the US's attempts to deal with human rights violations. Qualcomm's lobbying, and the US government's incompetent caving in to such lobbying, has probably actually ensured many human rights abuses couldn't be prevented.

      Yet, despite this well documented support of IS-95 by governments, for some reason it's the Europeans who get it in the neck. Because the European community had the audicity to want to replace the situation where the entire community had half a dozen or so incompatible analog standards with no roaming with a situation where someone could at least buy a phone that was guaranteed coverage anywhere in the area.

      Oh the humanity!

      BTW Vodafone experimented with a version of GSM that used the same air interface as IS-95 in the mid-nineties and ended up rejecting it, not because of politics or legal reasons, but because Qualcomm wasn't able to come up with a system that worked well for them. Nothing stopped them from running it, any more than anything stops European operators from implementing GPRS, EDGE, or UMTS.

      2) CDMA in its various formats is the de facto standard, in the US. NO CDMA you've lost out on 90% of the US market. Verizon, Sprint, Alltel (which may as well be Verizon, why don't they just merge and get it over with), US Cellular and a slew of other local and regional carriers. The fact that CDMA is going to be the air interface for the "new and improved" GSM shows they fubar'd with their anti US mind set. Pick the better technology, and thats not GSM.

      FWIW, CDMA is not a standard anywhere. It's an air interface technology. You might just as well argue that "Packet switching" or "Plastic buttons" is a standard.

      IS-95, which is what you meant, is not the de-facto standard in the US. The biggest operator in the US is Cingular. Cingular operates a GSM network. GSM has many other operators, including T-Mobile, some of Alltel (in the old Western Wireless regions), and various regional operators. And before adding up customer figures, remember that only half of Sprint's customers use its IS-95 network.

      It is a flat out lie to argue that 90% of US users use IS-95. I would be surprised if IS-95 is used by more than 45% of US cellphone subscribers.

      Secondly, the fa

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    5. Re:Agreed.. by SeaFox · · Score: 2, Informative
      This is the one point you've made so far that has any remotely true validity. 800MHz support would help in the US. That's not to say it's 100% necessary, with a number of operators 1900MHz is the only frequency available. 1900MHz isn't awful, it's just there's more coverage when you combine the two, and in certain locations 1900MHz can be difficult to get. Cingular gets a poor (800MHz) signal in my home, T-Mobile's (1900MHz) is relatively good.
      Cingular is 850mhz. This phone actually doesn't support the largest carrier in the U.S. Although they do have some areas of 1900mhz from their aquisition of AT&T wireless.

  9. Lame! by AEton · · Score: 2, Funny

    No wireless. Less space than a Nomad.

    Lame.

    --
    We recently had heard in the office over one of the Yellow Machine that's made by Anthology Solutions.
  10. Press Release from d-link has more info. by Animaether · · Score: 5, Informative

    Read the article, and it hardly has any further information, other than a picture (welcome) and dimensions (also welcome - and not too bad).

    But a bit more info is in the actual Press Release from D-Link;
    http://www.dlink.com/press/pr/?prid=299
    --
    Talk time - up to 5 hours GSM, 2 hours 802.11 wireless mode
    Messages - up to 30 messages can be stored at 459 characters each
    --
    Can't say I'm impressed with that - but it explains why it's a bit lighter, smaller battery. The number of messages stored however is just pathetic.

    Had to still google for Dual-Mode; it actually just means it has a phone radio and another form of wireless communications. Lame terminology comes to mind; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-Mode_Mobile_Phon es

    As for the rest of the info - not in the PR either.

    But for those of you who have been whining about "I don't want a camera in my phone!" - there you go.. Linux, WiFi, no camera.

  11. that's a tough question. lets go to the videotape by macadamia_harold · · Score: 2

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

    Gee, I dunno. Lets check the next sentence: The phone is expected to list for $600.

    There's your answer! "no."

    --
    Push Button, Receive Bacon
  12. You act like it's more expensive... by nobodyman · · Score: 5, Informative

    In the USA, a $300 phone is probably subsidized by your upwards of %50. That's why they lock you into multi-year contracts and sell you the first 10 seconds of a Blink-182 song for $2.50 a pop. I'm not sure if this is as big of an issue in Europe because I believe SIM cards are portable across service providers by law.

    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.

    This phone is the last thing service providers want on the market -- the only thing they'd have left to differentiate themselves from the competition is rates and service (the horror!!). I predict they'll try to kill it.

    1. 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
    2. Re:You act like it's more expensive... by StarKruzr · · Score: 2, Insightful

      To my knowledge, you can install whatever you want on the pda/smartphones from the bignames.

      Not on a Sidekick, that's for damn sure. And the phone's software is always crippleware -- crippled Bluetooth, no wifi, no provisions for wifi. Extra software is always absurdly expensive.

      But this is Linux, which gives you control of the phone's hardware and the ability to run anything you damn well please on it.

      I kind of can't believe someone has actually done this. If D-Link actually gets this thing out the door I'll be shocked -- and more shocked if carriers don't ban the thing from their networks.

      --

      +++ATH0
    3. 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.

    4. Re:You act like it's more expensive... by trailerparkcassanova · · Score: 2, Informative

      Linux is nice and all, but unless you feel like writing your own software don't expect this phone to be very useful.

      Yeah, that's the problem with Linux and open source embedded systems; nobody ever writes software for that stuff.....

  13. D-Link Plan by ValiantSoul · · Score: 2, Funny

    Make phone
    Say linux
    ....
    Profit!!!

  14. Rediculously crappy. by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 5, Informative

    My phone is almost two years old; it has a 640x480 65K color screen, 192 MB of memory, a 520 Mhz processor, B/G Wifi, Bluetooth, UTMS, and GSM, dual video cameras, and expansion by SD if necessary. It came unlocked, and if you really wanted, you could also put Linux on it- (there's a linux port out there.) For god's sake DLink, get your act together.

    --
    "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
    1. Re:Rediculously crappy. by ctscan · · Score: 2, Informative

      No it's probably a HTC-universal (Qtek 9000 etc) or another phone from HTC http://www.europe.htc.com/products/. Agreed, they run windows mobile, but they have a lot more features (UMTS/HSDPA - EVDO - WiFi- Bluetooth - SD card - higher resolution) than this phone for a lower price. I mean, memory for 30 messages and 300 contacts? That's ridiculous in this day and age

    2. Re:Rediculously crappy. by ctscan · · Score: 2, Informative

      That's not entirely bullshit. Like I said above, he probably has a HTC Universal, a phone that I also have and is roughly 1.5 years old. It's a WM5 phone/PDA with a 640x480 screen

  15. Linux cellphones came long back... by wannabgeek · · Score: 5, Informative

    The headline is misleading.

    I have a Motorola A780 - which is based on Linux too, and it is triband and it's unlocked too (Most of the GSM phones you buy in India are unlocked). IIRC, the whole A-series of Motorola is based on Linux. Yes, my phone does not have Wi-fi, but the plug talks as if it's the first Linux based cellphone.

    --
    I'm much more funny, interesting and insightful than the moderators think
  16. Low memory? by knightinshiningarmor · · Score: 4, Funny

    I was certain he meant 'K'

    After all, "Why would anyone need more than 640KB?"

  17. Ahem... by djupedal · · Score: 4, Informative

    My Motorola E680i & A1200 both run Linux, and I've had the E680i for a year now...

    Of course, living in Asia makes this a bit easier, but hey, anything beats having MS on a phone.

  18. Re: They need to make it cheap by SolitaryMan · · Score: 2, Insightful
    And I'll certainly not be paying $600 for it.
    As a person who was looking for a new phone two weeks ago, I must agree. What I really would like to see is free software based cheap phone, without extra features I have PDA for.
    --
    May Peace Prevail On Earth
  19. 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.

  20. And of course linux fans just *love* d-link by myxiplx · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hmm... d-link... would that be the company that recently tried to claim the the GPL was invalid in a german court case? Yeah, can see Linux fans climbing all over each other to buy stuff from this company...

    I also recall D-link being in the press recently for configuring their hardware to synchronise to someone's private timeserver, costing the individual running it several thousand in bandwidth fees.

    At one point I'd have said D-link were a quality brand. Now I'm not so sure...

  21. 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

  22. 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.

  23. Re:Great... by RPoet · · Score: 2, Funny

    Excellent point. Not to mention that Linux is so hard to use. Who will want a phone that requires you to type in "ls", "mkfs.ext3", and write SMS messages with "ed" while you're trying to get XFree86 running with the right drivers after upgrading from Slackware 3? This is dead-on-arrival, sorry.

    --
    "Oppression and harassment is a small price to pay to live in the land of the free." -- Montgomery Burns.
  24. 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?