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Handhelds Software Hardware Linux

Linux Powers Motorola's Smart Phone 88

Posted by CmdrTaco from the still-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-pond dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Motorola unveiled the A760 at CeBIT and claims the handset is the first in the world to blend the open source operating system with Java software. As well as Linux, the A760 has onboard a camera, diary, e-mail program, MP3 player, speakerphone and colour touchscreen."
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Linux Powers Motorola's Smart Phone More

Linux Powers Motorola's Smart Phone

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  • How long before... (Score:3, Funny)

    by nother_nix_hacker ( 596961 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @01:07PM (#5523945)
    ...someone turns one of these bad boys into a web server? :)

  • It seems cool I suppose, I just hope that they are using linux on the phone because it has a genuine advantage over the alternatives, not just to say they run linux on their phones, to appeal to the geek crowd or whatnot.

    • What I hope is that they make it "hackable". Not like the half baked Wyse "runs linux" terminal I got the calculates a checksum over the kernel to be loaded and refuses to execute anything else but the supplied kernel (2.0.35 ugh).

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Linux is the standard (Score:4, Insightful)

      by RoLi ( 141856 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @02:14PM (#5524236)
      Advantages of Linux in embedding:

      • You control the full source code that runs on your device
      • No licensing costs
      • Thousands of applications are only a compile away
      • Linux is well understood and well supported, it's easy to find employees
      • In the non-graphical embedded market, Linux is already the de-facto standard for new projects. It is a proven technology.

      It's pretty obvious, really. I don't know why so many clueless people always keep asking "why Linux, why Linux?" everytime it is used on an embedded device when it's already not only a proven technology, but *the* de-facto standard.

      In 4 years I promise you that there will be only few CPU-using appliances which are not using Linux. There will be a lot of non-Linux PDAs because of backwards application compatibility, but other than that finding a non-Linux system will be the exception.

      • It's pretty obvious, really. I don't know why so many clueless people always keep asking "why Linux, why Linux?" everytime it is used on an embedded device when it's already not only a proven technology, but *the* de-facto standard.

        Yes, but that might be a little too much, what if the manufacturers wanted to save money on hardware and thus had less ROM in which to burn the o/s, linux is certainly going to be larger than a homegrown o/s built specifically for the purpose of being a phone o/s. Contrary to

        • Re:Linux is the standard (Score:2, Informative)

          by RoLi ( 141856 )
          what if the manufacturers wanted to save money on hardware

          They would waste >6 months and lots of money on development just to find out that the hardware has become cheap enough for Linux in the meantime.

          linux is certainly going to be larger than a homegrown o/s

          Not true.

          Linux is opensource in case you didn't notice, which means you can do anything with it. So in theory, you could optimize it so much to be as small as an in-house system - and still save development time. Of course in real life nobo

        • I disagree with your estimate of Linux being potentially too large. A casual reading of EE Times shows that phone toolkit providers particularly, and embedded developers (hardware and software) in general, are racing to provide maximum flexibility, power, and extensibility into their products. The result is that phones particularly and embedded products in general are rapidly entering territory formerly reserved for quote larger unquote systems. (Last week, I read a nice article about chip-stacking to in

      • Re:Linux is the standard (Score:4, Interesting)

        by FyRE666 ( 263011 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @05:08PM (#5524908) Homepage
        I'm not so sure - I don't think Motorola decided to use linux, then add Java. I believe the OS is incidental, it's the Java platform that's important, and the only platform a user will see or hear about, I suspect. So although it's a win for Linux, it's not going to help the cause by putting the name into people's minds.

        If there was a CPU that could run java bytecode natively in these phones, it would be in there, running the whole show with no Linux OS in sight.

    • I just hope that they are using linux on the phone because it has a genuine advantage over the alternatives,

      Duh, no they chose the worst option of course - they are as stupid as you are...
  • As long as it works nicely, looks decent and doesn't run Windows.

  • filewalker TNG (Score:3, Interesting)

    by dybvandal ( 535813 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @01:15PM (#5523980) Homepage
    check out the new filwalker from invair [invair.de]

    well this little thing looks like a really nifty tool. it does not have java plastered all over it, but it will probably run java if you want as well as the sources are open. it also does not have a color screen which has limited use in a pda imho, atleast as long as the pda does not have a camera build in. but this thing has everything else you could wish for in a pda/phone and i dont even use sms so i doubt i will use mms :-)
    • I do believe the Filewalker Messenger was actually the first announced Linux phone.
      The only worry I have with the Filewalker is the way you write SMS messages. I'm not sure if using a jog-dial with 3 buttons to select the letters is faster than the usual way of having letters associated to buttons.

  • Not really good news yet (Score:5, Insightful)

    by happynut ( 123278 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @01:17PM (#5523987)
    Sadly, even if it runs linux on the
    inside, there is no reason to believe
    that developers get any access to it
    (although that would be very nice if
    they did).

    I've worked on the A720 and the A830
    Motorola phones, and none of the underlying
    system was exposed.

    The Symbian Quartz platforms are even
    worse. Even as owner of the phone you
    can't put anything on them; everything
    must be signed by either Motorola or
    the mobile operator. This is because
    there is no security model in the OS,
    so any code on the phone has to be completely
    trusted (like active-x), and they didn't
    want worms to be a problem.

    Hopefully the design on a linux phone
    could be more nuanced...
    • The terms of the GPL require them to release the source code to anyone who buys a phone from them and wants to see it (for the kernel at least). Geeks should be able to see the source code. Whether they could anything useful wit it is another matter. All the interesting stuff would be in userland.

      Martin
    • Speaking of Symbian: at least the Series 60 SDKs are freely available, making it a fairly open platform. The openness issue is mostly a balance between the interests of the phone manufacturer, the operator and the OS provider.
      • Everything you say is correct, but what really bothers me is: the interests of the end user (and the end user's enterprise) never seem to show up in the list.

        If you are a mobile operator: the customer is not always right...

  • Breaking news ... UPDATE!!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by SuperDuG ( 134989 ) <be@@@eclec...tk> on Sunday March 16, 2003 @01:18PM (#5523992) Homepage Journal
    As well as Linux, the A760 has onboard a camera, diary, e-mail program, MP3 player, speakerphone and colour touchscreen.

    In all the excitement of releasing this new modern wonder to the world the motorola engineers have announced that there is no "phone call making capability".

    A motorola spokeperson was quoted as saying "Well we were so happy to see useless features in a phone, we forgot to add the basic features of the phone, jokingly we're going to change our slogan from 'Hello Moto' to 'HELLO?? MOTO?? CAN YOU HEAR ME AT ALL??'. Seeing as Verizon Wireless is one of our largest purchasers we feel they'll get the joke too."

    When asked whether or not the phone would be able to make and receive telephone calls the spokesperson replied, "What, you have email and linux, what more do you need in a phone, this is the phone of tommorrow, today."

    In similiar news: Nokia has announced that they will be making the "Microwave Phone" that will combine cellphone technology with burrito cooking power. Sure to be a hit for everyone who thinks their cellphone should do more than just be a phone.

    And in not so similiar news: 1337 h4x0r5 from around the world have announced that they are happy to see that they'll be able to run their scripts from a cell phone and be able to '0wn j00' when they're out on a date. One 1337 dud3 was quoted as follows; "Like if I ever get out of the house and like see a girl and like go on a date with her and like she doesn't hit me or nothing I can like 0wn a box tellin the world how I loves her and stuff it will be like the best thing in the world for getting me like laid because like I don't think like I will ever get laid."

    So Everyone seems to love this new modern 'Swiss Army Knife' of the telecommunication tool belt!

    FYI: The phone does make calls, that was meant to be a joke ...

    • oh look, it's another american troll who thinks that mobile phones should only be allowed to make phone calls.

      I want a device that is my phone, my portable music player, my quick-shot camera, and my palm pilot. That doesn't sound like too much to ask of one device, especially with so much shared resources (dsp, memory, screen).

  • Define "involved" (Score:5, Funny)

    by scubacuda ( 411898 ) <scubacuda@gmai[ ]om ['l.c' in gap]> on Sunday March 16, 2003 @01:18PM (#5523993)
    from article:

    "There is no one operating system that is perfect, you have to be involved with all of them,"
    Motorola spokesman

    I can see the support calls now.

    "How do I check voicemail?"


    Answer:
    "Type in man voicemail for all of your voicemail options"

    "How do I send a text message?"

    Answer:
    "Type in vi message, type in i, then your message, then :wq to close and send your message."

    "My phone doesn't recognize my earpiece"

    Answer:
    "Recompile your phone's kernel, then clean everything up. Type in:

    make mrproper
    make xconfig
    make dep
    make clean
    make bzImage
    make modules
    make modules_install


    "I can't get make bzimage to work."

    Answer:
    "Oh yeah, the I has to be capitalized."


    • Wow... you mean I'll finally be able to use vi to send my text messages?!?!
      *runs out and buys one*

      Oh yeah, you missed one:

      Q: ??
      A: modprobe voice_phone_call_sys
  • "The phone is due to go on sale in Asia in 2003 and could reach Europe soon after. The Motorola spokesman said that Asia was the best place for the initial launch because the market for smart phones was much more developed there. "

    i guess i'll still have to use that motorola brick for now.
  • Am I the only one here thinking that an 'open' phone is a brilliant idea? By open phone I mean a phone you can mess around with, add programs, modify stuff...unlike closed systems today's phones usually have. Linux + Java ... If it all works together well and is efficient and fast on a phone, what else does one need? (apart from a working phone that is :)
    • Well, what happens when viruses break out on phones? If people are downloading/installing software on their phone what's to stop malicious code spreading across the network to other phones?

      I must admit, I like my 'closed' phone. I know it won't crash. It doesn't have any security issues. It won't take a photo in the wrong place. It just works!

      I have still yet to see anyone actually playing a game on their phone yet as well...
      • I must admit, I like my 'closed' phone. I know it won't crash. It doesn't have any security issues. It won't take a photo in the wrong place. It just works!

        Depends on your model of course, but AFAIK some current (last 2 years or so) Nokias do have some issues where a malicious SMS can seriously lock up your phone, and I've known of a Nokia that, after a year or two, started spontaneously locking up far too frequently. Not my own experience, since I don't own a mobile at all, but seen on friends' phones.

        A
      • I must admit, I like my 'closed' phone. I know it won't crash.

        Yeah right. My "SAGEM MC 820" was so horrible it made me really want an open phone. Not that an open phone would solve all the problems, but it would solve some of them. Crappy hardware is crappy no matter how good software you install on it.

        The 820 would in fact crash if you typed too fast on the keypad. And the user interface design was braindead. Those two problems could be solved by an open implementation. The fact that it spontaneously
    • An open phone would be badass. java + linux would be perfect. SDK's are readily available and an open source kernel and operating system opens the doors to all types of cool hacks. The missing piece would be a telephony protocol ( don't know if that is the right term ) that ran over IP, something like VOIP but better, so now we have an open phone on an IP network.

      You could do text messaging via jabber, ftp files to/from your phone ( having a copy of winscp and putty on your cell would come in handy for

  • Oh...and it's a phone, too (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Dolphy ( 569457 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @01:22PM (#5524010)
    I worry sometimes that companies are adding gadgets for the sake of adding gadgets. Is a diary really doable on a mobile phone? Does anyone having experience with the toolbox-in-a-phone market? I'd love to hear some examples of actually using some of the odd toys in the field enough to justify the added cost.

    Now I'm just waiting for my PDA to come with a cup rest.

  • it won't be long (Score:4, Interesting)

    by 1nv4d3r ( 642775 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @01:22PM (#5524014)
    It won't be long (I'm assuming within 10 years) before you come to work, put your phone into your docking station, and use it as your desktop. The UI on the phone itself will be just a special-purpose program running on a general-purpose computer.

    I personally can't wait.
    • To complete the picture, it would also be nice if countries would blanket their land with tax-funded wireless internet access. With those two things in place (hand-held computer + ubiquitous wireless access), the way we live and work could change dramatically. (at least the way I do could..don't know about you all).
  • What has changed since this story [slashdot.org] is that an actual phone was displayed to the public. They still havent started selling them.And to be first released in Asia then Europe and then America

  • Networks (Score:3, Interesting)

    by iamacat ( 583406 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @01:40PM (#5524086)
    I hope they either fix the phone to work on older CDMA network, or even better actually fix the "next generation" GPRS to have coverage outside downtowns of big cities. Here, we have a big Sprint PCS building and within a few blocks there is a coverage hole on a Sprint network. Only a couple of networks ("23 century" version of AT&T wireless and Cingular) are usable on the beach and for making calls while you keep driving. All the cute Palm and CE "smart" phones on the other hand, only work with Sprint and Verizon and are not very usable to actually make a call around here.

    Non-US customers can ignore this post and might actually enjoy all the next generation gadgets. How is life in the 24th century?

    • Re:Networks (Score:3, Informative)

      by Querty ( 1128 )
      Non-US customers can ignore this post and might actually enjoy all the next generation gadgets. How is life in the 24th century?

      Sweet, the GPRS coverage in The Netherlands is pretty close to 100%. Rates are available from approx 1.5 EURO per MB, which is still a tad high. Then again, for WAP, one MB goes a looooooong way.

      See you on the other side :)

  • if... (Score:1)

    by bumby ( 589283 )
    if the phone could just be constantly connected (like my lovely adsl) I would be really cool. I could have my ssh-session with screen and all ;)
    tail your message-log, for the really paranoid.

  • Hoorah another smart phone... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by rf0 ( 159958 ) <rghf@fsck.me.uk> on Sunday March 16, 2003 @01:52PM (#5524138) Homepage
    I don't want to sound miserable but let me explain my recent story. I had/have a Nokida 7650. A new smartphone that has camera/pda/java/internet gprs/colour screen and all great stuff. Its a cool gadget which was admitally a bit bulky. Now I lost it a few weeks ago and fell back on my trusty old Siemens SL45. Its old, mono, slimline and can play MP3's. So which phone is better? Well the SL45 and this is why

    The 7650 is a big phone (and I'm not sure A760 so this might not count) so I found that instead of keeping it in my pocket I took it out as it was uncomfortable so I kept forgetting to pick it up. No such problem with the little SL45. Also its battery lasted 2 days if I was lucky. The SL45 has gone 7 days and still has 1/2 battery less.

    What I've decided I want is a small phone. Colour would be nice, with a camera but something which is stable, works well and doesn't need charging every couple of days. Well hopefully the A760 will be stable, and that includes apps but I will reserve judgment until I can play with it

    Rus

  • Can I sync it (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jstroebele ( 596628 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @01:54PM (#5524147) Journal
    All that stuff is nice and dandy, but if I have to retype it all in via keypad, it'll never get used. Why don't all cell phones sync with a PC?

    • Re:Can I sync it (Score:2, Informative)

      by maggard ( 5579 )

      Why don't all cell phones sync with a PC?

      They do with Macs...

      Ok, just had to day that, I'm just glad that Apple "gets it" that synchronization is an important thing. Truth be told more phones synch with PCs, albeit after buying the breathtakingly over-priced custom plug and installing software of dubious stability.

      Mebbe if we're lucky the industry will come to it's senses and adopt a standard plug, like USB, use it for charging too, and support doing imports/exports in a standard way also. Naww - nev

  • Why does any embedded linux device... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mivok ( 621790 ) on Sunday March 16, 2003 @03:19PM (#5524518) Homepage
    have to have java smeared all over it? Sure its nice, and (hopefully) has the advantage of being easy to port games to from other mobiles, but unless you compiled it somehow, you would end up with a lot slower phone (my biggest gripe with my t68i is that its slow). I also happen to think that java is a horrible language, but that doesnt have much bearing on its inclusion, except to say that I am biased on this subject.

    What I really like about the idea of running linux on a phone though would be the ability to completely change the way it works - install a scripting language, and start writing all manner of hacks. Some ideas I can come up with off the top of my head:

    - an sms spam filter

    - general sms filter to say have a different ringtone for family members, or simply forward to a seperate inbox without notifying you when your gf annoyingly messages you during lectures (okay thats wishful thinking about the having a gf part).

    - (assuming it has bluetooth / GPS) different profiles depending on where you are - say turn off the ringer automatically when in a lecture theatre/meeting room (GPS), or turning up the ring volume when leaving your room (bluetooth going out of range).

    - Making your own games (nethack anyone). Sorry, just had to put that one in.

    - SMS auto responder

    - SMS compressor/expander - converts your text in2 sms spk tht nobdy cn undrstnd 2 fit more on a line, and more importantly, translate back what little it can understand of anyone elses sms speak. On a similar note.. proper compression (gzip?) and encryption - a bit less useful re phone compatbility.

    - IM client (again on the better SMS theme) - using GPRS/bluetooth/3g/whatever connection it can get.

    - A console app... no linux box/brick is complete without this one, although typing in 5557777 to get a listing would be far to much hassle.

    Oh yeah.. phones have voice capability as well dont they?

    - encrypted voice phones (James bond anyone)

    - Voice changer - phones already have a dsp in there.. if they made it easy to access....

    - Client side voice mail - a lot more configurable - different messages for different callers, call fielding like traditional answering machines (listen to their message then pick up).

    - Okay, completely off the wall... access the radio transceiver and use the phone as a broadcast receiver, ham/cb handheld, gps receiver, weather station etc.. etc.. not feasable atm, but with the advent of software radios, and being able to access the internals of the phone (heres where the linux on phone bit comes in), it may not always be this way.

    A lot of these would require subsantial hacks, but if someone implemented linux properly on the phone and made it easy to access properly, I doubt it would be that hard to do at least some of those ideas. The big advantage however, is that everyone can have the phone customised their own way (those who dont know how to program could say just download a spam filter/voice mail system).

    That is the sort of phone I would like to see.

  • Misunderstandings about cell phones (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 16, 2003 @03:54PM (#5524632)
    I think a lot of folks aren't quite up on what a phone has in terms of resources that one can utilize well, especially for cool hacks and whatnot. Running linux on a phone is a good first step, but there's a lot more that needs to exist first.

    First off, there's memory issues. Having replaceable flash memory is useful, but more often than not the cellphone stores it's programs in read-only high-speed (and thus expensive) flash that's either on the chip itself or very much part of the built-in phone. Phones are usually quite tight in terms of memory usage, especially smart phones like this; writing any permanent programs that run on the phone constantly must keep that in mind.

    Another issue is single vs. multithreaded apps. Most cells are optimized to be single threaded, as it's faster, uses less CPU overhead and usually easier to program/debug. That removes a lot of the ability to do things like, say, add a global filter to the mix. It's not impossible, but you should keep it in mind.

    Third, most cellphones require a fair amount of specialized hardware to reprogram the phone itself. Or reboot it in the case of problems. Not to mention images needed to reflash it if something goes wrong, the software required to interact with the hardware on whatever platform, etc. All of these things are possible, but they are hard to easily get around.

  • I took a look on Motorolas web site, did a search on linux, and linux phones and I come up with ZIP in the way of source code.

    Maybe this is some new use of the phrase open source that I am not familliar with.

    Crash
    • I would imagine that technically, in this case, the software is not really released (like applications only used within the company) so there is no obligation to give out the source.
  • Cos they're distributing Linux on a device, as far as I remember according to the GPL the person receiving the Linux system has the right to the code.

  • Who cares? (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Motorola phones sucks a$$ anyways - have had a few and they all died prematurely on me. I will never own one again - Nokia or Sony Ericsson for me from here on, not only do they have more/better features but they actually work.

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