Mobile Phone with PC running Linux 2.6

A8 writes "There is a new toy (aka the S101) around the corner from a German company called Road GmbH. Looks like the Nokia Communicator, but is a little PC with GSM, GPRS, IrDA, Bluetooth, WLAN -- you name it, running Linux 2.6/Qtopia! Sorry seems like the page is in German only." There are also versions based on the same hardware but running Windows CE and Symbian.

Keyboard like the Psion 5?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, the Psion 5 ... that was a really decent bit of hardware for the time. Quite a usable keyboard too, even on the minimal Revo model.

ROAD runner?

[KontinMonet]

Looks to me like vapourware. Hardly any info, pictures tooled up with Photoshop (or whatever). No address or phone number, just a one address email. Is it a 'skam' (as we might say auf Deutsch)?

Re:Ah memories...

[Anonymous Coward]

At least with this phone you could argue that it is an 'old-school' (i.e., Psion style) PDA with wireless internet capability and mobile functionality built in.

Then you can bitch when it gets nicked and not only do you lose the phone, but you lose the stuff you've been working on earlier in the day because you were out of the office, etc.

Keyboard has a "Windows" key

[Linuxathome]

In the English version of the page [road-gmbh.de], if you look at the larger picture of the device, the keyboard has a Windows key next to the Alt button. I understand we can remap that key to do whatever we want, but can't we use another image? I'd like to be reminded less of the pervasive MS Windows monopoly.

Outlook Express

[ward.deb]

I think I see Outlook Express running here: http://www.road-gmbh.de/grafik/foto_pro_s101_02.jp g On Windows 9x...strange ;-)

Power use

[pdxdada]

What strikes me as odd is that they claim a 5 hour battery life using it as a computer but only a 4 hour battery life for calls. Are cell phones really that power hungry or are portable computers really that power lean?

it will contain TWO arm processors

[lkcl]

like the XDA-2 and the XDA-3, it will contain not one but TWO ARM processors:

- GSM-Telefon: aktiv 4h, standby 240h

- PC: aktiv 5h, standby 30 Tage (GSM-Telefon ausgeschaltet)

that translates into "one ARM to run the GSM, one ARM to run the PDA". thank god there isn't one ARM to rule them all and one to get them and little toto too, is all i can say.

anyway.

the first is as shown, the Intel PXA 263 running at 400 Mhz.

these devices are approx $30 in volume quantities, and after your 400% to 1000% markup, minus the expected subsidies, would result in a price tag of oh around £70 in stores (_if_ it was running the GSM phone bit on its own, but nobody would buy it because...)

this processor it will be possible to place into "suspend/sleep" mode, to conserve battery life, which would otherwise be drained in a ridiculously short period of time.

the second processor will be an ARM 7, 8 or 9 processor, running at an _absolute_ maximum of 100mhz, consuming sufficiently little power to provide the talk-times and standby-times we expect.

these processors are oh around $20 in volume, and after your 400% to 1000% markup minus subsidies, you're looking at a price tag on the phone of "free" or £10-£20 (_if_ you didn't have the second processor)

put TWO of these processors into one device, and your subsidies mysteriously disappear or become insignificant.

result: a price tag of £200 if you get one of these types of phones [XDA-2, MDA-3, one of these german phones, doesn't matter] with a hefty per-month guaranteed usage contract, or £400 if you buy it without any subsidies.

those 400 to 1000% markups are a _real_ kicker when you get these two-processor PDA+phone jobs.

i'd _love_ to see a linux phone running on just one of these 100Mhz ARM processors, not this oh-we-must-put-two-processors-in-it crap.

it's fake

[idlake]

According to the web site, the guy who founded the company has a patent (filed in 1995) for a combination of "mobile PC with a cellular telephone" and then in 2005, he "founded" this company, whose "goal" it is to create a product. The product "photographs" are obviously fake: the scale of the screen is wrong and a keyboard with concave keycaps makes no sense on a small device. This guy may be trying to cause some trouble with his patent, that's all.

Motorola makes several Linux-based cell phones that are apparently quite nice. Otherwise, the Nokia 9300 and 9500 are great little cell phones with a decent operating system (Symbian).