Motorola Launches A760 Linux and Java Smartphone 116
securitas writes "Motorola launched its A760 Linux and Java smartphone in China today. The dual-mode GSM/GPRS phone uses a version of MontaVista Linux, Motorola's i250 chip for communications, Intel's 200 MHz PXA262 chip (based on the XScale PXA250) for computing with 256 MB RAM, and software that includes a personal information management application, digital camera, a video player, MP3 music player, and an instant-messaging tool. The A760 is the first of Motorola's Linux-based phones. Eventually Motorola plans to use Linux in most of its phones."
Looks good to me! (Score:2)
What's the screen resolution?
Re:Looks good to me! (Score:2)
250 MB of RAM is nice, can't agree on the 'looks good' part though
Re:Looks good to me! (Score:2)
I was referring to the specs...the styling is decidedly ordinary. Maybe it's highly ruggedized? ;-)
The screen res isn't bad though...interesting device!
Why Intel? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Why Intel? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Why Intel? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, that is fairly strange. The low-power PPC chips are pretty nice.
However, the phone unit is most likely autonomous (and much more powerful than the chip unit, which may be sold and is unprofitable). Intel most likely had the best prices and specs (or convinced someone of that), and Intel got the deal.
Its really the way to do things, if you end up with a better phone product. If not, well...
PPC isn't the right chip for this job (Score:3, Informative)
The XScale has an order of magnitude better performance per watt than PPC - we're talking fractions of a watt flat out at 400MHz (see the spec sheet [intel.com]). Also note that this is an Intel/DEC improved ARM core, and isn't x86 based in the slightest.
This particular XScale also has a large wedge of on-chip flash and a bunch of handy peripherals for mobile devices - which is unsurprising seeing as that's what it seems to have been made for.
It
Re:PPC isn't the right chip for this job (Score:2)
Details are at SPS PDF overview of i250 [motorola.com]
Re:PPC isn't the right chip for this job (Score:1)
You're right, Motorola still make their own chips, just with ARM cores instead of their own. I suppose I could more accurately say that I find it funny Motorola favours other core designs to their own.
About the only core they have which is both high performance and low power is the 56k, which they use in that i250. But 56k is a pain to program and
I don't find it odd at all... (Score:4, Insightful)
They eat as little their own dogfood as they can in the products they sell and they don't eat it in their internal I.T. infrastructure at all. It falls into place when you see that they are getting rid of their microprocessor division entirely[1].
It also begs the question, why would anyone else want to eat their dogfood? Apple have answered that one by going to IBM for the G5.
[1] http://www.arstechnica.com/archive/news/106550218
Re:I don't find it odd at all... (Score:1)
Re:I don't find it odd at all... (Score:2)
Seriously, I'm surprised at the adoption of Linux on embedded apps. I usually consider embedded apps like a phone a real-time system. After all, not much new software will be added - and many of its functions have serious time and stability concerns. A user that has to debug their phone will buy a new phone.
And if anyone suggests real-time Linux: hush up before I laugh at you.
Re:I don't find it odd at all... (Score:1)
Re:Why Intel? (Score:1)
http://e-www.motorola.com/brdata/PDFDB/docs/IMX
Galileo is not on hold/cancelled (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Galileo was destined to never happen (Score:2, Insightful)
Of course it is about competition and not about sharing. What's your point? I agree that the common defense is a pipe dream, but an satellite navigation system independent of US is a practical venture politically, militarily and economically.
Re:GLONASS GPS vs NAVSTAR (U.S. GPS) (Score:2, Interesting)
GPRS info [gsmworld.com]
Info about the A760 [zfone.com], which says no GPS at all (not even the unusable e911 gps locator used in some phones for emergency use only).
Features required before it can replace a Zaurus.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Features required before it can replace a Zauru (Score:2, Funny)
EMACS? What are you thinking? (Score:3, Funny)
SSH on cell fones (Score:2)
If you can create a SSH tunnel (see mindterm [appgate.com] through your your company's firwall, you can get to any intranet server using SSH on your cellfone
Or you could even SSH tunnel into your cell, and retreive telefone number, addresses(or other data).
Re:SSH on cell fones (Score:2)
You sir are probably some punk kid that doesn't know shit. In the real world system admins are valuable commodities that are appreciated (except of course BOFH).
Re:SSH on cell fones (Score:2)
In some companies, they are the afforementioned janitors/shit kickers, who can barely be trusted to change a backup tape. But in others, they're the one who makes all the IT Infrastructure descisions, manages the security, purchaces new harware...pretty much everything IT related that the programmers don't do.....
However, sooner or later the company reaches a point where the latter type of Sysadmin learns to star
Uses Linux, but does not expose it (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Uses Linux, but does not expose it (Score:2)
Good luck, Motorola, with your "proprietary intellectual property". What kind of a proprietary intellectual property is a picture of a phone?
Maybe after you get that phone, it will have a printed license agreement inside
Functional, but not beautiful (Score:4, Interesting)
The transparent window to let you see the screen when the clamshell is closed is a nice touch, but it's following the latest phone trend of looking like it's eaten too many pies. When will someone produce a phone styled like the iPod with it's slick square-with-rounded-corners look?
I wonder if you can telnet in from the serial port/data link port, install a VNC server and then have all your phone controlls on your desktop? Would be a big improvement over fiddly little buttons - mind you in the photo it doesn't seem to have numeric buttons, but rather use some kind of touch screen controls as well as a D pad.
Re:Functional, but not beautiful (Score:2)
On the other hand (Score:2)
Nice win for Linux, but what does it really mean? (Score:5, Interesting)
But I wonder if a common kernel is sufficient from the perspective of the end-user. In particular, I wonder how compatible the various flavors of Linux are when it comes to GUI-based applications that most people want to use. Unless all these various devices can run some common GUI, most of the real applications that people want to use will will be impossible to port between all these devices or hard to use if they get ported but use different interface guidelines.
Perhaps the volume of devices running Linux is less important than the volume of devices running a standardized UI layer and set of interface guidelines on Linux.
Re:Nice win for Linux, but what does it really mea (Score:2)
Replace java with Qt/Embedded (a la the Zaurus and most other Linux handhelds), and you're right.
--
Evan
Linux in a phone? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Linux in a phone? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Linux in a phone? (Score:1)
Features... (Score:2, Funny)
Question (Score:1)
Wow! An open source cell phone. Think about all those ringtone options!
256MB Flash, not DRAM (Score:2)
Linux is almost irrelevant here (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Linux is almost irrelevant here (Score:2)
However, you might be able to activate "test mode" like in old phones, and by that listen to other calls in the area and such. But that was possible with all the previous generations of phones aswell.
Time for a mobile webserver... (Score:2, Funny)
price = $799 (Score:4, Interesting)
Ouch!
May be when it comes to $300 or so, I will consider.
Only problem is... (Score:2, Funny)
Oh, and good luck editing
Good. Bring it to the US! (Score:1)
Re:Good. Bring it to the US! (Score:2)
Re:Good. Bring it to the US! (Score:1)
I'm still hoping for something really cool and useful phone-wise to show up at Verizon myself, as that might be the incentive I need to change from their pre-pay service to a real phone plan.
Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68
Motorola have had the A760 cooking for a long time. Any release in US or Europe is yet undecided. And only two weeks after they recently sold their share in Symbian, a Microsoft phone - MPx200 - was announced.
Motorola state in a press release that a row of MS based phones are planned, and that the two companies are cooperating closely within development and strategic marketing. The english version of the release seems to have vanished, but one in swedish is available, dated today:
http://sverige.motorola.com/newsview.asp?
I think it's safe to consider the A760 an "asian experiment". There are currently no indication further plans for those devices. There are, however, very explicit plans for further development of MS-based devices.
correcting URL (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:4, Insightful)
Orange had a phone for a short time that was so buggy that they had to remove it from the market. T-Online stopped their MS-plans shortly before it would go to market. And now Motorola pulls the press releases about MS-phones - except for a swedish one which seems to have been forgotten on the server...
What tops it off is that there are still people stupid/naive enougth to preach that "There are, however, very explicit plans for further development of MS-based devices", when "Eventually Motorola plans to use Linux in most of its phones." (See above with nice linkage).
Microsoft on cellphones is dead. With better established commercial alternatives (Symbian and PalmOS) and equally established free alternatives (Linux) available, there is nothing which can revive Windows on cellphones. It had a chance, but blew it. Get used to it.
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:1)
And Motorola hardly pulled the press release I mentioned, only mis-linked it.
Believing the MS's mobile initiative to be dead is dangerous and way wrong. Microsofts problem has partly been their technology - now polished - but more problematic was their lack of support amongst mobile tech producers. They surely welcome the brekup of the Symbian brotherhood. A well reputed company
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:4, Interesting)
I said they pulled the press release and forgot a swedish version on the server. What part of that don't you understand?
Believing the MS's mobile initiative to be dead is dangerous and way wrong.
Only dangerous for Microsoft. Without the "it's going to be THE STANDARD" - bonus, they don't have a chance.
Microsofts problem has partly been their technology - now polished - but more problematic was their lack of support amongst mobile tech producers.
I disagree on the first part (MS has still to show that they can actually put out a working smartphone solution) but you are correct on the second part: They lack support - again because everybody (rightly) believes that MS-smartphones are dead. It's a self-fullfilling prophecy. No support -> Everybody believes it's dead -> even less support -> It is dead.
A well reputed company like Motorola turning to Windows is exactly what they needed.
You don't find it ironic if you type that line in a story about a REAL EXISTING **LINUX** smartphone while there is nothing but hot air and vapor about MS-smartphones from Motorola?
Face it: MS-smartphones are dead. Symbian is the standard and has the advantages of being established (you get tons of programs, support and all formats are working), Linux has the advantage of being royalty-free and source-free, Microsoft has no advantages: It comes with royalties like Symbian and is as badly established as Linux. And on top you get the additional disadvantage that it's price and existance is uncertain. (Symbian is controlled by a consortium, not a single firm)
As interesting as the A760 might be, Linux is a complete outsider in mobile technology.
Just like Windows. But it's royalty free.
No wonder Motorola loudly bet on the safest horse.
You sure read too many Microsoft propaganda. With about 0% marketshare, Windows is no safety horse in cellphones, it's a risky technology that can dissappear anyday, just like:
Because of Microsoft marketing you think otherwise, but in the real world Microsoft has a long list of shutting down projects without warning.
If all you have is a swedish press-release, well then I'm really sorry for you and your beloved Windows-cellphones.
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:1)
You don't find it ironic if you type that line in a story about a REAL EXISTING **LINUX** smartphone while there is nothing but hot air and vapor about MS-smartphones from Motorola?
No. If anyone blow hot air here, it's you. The MPx200 was announced available nationwide [motorola.com]on Oct. 21st this year, and can be purchased [attwireless.com] from for instance AT
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:2)
BTW: I'm no MS fan.
Yeah, sure. That's why you called th
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:1)
I didn't call the Linux phone doomed. But it's poorly designed. I called it a half hearted clamshell design, implying that I consider it "left hand work", designed in a hurry. The lid - unlike on "real" clamshell phones - has no function! It doesn't contain the display. It's just wasted surface - a lid with some glass or plastic. Weird
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:2)
Let me get that straight: You think that Linux is doomed and Windows is going to take over because you personally don't like one model and like another one? You realize that cellphones are redesigned almost yearly?
So what if somebody at Motorola gets the idea to throw out your beloved Windows and put Linux into the same casing to save royalties? What will your excuse be then? I already know: You will claim the Linux version will be "too har
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:1)
If you had actually read the original story [pcworld.com] you would realize that Symbian is off topic in this context. The point is Motorolas commitment to Linux - or lack of such. Seems to me they put Linux cold on ice, in benefit of MS.
As for design, that's far from pointless. Design is very much what sells the plethora of more or less identically featured phones. Thus, it is indeed relevant that the A7
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:2)
That doesn't make any sense. Why did they release a Linux-cellphone in the first place, then?
And Symbian is not off-topic because it's the clear market-leader.
The point is that the usual Microsoft-tactic is not working: Dumping to get market domination will not happen because Nokia is dominating the market and not Motorola.
So either Microsoft has to constantly pour money into Window
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:1)
Symbian is off topic for *that very reason*. Of course they're the market leader. Everybody KNOWS that. It's utterly irrelevant here.
This is about Linux/Windows and which direction the multinational company Motorola are taking. *AFTER* they sold their Symbian shares some two months ago.
EXIT Symbian.
Why did they release a Linux-cellphone in the first place, then?
And that is an interesting question.
The Slashdot punchline was a refer
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:1)
Possibly because Motorola just might know slightly more about it's intended customers than you have realized (or alluded to) in the above thread.
The A760 is targeted at the emerging China market, where there are a lot of people who don't have cell phones yet, and a lot of people (and a government) who don't really like to play Microsofts games. Hence the release of a Linux-based smartphone. As everyone and their dog knows, Linux is for the people, by th
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:1)
Sure. And money grow on trees. The A760 retails [216.110.171.78] for US$ 800 [plemix.com]. The MPx200 retails for $300. China's GDP per capita is approx $4000. Please repeat who's buying WHAT?
Regardless - the point remains the same:
There is every reason to believe that Motorola had already abandoned any further thoughts of producing Linux phones, even at the time the A760 was released.
The best thing about this horrible thread is that time will prove me right.. wait and see.
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:1)
"Hangzhou, PRC (NYSE; MOT) -- 31 October, 2003: The newest mobile phone from Motorola to launch in the People's Republic of China is raising the stakes for mobiles."
"The A760 is available in China's major mobile phone stores in the month of October and will be launched in other Asian markets shortly afterwards. (ends)"
Apparently they expect to sell it to someone there, but probably not everyone. Just like not everyone in the US uses the
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:2)
I don't see how a post so completely wrong can be moderated "insightful"
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:2)
Also Orange is the only one carrying these phones (thus the name) and Orange is just one network among many in the UK.
Look here [orange.co.uk]
Also when you look at the Orange-shop, the first cellphone is the Treo 600 with lots of Nokias on the first page. The Orange SVP is not even on the first page anymore.
Microsoft is able to make some isolated deals with some networks, but
Re:Motorola is going for Microsoft (Score:1)
With all the pro-opensource(wasn't china working on their own linux or something to escape MS?) news coming out of asia, it would make a bit of sense if they supported it over there. If it's part computer, it doesn't seem like they'd be able to sell it in Vietnam, which might be an all but nonexisiting market(I don't know) but it'd make sense to make sure they can sell/manufacture this thing where-ever seems cheapest.
FryCarson: when it doubt, b
256 MB!?!?! (Score:1)
New subject icon? (Score:2)
I mean we are talking about a 200Mhz phone with 256MB ram. The Palm does not really suit this topic fine anymore. I know it's just eyecandy but it happend to the Apple-icon when it got outdated.
And while you're at it, update the Gnome icon as well. That would be neat.
And yeah, I am still using a Palm III here. As a universal remote control.
better site (Score:1)
Linux on the inside... (Score:3, Insightful)
So far, it looks to me like some other lock-in scheme akin to WinCE or Windows for (Dumb) phones.
And more to notice - all the interesting Linux toys like the new Zaurus, this Motorola phone - are only delivered in Asia. Why this?
Re:Linux on the inside... (Score:1)
I believe you are correct. MS may have the desktop (and mindshare) monopoly in the US and Europe, but from what I know their acceptance in Asia is less than stellar. (different mentality, different market conditions, means a better market for alternatives to the big evil US corporate engine that is Microsoft)
Are we celebrating the wrong things? (Score:2)
Remember Richard Stallman and the printer with proprietary interface codes? Some future Richard Stallman will be in the exact same position, and the printer will be running Linux.
I thought that J2ME meant the same code could run on different mobile devices. A developer working on that stuff told me otherwise. The code he's writing
It's MotoJUIX, not GNU/Linux (Score:1)
After all, Stallman is right! Linux is just a KERNEL!!!
Hope they'll continue on the right direction (Score:1)
As now, A760 already has a long list of features: digital camera, IR/Bluetooth/USB connection, PDA capability, Internet access, multimedia player, music/video player, Java platform, etc.
Now, imagine if it comes with bigger screen, an integrated keyboard, upgradeable storage (SD/MMC/etc), while still fits in the pocket - I think, Motorola will be able to boast that they've caused the extinction of PDA. And also will cause many
Re:Smartphone OSs (Score:4, Insightful)
Nah. If I support Linux companies, it will get better.
If I support Microsoft, everyone will get screwed as Microsoft gets yet another monopoly.
So assuming your post is accurate (I've not heard anything to verify the post from this AC), I still want to support the Linux companies.
Microsoft has leeway from its monopoly rents. We have to help Linux companies survive.
Re:Smartphone OSs (Score:2, Funny)
Here's a summary of MY results:
My Linux powered toilet flushes 1000% faster and can handle much larger (sometimes by an order of magnitude) offerings than my Windows based one. It also uses %50 less water. Can you believe that?
I'm sticking with Linux for all my bathroom needs. I can't wait to install Apache on it either. That's gonna rock.
Re:Smartphone OSs (Score:2)
the only os you mentioned was windows ce, no mention of any phones or other os'es used(what other smartphone uses linux than this new moto? what is your definition for a smartphone? which vendors you tested, which programs?).
as such those numbers meant NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, NADA ZIP FUCKING ZERO.
now, if you had told that it's better than some version x of symbian or linux on some phone y, you
might have something in it. or had provided some reasons and circumstance
Re:Smartphone OSs (Score:1)
There was a fair amount of sarcasm in my post. It had less to do with Windows vs. Linux and more to do with someone blowing statistics out their ass.
We have no evidence. No sources. Nothing but some dork on Slashdot's word. Even IF your statistics were the real deal, like anyone here could go on what you said.