Twenty New Linux Cell Phones On The Way

An anonymous reader writes "Trolltech announced today that more than fifty companies are currently developing or shipping Linux-based devices using its Qtopia graphical application platform software, including more than twenty mobile phones. 'We think that 2005 is going to be a real breakout year for Linux on cellphones,' Trolltech CEO Haavard Nord told LinuxDevices.com. Motorola has already been shipping Linux phones in China, and has achieved its initial objectives there, according to Nord. 'We expect that in 2005, Motorola is going to start shipping Linux phones outside of China,' Nord added."

good and bad

[jeif1k]

It's good to see Linux on more phones. But the dependence on Qtopia is worrisome. Unlike Qt on the desktop, where Qt applications can run alongside applications written in other toolkits, Qtopia takes over the display: the only way you can write applications for these devices is by using Qt/Embedded.

That's a good deal for Troll Tech, who gain lots of Qt developers if Qtopia catches on. It's not such a good deal for users, because their choice of toolkits and applications is greatly restricted, and because Qt/Embedded is not a particularly efficient toolkit. Furthermore, the PIM applications that Qtopia ships with simply are nowhere near as good as those on Palm (I have had several Sharp Zaurus PDAs and I wouldn't want to use them as a PDA). It's unfortunate that Linux's first shot at the PDA and phone market is hampered by Qtopia.

Re:good and bad

[advocate_one]

it's not intended that the user can have a choice of toolkits or applications... the only choice the user will have is what "wallpaper" or ringtone he/she's going to rent this week... the entire market is designed entirely around the concept of the service provider locking the user up into the content delivery model. Not around any concept of the user having any choice.

Sadly, although these things are using Linux, it's basically locked away from the user and they're going to make it very hard for the user to actually get at it.

Re:good and bad

[jeif1k]

Many current phones allow users to install applications. Java is probably the most popular for that purpose right now. What could give Linux phones a big advantage is the large number of applications and tools that exist for the platform already.

Re:good and bad

[advocate_one]

In developer space yes, but for the user experience, everything will be locked up tight... the only programs the user will be able to install are those they have purchased from a service provider... and those will be locked down such that they can only run on that handset. Open source content providers and developers will find it hard to get in... there's so much money to be milked out of the customer by using lockins and DRM to control the content delivery to the sucker^H^H^H^H^H^Hconsumers and any develo

Re:good and bad

[GraemeDonaldson]

It's not such a good deal for users, because their choice of toolkits and applications is greatly restricted

Joe Sixpack doesn't know what a toolkit is, why should he? Why should he care?

and because Qt/Embedded is not a particularly efficient toolkit

Judging by my Nokia 6600, Symbian isn't all that efficient either but apparently Joe Sixpack doesn't care about that either. I have several friends with 6600s who say it's a lovely phone, etc. etc. but it frustrates me no end. It's slow, it hangs it crash

Re:good and bad

[jeif1k]

Once again, for 0.1% of the cellphone-using population (i.e. the fanatical Linux zealots), this may be a major issue, but Joe Sixpack doesn't know/care what Linux is.

You are quite right: users don't care what the toolkit is. They care about size, battery life, performance, ease of use, and choice of software. So do I, in fact. Unfortunately, Qtopia affects all of those negatively relative to other possible GUIs on top of Linux. In the end, the dominance of Qtopia for Linux PDAs/phones may well mean that people will continue to buy mostly Palm and PocketPC-based devices.

Well, at least Palm is switching to a Linux kernel, and unlike Qtopia, their user interface doesn't suck. So, Linux may yet live on PDAs.

So, what do you use to compose text messages?

[advocate_one]

EMACS or VI???

Re:So, what do you use to compose text messages?

[Leroy_Brown242]

VIM!

Who cares!

[Leroy_Brown242]

I'm not so much interested in what OS the phone runs. Not until mobiles phones are faster.

Right now my biggest point of frustration is how slow my phone can move between functions, and how long it takes to open something as simple as the calculator.

I have a Nokia 6820b, not a cheapo or old phone. I'd expect more from a $200+ USD phone.

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Re:So what?

[Psychofreak]

Most people will never have use of an EPIRB. Having that feature available would be cool, but I can hardly imagine the fallout of multiple accidental activations of the device. Activation of an EPIRB causes a serious response.

The WAAS enabled GPS would be most beneficial because it WILL help with getting directions and emergency response times. Through use of tower tracking the precision and accuracy is much enhanced with existing infrastructure.

I am still on the lookout for a waterproof compact flip p

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