Another Linux PDA to Challenge the Nokia 770 92
vhogemann writes "It seems that the number of Linux PDA devices just keeps growing, the German based phone maker Road just announced an Qtopia based Linux Cellphone/PDA. The original article gives more details: 'Opening the clamshell device reveals a QWERTY keyboard and a 640 x 240 display — closed, the unit presents a 102 x 65 monochrome phone screen. The HandyPC contains the usual array of PIM and messaging apps, along with a viewer to read Microsoft Office files. It will ship with PC synchronisation tools, media player software and a web browser. It can even be used as a voice recorder.'" Rather than Nokia's 770, to me Road's phone more closely resembles Nokia's 9XXX series.
Great! (Score:5, Informative)
With the current growth and popularity of Linux on the handheld, the OS is rapidly approaching ubiquity. This trend will accelerate with the much awaited release of the Linux version of Palm OS [theregister.co.uk].
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Nokia 9500 [nokiausa.com]
Nokia 9300 [nokiausa.com]
Nokia 9300i [nokia.com]
The E-Series might have something like that coming up, too.
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Will it sync with Mac or Linux? (Score:2)
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The Qtopia Desktop [trolltech.com] has versions for Windows, Linux and MacOSX.
And there is also a good chance that this Phone will be compatible with Zaurus PDA applications too!
One-Handed PDA? (Score:2)
I think a Palm would be the obvious choice.
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Meh. (Score:4, Interesting)
I doubt it.
Incredibly easy prediction: (Score:2)
GRPS/EDGE makes this already obsolete (Score:4, Insightful)
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Cingular, Sprint and Verizon all estimate 400-700 kbps download speeds: http://www.cingular.com/broadbandconnect_consumer [cingular.com] http://www.sprint.com/business/products/products/w irelessHighSpeedData_tabB.html [sprint.com] http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobileoptions/b roadband/serviceoverview.jsp [verizonwireless.com]
The biggest difference is coverage. Sprint claims EVDO coverage in 220 markets with Verizon claiming 181 metro areas (148 mi
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If you are just wanting a somewhat basic phone (when it is closed) but something that could also SSH into a server while on the go and easily type commands fairly quickly (when it is opened). Then this device may be almost perfect. GPRS/EDGE is plenty sufficient to run a terminal. Heck, you could probably even ftp text files (scripts, logs, etc) back and forth.
If you are wanting something to stream well, anything, then yes GPRS/EDGE probably makes thi
Who gives a ****? (Score:2)
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mmmmm..... (Score:2, Funny)
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With a Caps Lock key?! (Score:2)
I can't believe it. And I've been campaigning for
CAPSoff. Changing the world. One lousy key at a time.
What the f**k is a QWERTZ? (Score:1)
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There are some countries (with a combined population of a 100 million) where QWERTZ keyboards are the way to type.
Walter.
P.S. Yes, Im sure, a QWERTY version will follow suit. Maybe a while after an AZERTY version, of course
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Good as a phone, too. (Score:2, Informative)
Whoa... (Score:2, Interesting)
Also, unlike the Nokia communicator series, it has a touch screen ( useful for VNC, among other things).
I haven't been this interested in a PDA since the Psion series 5. Cool!
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then max it up and run pine and the geek stuff
and then when you want to make a call or manage PIM, you do not have to type grep "birthday" ~/calendar-file | grep `date`
just an idea
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What the hell? (Score:1, Flamebait)
I've heard of DVORAK and QWERTY but never QWERTZ.
Gigaqwertz? Kraftqwertz? Ouch-that-qwertz?
who can tell.
Not in Germany (Score:2, Insightful)
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Re:What the hell? (Score:4, Informative)
The German version of QWERTY. [wikipedia.org]
Re:What the hell? (Score:4, Informative)
Hmm, qtopia and screen space. (Score:5, Insightful)
The Epoc based Nokia Communicator though does make good use of screen space. It should it came from a company who understood how to make a usable PDA.
Re:Hmm, qtopia and screen space. (Score:4, Interesting)
I think this was in the days before excessive toolbars; the Arc also disposed of menubars and used the middle middle button to pop up a menu, which was a neat way to do things.
The inimitable legacy of Psion (Score:2, Interesting)
The Nokia Communicators are Psions (Score:3, Informative)
I have a Nokia 9210 and yup, it's an updated Series 5 with colour screen, email, web etc etc etc. ok so it's a brick, but it's a brick that's served me well for years, a brick which will bring my life crashing to a halt when it breaks down. My next phone will be
QWERTZ IS NOT A TYPO (Score:3, Informative)
Love the form-factor (Score:4, Informative)
P.S. Of course, it's also the form-factor that Val Kilmer used in The Saint.
CDMA+GSM+WiFi? (Score:2)
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This leaves a very small market for these phones.
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I've got a GSM phone with WiFi (bluetooth etc) sat in my pocket at the moment, it's the O2 XDA Mini S (nice phone) from the UK. No problems installing Skype on it either.
Must be a USian thing, as there are lots of phones in the UK with WiFi (XDA series, the E series Nokias)
Ben
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(I say this even though I just bought my third unlocked phone... not from the telecoms company.)
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Just trying to educate here, we're like the third world of cellular here in the US, so the pickings are slim.
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Full VGA screen, Wi-fi 802.11b, 3g (UMTS), GSM+GPRS, Bluetooth, 520mhz Bulverde XScale. However, it is Windows Mobile 5... but with the above link, there is a project to port Linux to it. Oh, and it's also got the keyboard in a Tablet PC-esque convertible style.
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i never buy my phones for a full price - so far there has not been a device that would not suck in one or another way, and no phone manufacturing company has listened to complaints about usability or problems.
if they respond to customer wishes, update & fix the software (building
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reminds me of the nokia communicator (Score:2, Interesting)
The only obvious limitation is that the screen resolution is quite low they could do with a few more pixels o
At long last (Score:1)
770 is not *web* *appliance* (Score:2)
The 770 doesn't even pretend to be a PDA. It's for surfing the web, period. Yet twice this week we've seen PDAs that were supposed to be compared to the 770. Not just PDAs: PDAs with keyboards. Get real!
I'm guessing lots of clueless marketeers are picking the 770 as the product to position their product against. The Slashdot editors need to tune their filters against this sort of crap.
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German Manufacturer ROAD (Score:1)
In Soviet Russia, Road drives telephone business.
--
Automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.
Challenge the Nokia 770? (Score:1)
ROAD has been vaporware for more than 18 months (Score:2, Informative)
Check out the way back machine for february 2005 [archive.org] vs today's page [road-gmbh.de]
You'll notice subtle changes, but for something that was announced at least 18 months ago and that still doesn't exist, my patience has eroded somewhat.
Couple of things (Score:2)
Another point is that the display looks wasted due to the widget set and also rather restrictive in terms of vertical resolution. It reminds me of the old Handheld Pocket PC's that were out there 5-6 years ago. I tried porting a couple of handheld apps I had running on other platforms and trying to utilize that 200-odd pixel vertical space was a major PITA. Th
now this is a real competitor (Score:1)
Anything with a SIM card is operator controlled. (Score:2)
I don't want to buy any hardware where I am not likely to control both ends of a connection. WiFi uses peers, but WiMAX uses a $15,000USD base station. I'm not likely to buy one of those ever.
So I'll skip out on GPRS, UMTS, WiMAX, or any other technology where I must talk to an expensive base station that will be controlled by a vendor.
I might buy a pocket widget that lets my Nokia 770 talk to the mob
No wonder it doesn't remind of the 770! (Score:1)
The very first line in TFA is: "German phone maker Road has announced its answer to Nokia's Communicator."
So why even bring up the 770, only to later add that it looks more like a 9xxx??? I know /. has been all over that 770 thing, but do you think this is the only way you can get us to look at a Linux PDA?
It should have HSDPA (3.5G) built in (Score:1)
challenge the 770? (Score:2)
The 770 is crap. Generally you don't compete to see who can be the worst piece of crap.
(yes, I've used it, had one for a couple days.)
Vapourware (Score:2)
Which is a shame, because it looks like a great device in some ways & I'd rather like one.