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Wireless Networking Handhelds Linux Business Hardware

China Launches Linux-Based Smartphone 235

Posted by timothy from the could-it-play-oggs dept.
An anonymous reader writes "This news item at LinuxDevices provides photos and specs of a new Linux-based smartphone being launched today in China. The device, called the E2800, sells for about $600, and targets business users, offering PDA functions, touch-screen, handwriting recognition, a camera, and memory expansion to 512MB through an SD memory card, the article says. The device's manufacturer is a Shanghai company named E28. The E2800 is a 900/1800MHz, GSM/GPRS class 10 device based on dual ARM9 processors, running embedded Linux with a 2.4-series kernel. Other recent Linux-based mobile phone announcements have been Japan's NTT DoCoMo's 3G phones and Motorola's A760."
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China Launches Linux-Based Smartphone More

China Launches Linux-Based Smartphone

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  • Open Source.. ? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by junkymailbox ( 731309 ) *
    Do they make the source code available?

    • Re:Open Source.. ? (Score:2, Informative)

      by femto ( 459605 )
      I couldn't find any mention of source code on their website [e28.com]. I notice the Chinese version [e28.com] of their news page is more comprehensive than the English version. Perhaps source is on the Chinese code version of the site or on an FTP site somewhere?

      Does anyone know if the the phone comes with a written offer of source for the GPL'd bits, or a CD?

    • Re:Open Source.. ? (Score:2, Informative)

      by femto ( 459605 )
      Further investigations...

      They have a download page [e2800.com.cn]. It seems to contain ringtones, pictures and some games. There is also a FAQ [e2800.com.cn]. Can anyone read Chinese?

      • Re:Open Source.. ? (Score:3, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        One billion people can.

        It'd be a fucking useless language if nobody could read the shit... Like you kind of useless.
      • My Chinese is very rusty but I had a look at that page & I'm pretty sure that there's nothing in there about GPL or code licensing. The faqs are just things like 'How do I dial a number?', "How do I sync with Outlook, etc', 'How do I listen to music on the phone?', etc

  • I've tried it (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 16, 2003 @12:14AM (#7731710)
    But the person on the other end always sounds like they're speaking Chinese.

  • HA! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Hangtime ( 19526 ) on Tuesday December 16, 2003 @12:19AM (#7731752) Homepage
    Retail for $600 in China!! From the country that can't afford to purchase software and piracy so rampant you can buy any piece of software on the streets for $5. Yes, I'm sure this will do quite well.

    • Re:HA! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by melgeroth ( 726004 ) on Tuesday December 16, 2003 @12:26AM (#7731793)
      Dont be too hasty to judge. China includes places such as Hong Kong, a place I lived for several years. I can personally vouch that they usually have new technologies two or three _years_ before America. America has only recently gotten into the cellphone fad, yet almost everyone had a cell phone in china a couple years ago. When you speak of China, you must remember the large land mass it controls: Shanghai and Beijing and Hong Kong are still huge consumer-ridden industrialized areas.
      • The point is still valid. How long will it be before we see this on Mong Kok's night market?
        • Any target area in the modern economy will have obvious rip-offs and clones. You can get Casio watches a dime a dozen of street vendors in New York. My point was merely that the sheer surplus of people who will buy from places like the Wan Chai Computer Centre presents a large target consumer-base, just as there is in many other countries. Hong Kong has alot of piracy running rampant, but do not discount the potential market held in southeast asia, as it is not an area completely full of poor pirates and tr
          • southeast asia ... is not an area completely full of poor pirates and triads like some reports would suggest.
            No, of course not, didn't say that. I should know; I live there. :-)
      • I can personally vouch that they usually have new technologies two or three _years_ before America.

        I'll tell you why that is so ...

        First, compare the size of Hong Kong (Tiwan, Japan, South Korea, etc) to the size of the United States. Obviously it is going to be easier to deploy technologies in smaller countries.

        Lastly, (to counter your China size claim). The USA has had a very large land line telecom system for quite sometime. Therefore there isn't such a huge need to jump to mobile phones le
        • I'm tired of people saying "XYZ country has had that for years! United States sucks!". 99% of the time they are comparing apples to oranges and they don't have their facts right.

          I'd just like to add:

          Especially when the United States invented the bloody cell phone.

          Sunny Dubey
        • "I'm 100% sure this applies to China, and many other second/third world countries"

          China isn't 2nd or 3rd world. Visit any of their large cities or their farmers, and you will understand.
    • That's because this phone is targetted at rich businessmen, not the poor masses. They have the money to buy one of these.

      Personally, though, I would preffer a good laptop with a microphone...
      (No, I'm not some rich businessman)

    • Re:HA! (Score:2, Interesting)

      by tkw954 ( 709413 )
      While the average mainland Chinese is very poor, I think you're missing the fact that there are a lot of "nouveau riche" in China who want to buy the most expensive phone out there in order to impress their friends. Whenever you buy something in China, one of the first questions is, "How much did it cost?" and more expensive is better.
  • This reminds me about the article on uber-gadgets.
    If only this were available stateside
    -drool-

  • The new smart phone (Score:4, Funny)

    by cluge ( 114877 ) on Tuesday December 16, 2003 @12:21AM (#7731764) Homepage
    Some technology in the phone that isn't talked about

    It will automatically phone police when if you text "Falun Gong". Also the words democracy, voting and human rights will also cause the phone to dial the appropriate authorities to protect the poor citizen from potential harm. It also helps identify and track citizens that need to be re-educated.

    Isn't technology great? **remove tongue from cheek**

    AngryPeopleRule [angrypeoplerule.com]

  • The link to the product homepage... (Score:5, Informative)

    by AtomicBomb ( 173897 ) on Tuesday December 16, 2003 @12:25AM (#7731785) Homepage
    Link to E2800 [e2800.com.cn]

  • SMP cell phone? (Score:4, Funny)

    by MadDog Bob-2 ( 139526 ) on Tuesday December 16, 2003 @12:25AM (#7731786)

    I can see the ad campaign now...

    Like that stupid Cheerios ad except instead of some middle-aged sad sack saying "I lowered my cholesterol," it would be a bunch of hopeless geeks running around muttering "cat /proc/cpuinfo".

    I know I would :)

  • Sorry guys, but does anyone realize that the far world is leveraging west influences to bring prosperity to their country? Its not about freedom but economics. Support your local coffee shop

  • Awesome! (Score:3, Funny)

    by iamdrscience ( 541136 ) on Tuesday December 16, 2003 @12:32AM (#7731823) Homepage
    Now Chinese business men will be able to peruse the 5 websites their government allows them to view -- on the move! Plus they'll be able to speak with their business partners and family about ideas that are inoffensive to the government!
  • Stuff that Matters? No.

    As cool as it is, these stories lost relevance when IBM put Linux on a wristwatch [google.com].
    • As cool as it is, these stories lost relevance when IBM put Linux on a wristwatch.

      I guess you don't realize the complexity difference b/w a wristwatch and a Smartphone. Or the economic value. Linux in a wristwatch is a fun hack - Linux on a smartphone is a potentially disruptive technology.
      • Potentially you say...

        I for one would like to see how they tweak the kernel to handle real-time tasks. If you can make it work for a smartphone it could work in a hell of a lot of real-time control systems.

        (Dark clouds form.) Of course there are plenty of military applications for a realtime kernel too.

        • I for one would like to see how they tweak the kernel to handle real-time tasks.

          In smartphones, the real time part is typically running another OS, while the "smart" OS communicates w/ the other OS and delivers "value added functionality".

  • Confusing (Score:5, Funny)

    by Capt'n Hector ( 650760 ) on Tuesday December 16, 2003 @12:46AM (#7731894)
    Ya know, people are going to become REALLY confused when phone processor speeds reach 900 and 1800 mhz.
  • rrrrring
    - E2800 tech support. How can I help you ?
    - Your company sucks. This stupid phone sucks. I cannot get a dialtone while I'm in the parking area of my building. It says "no signal". And it's just 3 levels underground.
    - Oh. I see. (with the best BOFHish voice). I'll be more than pleased to boost the signal level specially for you, in order to promptly solve this problem that's so annoying you. What's your username ? >clicket< >click<

  • Why is this "China launches"...? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 16, 2003 @01:07AM (#7732003)
    The news story reads:

    A Chinese company based in Shanghai named "E28" has quietly been selling Linux-based smartphones in China since August,...

    So, how is this "China", the country launching a product? It's a company doing the launch, and quietly at that. When Cisco releases a new product, do we say "The United States Launches..."?

    I suppose slashdot editors see product lines as the new arms race, where products created in a market are attributed to the country as a whole.
    • Most Americans think of that country as being Communist. You know, planned economy. The proletariat has siezed the means of production. Industry == Government == Nation == People. It's all the same entity. There are no "independent companies" of the corrupt running dog capitalist variety, comrade, because private enterprise would just be a way of shirking man's responsibility to other men. That would be like stealing!

      Look around at this world we've made

      Equality our stock in trade
      Come and join the

  • Why buy a first generation smart phone? When you could buy a treo 600 that does everything you want, has tons of applications because it runs PalmOS, and is supported by a company that's been in the business of making pda / cell phones for a while now?

    • Maybe because some people want "phones" and not big bulky "PDAs" taking up their space in their skimpy pockets they give you nowadays in clothing.

      I'd much rather flip open a phone and answer a call than bust out a PDA and hold it up to my face like im holding a phone from zack morris's locker.

      Who needs a full featured PDA with a phone built in when you can get a full featured phone with a PDA built in?

      The question is worth asking, and so far, that is why the motorolla MPx200 (windows smartphone) with SD/

  • SMP? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by berteag00 ( 78331 )
    "dual ARM9s..."

    So, someone tell me ... does that mean the kernel is SMP? Do the ARM9s support it natively, making the kernel think it's only one processor?

    Does uCLinux support SMP? (Next on the SMP docket: UserModeLinux... whee!)

    • Re:SMP? (Score:3, Informative)

      by h4x0r-3l337 ( 219532 )
      So, someone tell me ... does that mean the kernel is SMP?

      No. One core runs the phone-stack, the other core runs the OS. It's pretty much like having two separate devices (usually linked via a serial connection) in a single enclosure.

  • On their site, there are a number of flash videos avaliable. On the one that is about gaming, and has "battle bee" initially printed on it, can anyone identify the first song that it plays?

  • Hold your horses. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by The Cydonian ( 603441 ) on Tuesday December 16, 2003 @01:39AM (#7732158) Homepage Journal
    Is it me, or does the picture in the article [linuxdevices.com] look as if it's been photoshopped?

    Note the edges of the screen people, how did the display become so square, while the screen itself isn't? Even more blatant, why should the phone have an oval outerlid that would, apparently, only shows a grey box-like icon?

    Something's not quite right here, methinks.

  • Does anyone know where to get motherboards and hard drives that small? I'm about to start on a project that would benefit from a tiny motherboard, the type that fit into this cellphone's case, and I haven't been able to find any sources except for the upcoming nano-itx form.

    • Re:Motherboard... (Score:2, Informative)

      by Urkki ( 668283 )
      I think they don't exist, not in the way you want anyway, you can't get 'em off the shelf. You sure can get a devkit and then you can design your own board etc, but I gather that's not really what you mean.

      If it has to be that small, it has to fit into specific case (such as a cell phone or a pda or...) and then it has to be custom designed anyway, so you get exactly the processor you want, with the amount of memory and other features you want. That's why there's no real market for very small boards, and
      • Well, if you could find a motherboard that small, usually they come with a "mini" IDE Connector... Not one for laptop hard drives but for Compact Flash cards... Compact Flash is pin compatible with IDE ATA/33 interface and that is what you would probably be using for a DIY ultra small PC of the size you are thinking about...

        I know, compactFlash is still a little bulky, but it is the only cost effective flash memory I am aware of that uses standard interfaces you would find on everyday motherboard chipsets.
  • Since the US doesn't manufacture cellphones, and Japan does, is the tech threat from the new Chinese phones directed at Japan? Does the US only benefit from cheap new tech here?
    • US doesn't manufacture the phone?!? The #2 handset manufacturers in the world is called Motorola and it is an US company!!! Motorola has been #1 handset vendor in China for the past 10 years and it was passed by Bird this year.

      Most Chinese phone vendors still rely much on the Western companies including Motorola to provide components and software for phone. Motorola has been doing good business on this.

      The launch of E2800 by E28 is a threat to Motorola because it will potential cut into a big software/co
      • Now that I've goaded someone into describing the competitive landscape (with an 85% "!" density :), how about some insight into how the Chinese mobilephone business will undercut Japanese access to the US market, and vice versa.

  • Why is it that China launches cellphone, not E28!? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Cordath ( 581672 ) on Tuesday December 16, 2003 @02:09AM (#7732300)
    Why is it that every time a Chinese company does something the slashdot article begins with "China does Blah-blah-blah... plop."

    You know, there are over a billion people in China. I'm sure many of them even have some small ammount of autonomy from the evil borg communist collective that americans seem to think dominates them all. Is this just simple racism or is it some kind of fear complex?

    • Re:Why is it that China launches cellphone, not E2 (Score:5, Informative)

      by taweili ( 111177 ) on Tuesday December 16, 2003 @02:34AM (#7732425)
      Yes, for Japan, it's Docomo launches a Java phone and for America, it is Motorola launches a Java phone. For the poor small Chinese company, launching the Java phone is just part of its patriotic duty to the massive communistic collective?!?

      Give the Chinese company a name and a face!!! They are not a faceless commies collective!!!

      The company is called E28 and the phone gets launched is E2800.
    • Here in the US, the typical citizen can't be bothered to distinguish between Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and even Indians.

      I have heard a useful perspective on this from a number of Chinese immigrant friends. They all like to comment that, bad as it might be, American racism is nothing compared to Asian racism. While being quite aware of the way that most white Americans see them, they comment that American racists are much easier to deal with than the racists they've known in Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Ja
  • If someone said

    "All your Linux 2.4 SCO SMP Code in your new telephone are belong to us."

  • "The E2800 is a 900/1800MHz, GSM/GPRS class 10 device based on dual ARM9 processors, running embedded Linux with a 2.4-series kernel."

    Hello is this the SCO to which i am speaking?
  • I have to wonder if the problem of handwriting recognition is easier for languages that use an ideographic written form rather than an alphabetic form.

    The biggest problem for somebody like me is the computer determining if I wrote "please" or "cheese" (yes, my handwriting is that bad). I would think that in an ideographic language it would be a lot easier for the system to sort through the known ideographs.
  • China Launches Linux-Based Smartphone
    The whole country?

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