Looking for a linux (or other open source) mobile phone

[xiroV]

Hi :)

I'm looking for a mobilephone which is running somekind of Linux, or other nice open source OS on it.

I've read that Motorola is making a lot of Phones with Linux as OS, is that true?

The problem is that my current mobile phone is kinda broken, and i need a new one as soon as possible.

And then i thought, "Why not support the Open Source world, if possible?"..

I live in Denmark, so i don't think we got as many choices as other countries have, regarding mobile phones, and besides I want the phone to be kinda new, and not something too old.

Hope someone got some ideas? :)

[Rim]

o.o i'm not sure on this but i think standard dumb phones don't have an os and its generally better if linux is run on the smartphoes that do have. U can check out and ask about this at motorola or nokia/sony ^^ basically anywhere <.< i'm sure they have some up for offer.

[civillian]

I've been trying to find a linux phone for absolutely ages, however in the UK there aren't that many. Motorolla uses linux in some of their phones, however, its only at the very core, and to be honest because of the amount of proprietary software it uses on top of the open core, it may as well be closed source.
I wouldn't reccomend looking at linuxdevices since they have a habit of hyping something you never hear a peep from again.
I'm afraid in mobile phones, linux is just not a very widespread thing (outside of asia, afaik)

[billgoldberg]

Hi :)

I'm looking for a mobilephone which is running somekind of Linux, or other nice open source OS on it.

I've read that Motorola is making a lot of Phones with Linux as OS, is that true?

The problem is that my current mobile phone is kinda broken, and i need a new one as soon as possible.

And then i thought, "Why not support the Open Source world, if possible?"..

I live in Denmark, so i don't think we got as many choices as other countries have, regarding mobile phones, and besides I want the phone to be kinda new, and not something too old.

Hope someone got some ideas? :)

The G1 has android, which runs on linux.

Either way, here's a nice, fairly recent list of phones that run on linux:

http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT9423084269.html

[ssam]

a lot of the time just having the phones firmware based on linux does not give you much advantage. it will not be possible to modify the software or install your own software. the ability of the phone will be restricted by the network.

the only fully opensource phones are the openmoko ones. they have a choice of system firmwares and applications, and anyone whos interested can modify anything. you get far more freedom about thing like VOIP over Wifi then the phone companies would like.

but, the openmoko is not quite a practical phone yet. i think the battery life is fairly short and the software stack is not completely stable. have a good read up on it be for you by it.

i might get one if my current phone dies, but its a nokia 3330 and i think it might last for ever.

[RaZoR1394]

Motorola RAZR series
HTC G1 (This is a great phone with Android. My digitizer is broke as the glass cracks easily.)
Palm Pre (not released yet)
HTC G2 (not released yet)
Samsung *unknown* (Android, no exact information of this but Samsung has confirmed to release an Android phone in the beginning of this year)
Giinii Mooviit tablet (Android, no 3g, WIFI only so not really a phone, more like the n810)
Kogan Agora (The current design has been scrapped and a new one will be made)
Sony Ericsson ... (No exact information of this yet but they have joined the open alliance and rumors are they will release at least one Android phone this year)
HTC Vogue / Touch (Originally runs Windows mobile but Android has been almost fully ported to it. There is still no flashing so you have to clear the ram from within Windows mobile and then load Android into RAM. The phone is rather old however. http://cs-alb-pc3.massey.ac.nz/vogue/)
HTC Kaiser / TyTn 2 (II) / AT&T Tilt ( The developer from the Vogue project is now working on this phone and most basic functions are up and running. Just like the Vogue there is no flashing available and it has to be loaded into ram after a clear with Haret as it needs further development. Everything gets saved on the memory card where you have your android files however. I have this phone and I'm pretty happy except data, battery status and vibration doesn't work. Data works for others so it seems something is wrong with my settings. Wifi and bluetooth doesn't work either but that is non critical to me).

There are lots of other Windows devices that are having Android ported to them that I do not know about.

[zmjjmz]

OpenMoko is another option, but it's quite expensive and there's no 3G

[zpzpzp]

have u tried ebay or amazon?

[xiroV]

Thanks for the replies :)


Motorola RAZR series

Is this the old RAZR series, or also the RAZR2 series? These are the two i see on motorolas website.

[xiroV]

have u tried ebay or amazon?

Well.. I rather wanna buy a new "not used" phone :) Then i can also try holding it before buying etc.

[zolookas]

Thanks for the replies :)



Is this the old RAZR series, or also the RAZR2 series? These are the two i see on motorolas website.

RAZR2 only. But you are still restricted to do many things. Check sites like ModMyMoto (http://modmymoto.com/) to see what you can do and you can't.