Mobile tech people - what phone is Ubuntu-friendly?

[Vadi]

I need a cellphone, and I'm completely new to the area (hey, never had a need for one before, so I didn't bother).

My requirements are simple and for the most part are easy:

querty keyboard
music player
phoning capability
syncing / file transfer with ubuntu


The last part, bolded, is problematic. I don't know which phones support Ubuntu well or no, and since I'll most likely be paying a hefty amount for this thing, I'd like to get a fully-featured product and not something that requires tinkering to get working with Ubuntu. Bonus points if Ubuntu is actually supported when something goes wrong.

Any ideas? HTC google, blackberry models, phones - is there one that works perfect with Ubuntu?

(Oh, and no iPhone - I'd like to buy a device, not a culture.)

[sefs]

I too would like to know if the Blackberry Curve 8900 Javelin is compatible with ubuntu.

Thanks.

[Vadi]

Can anyone offer input?

[ukripper]

I need a cellphone, and I'm completely new to the area (hey, never had a need for one before, so I didn't bother).

My requirements are simple and for the most part are easy:

querty keyboard
music player
phoning capability
syncing / file transfer with ubuntu


The last part, bolded, is problematic. I don't know which phones support Ubuntu well or no, and since I'll most likely be paying a hefty amount for this thing, I'd like to get a fully-featured product and not something that requires tinkering to get working with Ubuntu. Bonus points if Ubuntu is actually supported when something goes wrong.

Any ideas? HTC google, blackberry models, phones - is there one that works perfect with Ubuntu?

(Oh, and no iPhone - I'd like to buy a device, not a culture.)

I use Nokia E71. All the features you mention above works great with it. plus I have putty installed on it to SSH into my ubuntu or Arch box.

[meeples]

ive heard that the android phones work beautifully with linux, havent had the chance to try one though . :(

[Vostrocity]

Rather than the E71 I recommend the E63. It's basically the same thing without GPS and plastic rather than metal. It has a Qwerty of course, a 3.5mm jack, A2DP stereo Bluetooth, WiFi, and it's only $150. Oh yeah and Symbian is now an open-source OS.

About your syncing issue, I don't think it really matters. Most smartphones these days don't need to be synced to a computer at all. You can use your Exchange server if your company has it or if you use Google's calendar/contacts suite you can just download the Symbian apps for them. For music, you just drag-n-drop onto the mSD card. That's pretty much all you'll need, I don't see what else you would want to sync. :D

[Simian Man]

Android do indeed phones work great in Linux. I have been programming the HTC Dream under Fedora.

[LowSky]

My requirements are simple and for the most part are easy:

querty keyboard
music player
phoning capability
syncing / file transfer with ubuntu




My Blackberry Curve

Has a qwerty keyboard
music player
phoning? it works as a phone, yea
and I can file transfer files with Ubuntu just fine

I dont sync the phone with Ubuntu so I cant answer for that, but this link might
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=190938

[NilsE]

I have an LG Dare and use it with Ubuntu and no problems.

I use it both via the USB mass stoorage mode where it sees the card as a USB drive and also use BitPim to manage ringtones, phone book, etc.

Oh yeah, touch qwerty keyboard, decent music player, great phone, e-mail, and GPS navigation

[Vadi]

Alright, so it looks like most devices are a go. Now to pick one I'd like...

[Vostrocity]

I still recommend Android or Symbian as they are a bit more "open" than Blackberry and WinMo.

[treesurf]

My Palm Treo 650 does all of the above with ease, but is probably a bit ancient for most folks taste.

[radtek]

My BB Bold connects to 8.10 64bit np.

[jalito27]

First, sorry for my english.
And them, a few days ago I buyed my HTC G1 DEV and I love it.
It has querty, a few music players, sync perfectly with google and ubuntu jaunty, has a GPS, a decent camera, and the most important to me, run linux inside.
terminal, ssh, vi, a lot of things what I used in my laptop, desktop and servers.
I recomend to you.
;)

[Vadi]

Well, I ordered an HTC Magic... and then saw that the Palm Pre even lists instructions for Linux, and unlike Android, runs a near-complete standard Linux stack whereas Android is trying to use as little as possible and reinvent their own.

So the difference there in linux-friendlyness is very much showing... only problem is pre is offered by a provider here that doesn't have the best network quality.

[pormogo]

I got my pre on Friday and I am absolutely in LOVE with it. What a wonderful phone. It's ability to sync with the OS is pretty complete. I hooked it up via USB and entered into "media mode" and it was instantly recognized as an MP3 player. Rhythmbox seemed to know how to handle it. However all the files I xfered over on Rhythmbox failed to show in the device or on it's filesystem despite showing up within rhythbox when the device is selected....

No big, the other option is to mount the drive as a FAT32 filesystem. At this point you can create folders on the device and just drop music and artwork in there! Worked awesome for me (although I would still love to get rhyhmbox going on it).

I haven't messed around with any of the advanced contact sync stuff (there are options to import from facebook and from gamail etc etc) but I prefer to manage my mobile address book manually (although that feature is a neat idea, until they come up with a better way to sort contacts I am going to stay away from it.)

This rhythmbox thing is quite annoying I can see it's putting the files on the device but for some reason it just can't find them

darthbator@Fenrir:/media/Palm Pre/iPod_Control/Music/f34$ ls
02 bandini - l'estasi de~LZ.mp3

[treesurf]

I'm waiting for a quad-band unlocked version of the Pre to become available. I'm sure it'll be pretty pricey, though.

[nlz]

hmmm the palm pre seems a bit slow, and the HTC's battery seems to be quite bad, isn't it?

I also don't really like the iphone image, but all these apps!!