The ROAD S101/S101K Linux smartphone of the future
posted Feb 21st 2005 7:11AM
Mix one heaping cup of Nokia 9500 knockoff with two tablespoons
of HTC MDA IV ripoff, and a few pinches of product
mockup, and you've got yourself ROAD's (Remote Office Access Devices—yeah, we don't know them either) S101/S101K. They
list the quad-band GSM Linux/Qtopia-based handset as
having MP3 playback software (and dedicated keys), an email app, a nice, wide 640 x 240 pixel touchscreen, optional
2-megapixel kamera (hence the S101K), WiFi, Bluetooth, IrDA, mini-USB port, SD slot, 400MHz Xscale CPU, and 64MB RAM
and ROM. So yeah, you could say we're considering calling bs on this thing; but besides finding that industrial design
a bit contrived, if nothing else we have a feeling these are pre-manufacture specs, wherein they'll play the "let's see
how many of our published features we can actually shoehorn in there" game we all know and love so well, especially
since they seem to think they can make this phone a mere 5 x 2.36 x 0.98-inches. And besides, what kind of Linux phone
has a Windows key and runs Outlook? Sheesh.
[Via
Slashdot]
First time to be first.
Actually, I really would dig into my pockets with something with all these specs. I hate the other phone companies that release bits and pieces... ya small but no applications, applications but the size of a miniPC, bluetooth but no e-mail, e-mail but no camera, camera but only VGA, 2M Camera but we lost the bluetooth, I mean how long will it be till they make a nice all round phone with everything you need, that is small enough to look like cell phone, and easy enough to use as an ipod!
Maybe they just know what they are doing - as opposed to everyone else? Doubtful, but lets wait and see... like with OJ, you know :)
While this may very well be the usual preproduction hype, it's nice to see a company trying to break the conventional form factor boundaries that have constrained the mobile industry for so long.
Even if this company goes nowhere, they've succeeded in getting some new ideas out there. You've got to hope that some smart engineers at Nokia and Motorola are reading and learning.
Carmi
http://writteninc.blogspot.com
They forgot to mention that it also toasts bread and makes waffles.
Ro-ads, Roooe-aaddzzz....
Hmmmm... This is the kind of company that is going the vaporware way. I've contacted them a few weeks before this was on slashdot, and didn't receive a reply or ACK. And running Outlook on a mock up phone that is supposed to run Windows CE (or Windows Mobile they're not clear on the concept)? Looks strange...
I.ve never heard of this company, but I think that its the right direction. Not very stylish but I like the way that it looks inside the clam. It seems like it would make using the internet away from home much more common, which is what I always wanted. Can't wait til somebody buys them or flat out steals the idea.
when you click into their link (www.road-gmbh.de) you will see in "under development" they are working on os for Windows CE, it might help to explain why the button of window logo going to be.
but i would agree that it looks like vaporware, just my feeling.
for your information, during CES'05, a Chinese phone company "Amoi" also showing similar with model no. G6301. But I not sure if this is vaporware or not
This is basically a Blackberry with an MP3 player added to it. If they could get this down to a Blackberry-like form factor and still find room for an MP3 player, I'd definitely buy.
If this is a Linux device, WTF does it have a "Windows" key on the keyboard for?
It does look it could be pretty useful as a business device though. Seems like it would compete with the Nokia 9500.
I will believe it when I see one. Maybe at CeBit, given that this is a German company?
Spammer: laotech@engineer.com
Just checkout out the website http://www.road-gmbh.de/ and they seem to have the same range of products that run on Linux, Windows CE, Palm and Symbian. For the sceptics out there, the Linux pic has no Windows button ;-). I'll be field testing the Linux versions as soon as I get my paws on it - I'll keep you all posted.