Linux Phone

A German company, Invair, has announced the introduction of a Linux-based smart-phone. It’s one of the uglie…most utilitarian looking phones I’ve ever seen, but certainly has its upside; Tri-band GSM and GPRS for worldwide phone and high-speed wireless data access, an integrated GPS module for figuring out just where in the world you are, infrared and bluetooth connectivity, USB/RS232 i/o, 64 megs of RAM (32 ROM) and an SD/MMC slot for memory expansion. The Linux-based OS includes all the basic PIM functions and email and web browsing (on the “optimised” [sic] 160×240 16-shade grayscale screen). Price is expected to be around $700, US release date unknown. The company already sells a similar PDA (no phone function) from their website.