A Chinese Linux smartphone company has won a prestigious industry award in Hong Kong. E28 received a Technological Achievement Award in the 2004 Hong Kong Awards for Industry, for a Linux-based smartphone reference design expected in January.

Hong Kong Awards for Industry

The Hong Kong Awards for Industry began in 1989, and include seven categories. The “Technological Achievement” category typically draws between 30 and 40 entries, from which winners of a Grand Award and several Technological Achievements Awards are drawn.

Previous winners include Gourmate, which makes Linux-based POS (point of sales/service) devices for the hospitality devices (2001), fabless semiconductor company ValenceTech (1997-2003), and Group Sense Ltd., whose dictionary software appears on Chinese PDAs.

E28 won the award for its Linux-based “Wireless End-to-End Solution Suite,” a hardware/software reference design based on embedded Linux that the company expects to formally launch in January.

E28's new Linux smartphone reference design

E28 says its forthcoming hardware/software reference design can help manufacturers bring Linux smartphones to market quickly. The design will include detailed hardware schematics, a BOM (bill of materials), a software environment based on embedded Linux, and a graphical SDK (software development kit) enabling manufacturers to customize the design to differentiate their product or meet carrier requirements.

E28's Linux smartphone environment (screenshot gallery) includes a customizable user interface, messaging, PIM, Web and WAP browsers, Java, media players, multi-language handwriting recognition, and a software modem, and it supports synchronization with Windows or Mac OS X desktops. E28 has shipped smartphones based on its Linux smartphone environment.

E28's existing Linux smartphones

E28's Linux smartphone line includes the e2800, said to be the world's first Linux smartphone, and the e2800+, which launched in Hong Kong in September. A tri-band version of the e2800+ could launch in the US as early as February, 2005, E28 says.

Both of E28's Linux smartphones include multimedia features, dual CPUs, digital cameras, PDA functionality, Java, and Windows/Mac OS X synchronization.

E28 CEO Roger Kung, father of the Linux smartphone, said, “This [award] recognizes the outstanding efforts of our team in technology development and product development process. [Our] Linux-based wireless end-to-end solution [has enabled] the company to produce an expanded range of models at the same time.”

In addition to Linux-based smartphones, E28 provides 2.5 and 3G content distribution services. More details about the company can be found in our extensive interview with Kung.

 
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