TCL Mobile Communications (TMC) has used embedded Linux to build a high-end dual-band GSM/GPRS smartphone. The e787 features a 2MP camera, Bluetooth, multimedia players, an Internet phonebook feature, PC synchronization, and a document viewer from Picsel Technologies.

(Click for larger view of e787)

According to Picsel, TCL Mobile Communications (TMC) is China's second-largest handset maker. The e787 shipped in August of 2005, Picsel says, and will be followed by other TMC phones that include Picsel's document viewer. The viewer “actively encourages” users to download files, leading to carrier revenue, the company says.

According to Chinese online retailer 139shop.com, the e787 is a dual-band (900/1800MHz) GSM/GPRS device that features a QVGA (320 x 240) TFT LCD touchscreen with 260K colors.

Additional features listed by 139shop include:

• 850mAh li-ion battery
  • 80-200 hours standby
  • 200-280 minutes talk time
• 4.2 x 2 x 0.8 inches (108 x 52 x 21 mm)
• handwriting recognition
• Internet-based address book backups based on SyncML
• WWW browser
  • WAP 2.0
• Email client
  • POP3
  • SMTP
• Media player
  • MP3
  • AVI
  • WMV
  • MPEG4
  • Flash 6
• Chinese-English dictionary
• Sound recorder
• 2MP camera
  • 1600 x 1200 resolution
  • Portrait, outdoor, scenery, night, and other modes
• Storage-capacity limited video recording
• PDA functions
• Java MIDP 2.0 environment
• Voice dialing
• Speed dialing
• Call background music
• MP3 and 128-voice MIDI ringtones

Additionally, the e787 includes Picsel's file viewer, which supports Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and Power Point) files, Adobe PDF, HTML, mHTML, and images. Motorola has also incorporated Picsel's file viewer into its Linux-based mobile phones.

TMC CTO Kailong Wang said, “Smartphones are increasingly being relied upon to handle tasks previously only possible through PCs, laptops, and high end PDAs.”

Picsel CEO Imran Khand said, “TCL has strong in-house design and manufacturing capabilities, and is aggressively promoting itself in overseas markets.”

 
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