Trolltech will give away dozens of hacker-friendly Linux phones to winners of a mobile phone software programming contest launched today. The “Qtopia Greenphone Developer Challenge” will also pay two winners $5,000 each, and fly them to Trolltech's “Developer Days” event.

The Greenphone Challenge is the second coding contest Trolltech has sponsored so far this year, after the QT Centre Contest launched in January.

Entries may be based on either the commercial or open source versions of Trolltech's Qtopia Phone Edition software stack. They will be accepted in five categories:

• Best original application
• Best improvement of an existing Qtopia Phone Edition application
• Best end to end service
• Best user interface experience
• Best in the impossible-to-classify category

Twenty-five first-round winners will receive a Qtopia Greenphone, an open, user-modifiable phone aimed at providing phone software developers with a physical development platform. Winners must then show their applications on the Greenphone, in order to take part in round two of the contest.

Two round two winners will receive $5,000, along with a Qtopia Phone Edition Professional license, and airfare with Trolltech's “Developer Days” conference, Munich or California edition.

Entries will be judged according to a set of weighted criteria, including ease of use without written documentation, originality, and performance and efficiency. Judges include:

• Frank H.P. Fitzek — Associate Professor, Head of Future Vision and Mobile Device group, Aalborg University, Denmark
• Holger Freyther — Handhelds.org, Student
• John Lombardo — Author, Embedded Linux
• Phil Torrone — Editor, MAKE Magazine
• Tony Rizzo — Analyst, 451 Group

Each category will also have judge representation from members of Trolltech's development team and management.

More details, including official rules and sign-up forms, can be found here.

 
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