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D-Link to market unlocked Linux mobile phone

Oct 3, 2006 — by LinuxDevices Staff — from the LinuxDevices Archive — 13 views

[Updated Oct. 5] — D-Link will market an unlocked, dual-mode WiFi and GSM/GPRS phone, it says. The “V-Click” phone appears to be a rebranded Linux- and Qtopia-based phone design created by Taiwanese ODM (original design manufacturer) Wistron NeWeb Corp. (WNC). It will ship in Q1, 2007, priced at about $600, D-Link says.

(Click for larger view of the D-Link V-Click)


GW-1
(Click to enlarge)

The V-Click appears to be identical to WNC's Linux/Qtopia-based dual-mode “GW1” phone (pictured at right). The WNC design was previously marketed as the “Twin” by French MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) Neuf; the Neuf Twin is pictured below.


The Neuf Twin

The V-Click is an “unlocked” tri-band (900/1800/1900) GSM radio — meaning it should work anywhere in the world, with any GSM-GPRS SIM card, including pre-paid cards and those from traditional GSM service providers, D-Link says. The phone will be able to import addressbook data from inserted SIM cards.

The V-Click will also reportedly have an 802.11 WiFi radio, with support for wireless encryption standards that include WEP, WPA, and WPA2. It will come with an unspecified SIP-based VoIP (voice-over IP) client, and while D-Link will not offer a service plan directly, the phone will work with several third-party offerings, D-Link says.

Additional touted features include:

  • Five hours talk time on GSM, or two on WiFi
  • Hardware button switches off WiFi radio for better battery life
  • Up to 24MB of memory for user file storage, such as music and videos
  • 2-inch, 176 x 220-pixel color display
  • Opera browser
  • Email client
  • One-button WiFi activation/deactivation
  • 4.2 x 1.7 x 0.75 inches (106 x 44 x 19mm)
  • 3.4 ounces (95 grams)

D-Link CEO Steven Joe stated, “Similar to our popular flip-style Wi-Fi phone, the V-Click phones are open and unlocked.”

Availability

The V-Link will be available through D-Link's global reseller network, and direct from its online store. MSRP is expected to be $600.

In other news, D-Link lost a high-profile court case involving the GNU GPL last week.

Thanks to Eugenia Loli-Queru for calling this story to our attention.


 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.



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