After a false start and a delay, Royal appears ready at last to ship its Linux-based PDA, the Linea LX. The Linea LX is now expected to arrive this quarter, priced at $399. The device will be based on a 200MHz Motorola i.MX1 DragonBall processor equipped with 64MB of SDRAM and 32MB of Flash memory, and will include… Trolltech's Qtopia graphical framework and PIM suite.

(Click for larger view of Linea LX PDA)

The Linea LX's display will be a 65K-color 3.5-inch 240×320 pixel (QVGA) LCD panel that supports both portrait and landscape mode. Other hardware features include IrDA and USB connectivity, a Lithium-ion rechargeable battery, an SD Type II I/O expansion card slot, and a unique snap-on keyboard (at right, click to enlarge). The PDA's software apps will include the extensive Qtopia PIM suite, email (screenshot), web browser, MP3 player (screenshot), digital voice recorder, and contact manager (screenshot) with Microsoft Outlook synchronization.

Additionally, the use of the Qtopia application framework should enable the Linea LX to capitalize on the growing base of Qtopia apps already developed for the Sharp Zaurus. According to Haavard Nord, CEO of Trolltech, there are over a thousand such applications.

Royal said last September that the Linea LX would ship in Q4, 2003, priced at $300. Earlier, in January 2002, Royal had announced a $300 Linux PDA (pictured at left) based on the PIXIL application platform, which it subsequently scrapped.

According to a Royal spokesperson the Linea LX will be positioned at the top of Royal's Linea line of low-end handheld organizers. Other members of the Linea family use a proprietary OS.

Motorola claims its 200MHz i.MX1 DragonBall processor outperforms competing chips clocked many times faster due to architectural advantages and built-in function accelerators, and that the low clock rate uses less power. A recent whitepaper from Motorola claims that i.MXL processors outperform Intel's Xscale PXA250 and TI's OMAP 1510 in power conservation benchmark testing.

 
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