Linux and Smart phones?

[Steven W. Orr]

On Sunday, Mar 23rd 2008 at 10:46 -0000, quoth Star:

=>On Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 6:41 PM, Brian Chabot <brian at datasquire.net> wrote:
=>> It's getting about time for me to replace my cell phone... next month
=>>  actually is when I plan to do it.
=>>
=>>  So my question to the community is...
=>>
=>>  Is there a (smart)phone out there that can sync ***EASILY*** with Linux
=>>  (as in user side software NOT beta, RPM/DEB/etc. available, maintained)
=>>  that can also handle basic web browsing, and more importantly IMAP
=>>  (preferably encrypted over ssl or other standard)?
=>>
=>
=>I'm in love with My Treo (mine is the 700p model).  It appears to hit
=>all of your requirements, though I don't use IMAP SSL 'cause verizon
=>lets me sync through them.  All of the PIM offerings work great with
=>gpilotd and evolution.  And my short trips into KDE land (for other
=>reasons) had me syncing to the KDE PIM apps in just-about
=>plug-and-play fasion.
=>
=>~If~ i've heard correctly (and I don't know that I have), the 750 is
=>windows mobile (no experience with sync) and 755 is Palm OS.  The Palm
=>Centro is also palm based and add a little funk to the look and feel
=>of the palm brand of smartphones.
=>
=>But I think my favorite feature of the phone is (for an extra cost)
=>the tethering feature (either bluetooth or via usb) that works with
=>one bit of extra palm software.  Yes, in Linux :)
=>
=>Of course, I've had it for only 5 months, so about the time I'm
=>looking to upgrade, OpenMoko will be making its debut, and Verizon
=>will keep to it's open connectivity promises.  Hey, a boy can dream...

I just have to respond.

I have an antique palm IIIC which is primarily for the addressbook and for 
datebook5. There are other things I use it for, but that's the main 
function. Along comes the Treo and the choice became pretty obvious. So 
did I get one? Absolutely not. It turns out that the sub-morons who built 
the Treo allow for a bluetooth earpiece but they did not allow for that 
earpiece to be used to place calls. You can add voice recognition as an 
extra $oftware module but you can not place a call by tapping your 
earpiece and simply say "Call Freddy Fish Mobile". You can place the call 
from the phone and then transfer the call to the earpiece. Why in the Wide 
World of Sports would I give that functionality up?

I remain disgusted.

-- 
Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana. Stranger things have  .0.
happened but none stranger than this. Does your driver's license say Organ ..0
Donor?Black holes are where God divided by zero. Listen to me! We are all- 000
individuals! What if this weren't a hypothetical question?
steveo at syslang.net