Grundig Set to Release New Linux Mobile Phone

This month, Grundig is rumored to release the U900, a new UMTS phone based on the popular Linux OS.   This clamshell form factor phone will feature FM- radio capability, a 2"QVGA display, 100MB of internal memory, a MicroSD card slot, Bluetooth and USB connectivity, a music player supporting MP3 and AAC formats, and read/write video capability according to the Grundig team during phone demos at the recent 3GSM World Congress show held in late February.  Battery life does take a hit with all this functionality, it offers only 2.5 hours talk time but does have 220 hours standby time. 

This will be one of the first phones to run on a single core, single chip analog architecture, pioneered by Berkana Wireless (now Qualcomm) and Silicon Labs.  The "brains" of this phone is an NXP ARM9-based SoC (system-on-chip), using VirtualLogix platform virtualization technology.

The orange color is quite unique, even though the design is not.  No matter what it looks like, we predict it will be popular with Linux fans.