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June 29, 2008

Late Friday, Motorola quietly started shipping three new Linux-based PDA mobile phones.

Available only in China for now, and also approved by the FCC for use in the U.S., the MotoMing A-1600 and A-1800 are higher-end versions of the popular A-1200, while the A-810 adds a lower-end Ming model.

Motorola's new Ming phones succeed the company's highly popular Ming A-1200, which sold a million units in Q2 2006 alone, according to a Canalys study.

Although officially distributed only in Asian markets, unlocked A-1200s have been a staple on eBay with U.S. buyers for years, due to their richer smartphone feature package that Motorola offers in its Linux phones for the U.S. market.

The A-1600 and A-1800 clamshell design measures 3.8 x 2.0 x 0.7 inches and weighs a little over four ounces, according to Motorola. The 2.4-inch display offers 240 x 320 resolution, with 262K colors, and includes handwriting optical character recognition (OCR), along with a business card reader.

The 3-megapixel camera includes an 8x digital zoom mode.

The new MotoMing A-1600 and A-1800 both support GSM/GPRS phone service, with EDGE class 10/12 and GPRS class 10. There is no 3G support, however, nor is there a built-in Wi-Fi. The A-1800 adds two extra SIM slots that offer dual-mode functionality for flipping between GSM and CDMA networks.

As with the Ming a1200, the two phones are targeted primarily at China, but are also said to be aimed at South East Asia and India.

Some features of the MotoMing A-1600 and A-1800:

Other featuresz; FM radio, talking dictionary, MotoSync for contacts/calendar, alarm clock, calculator, Java ME games.

To support the AGPS/GPS component, Motorola includes a "turn by turn navigation application," as well as one or two city maps that can be loaded from a CD via a computer and the phone's built-in micro-USB port.

The Java ME-based phones are said to be compliant with CLDC (connected limited device configuration) and MIDP (mobile information device profile).

Operating system: Linux.

Motorola has not yet shared any details about the A-810. However, some information is available on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) site.

According to a photo on the FCC site (shown above), the A810 features a TI OMAP processor, possibly the OMAP850 model. Unlike its clamshell siblings, the a810 offers a standard candy-bar design, and it is equipped with a less-powerful 2-megapixel camera, suggesting that this is the low-end MotoMing.

A preliminary user manual and other documents on the FCC test site indicates that the A-810 offers features that are similar to the A-1600/A-1800. These include a GSM/GPRS phone service (900/1800/1900MHz), Bluetooth, microSD slot, micro-USB port, and handwriting recognition.

It also appears to offer a five-point navigation joystick, headset jack, handsfree speaker, web browser, MP3 music player, and FM radio.

The MotoMing PDA A-810, MotoMing PDA A-1600, and MotoMing PDA A-1800 are shipping now in China at an undisclosed price, says Motorola.

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Source: Linux News.