The E680i Linux Smartphone

As smartphone prices decline, they have become more popular every day. Symbian, PalmOS, Windows Mobile and Linux seem to be the big names in this high-end market of phones, all showcasing PDA-like features, native toolkits and fast processors. Today we are looking at one of the most popular Linux smartphones (especially in Asia), the Motorola E680i, which was released around May 2005 and was graciously provided by Geeks.com for this article.

This... chubby phone (133 grams) uses Montavista's Linux kernel 2.4.20 and tools. On top of it is a custom UI (not the traditional Qtopia UI) based on Qt/Embedded 2.3.6 (Some claim that it uses MobileSoft's toolkit but there is no official information on this). The phone sports a 312 Mhz ARM CPU, a replaceable 760 mAh battery, 64 MB of ROM (50 MB available to the user), 32 MB RAM, a VGA camera, 3D stereo speakers, Bluetooth, a 3D graphics chip, an FM radio, a 1/10" headphone plug, a hold/lock button, an SD/MMC slot, USB communications and extra hardware buttons for games. The E680i also comes with a 2.5" QVGA 240x320 TFT touch-screen and a stylus. In the box that came with it you will find a second stylus and a second battery, along with the power supply, USB cable, CDs and manuals. You will also find a pair of headphones/headset that acts as an antenna for the FM radio. The phone works at GSM 900/ GSM 1800/ GSM 1900 bands and supports GPRS class 10. It also supports Java applications using MIDP-2 with .jar sizes up to 700 KBs, which is pretty impressive.

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