iRiver prepares GSM Linux-based Phone

iRiver prepares GSM Linux-based Phone. iRiver, brand division of the South Korean electronics and entertainment company ReignCom, presented at CES its first mobile phone, a GSM device that has lots in common with Apple's iPhone. The phone doesn't have a name yet, so it's referred as "the iRiver GSM phone" and its producer intends to bring it on the US market until the end of 2008.

The look of the future iRiver phone is very close to the one Apple came up with, but this isn't really an uncommon thing among the post-iPhone handsets. Since it has a similar design, the iRiver GSM phone also lacks a keypad, hence the text input and navigation are made via the generous 3 inch touchscreen that provides a 480 x 272 pixel resolution: touching, sliding, flipping – exactly as you'd do with an iPhone. The iRiver phone uses a Linux-based OS, and its User Interface is another aspect that reminds us of the Apple handset.

Whether Wi-Fi will be included is uncertain. The device makers have already settled on 3G Internet access via HSDPA and so will have less reason to include a fast short-range connection to close the gap. The confirmation has given iRiver an opportunity to criticize Apple for its decision to ship the initial iPhone with slower EDGE access, which rates only as 2.5G by many observers.

iRiver says it intends to release the GSM phone by the end of the year and that it should be less costly than the $399 iPhone. A release in the US is hinted in the unveiling and could potentially support AT&T, though iRiver has not said whether it expects legal challenges from Apple over the similarities in look and feel between each other's phones.