Between Android and the myriad of LiMo builds out there, we're not sure the world needs another open-source phone operating system, but Nokia and Intel seem to think differently: the two behemoths have joined up to develop oFono, a Linux-based mobile OS for GSM handsets. We don't know many details, but he project seems to be pulling people from both Intel's Moblin initiative and Nokia's Maemo project, and job postings from a "major handset company" searching for a GUI designer in either Dallas or San Jose have appeared, so it sounds like something big is in the works. We'll see.

Read - oFono web site
Read - PhoneDog post about the job listing

Okay, now we get it -- the flood of Android phones we were expecting at MWC and CTIA this year are actually arriving a month or two late. Nice. Anywho, with Samsung just recently dishing out official dirt on its Google-fied I7500 and HTC pushing out its Magic overseas, Acer is making darn sure it's not left out as the bandwagon cruises by. During the firm's Q1 investor's conference today, Gianfranco Lanci (President and CEO) noted that "the entire industry is looking at Android," and that his company "is testing Android on a lot of different solutions." Specifically, he stated that it was "working on an Android solution for the smartphone, but it's too early to say if [Acer] is going to [put the OS] on a netbook in the near future." 'Course, he could be spitting out positive vibes to just make sure we don't forget about 'em, but here's hoping Mr. Lanci takes him own quotes seriously. We'll be watching -- like Rockwell, minus the catchy chorus.

Looking for a weekend DIY project? Using a 26-key ButtonShield keyboard module and salvaging parts from his Open Source GameBoy project, Liquidware Antipasto blogger intheblitz has created the OpenBerry, a Arduino-based mobile messenger that's maybe one-half part BlackBerry and seven parts great icebreaker at parties (the kind of parties we go to, at least). Right now the functionality is minimal -- it sends and receives messages synced to your laptop via a XBee module. The interface is also lacking, but a GUI is in apparently the works. See the device for yourself in the video after the break.

You'd think a company like Nokia could just finance whatever it wanted, but just to be safe, it's signing a loan agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to the tune of €500 million ($623.9 million). Why the sudden need for cash? According to Reuters, the five-year loan will be used in part to "finance software research and development (R&D) projects Nokia is undertaking during 2009-2011 to make Symbian-based smartphones more competitive." More specifically, those R&D activities will "also benefit the work of the Symbian Foundation and its development of open-source software for mobile devices." Sadly, that's absolutely it for details, but we get the idea we'll be hearing more about this soon. We hear you can accomplish some pretty wild goals with a half billion Euros.

While Android is sure enjoying the spotlight underneath that HTC Magic display, the LiMo Foundation is quietly building an army to rule the mobile realm once and for all. Dramatics aside, the Linux consortium did manage to secure another six members here at Mobile World Congress including Telefónica SA, Aromasoft Corporation, Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications, Marvell Semiconductor, Opera Software ASA, and Swisscom. Of course, all these formalities really mean nothing if the group can't manage to get a reputable handset out the door, so for now, we'll say "congrats" and "hurry up, why don'tcha?"

While Acer unveiled its plan to launch a pair of Android phones this year via the slightly ancient pen-and-paper method, Samsung used an even trustier method: spoken word. According to Reuters, the company's head of product strategy Won-Pyo Hong affirmed that Sammy would sell "more than three" Android phones by the end of this year, and furthermore, it would "definitely" unwrap a phone using the LiMo Foundation's Linux-based software before 2010 dawns. Hong wouldn't disclose whether those Google-powered handsets would hit America, Europe or elsewhere first, but he did remark that both the US and Europe would be covered by the year's end. We'd love to say we're totally unaffected by such a tease, but c'mon, who has that kind of patience?

We'll be totally honest -- we pretty much blew Ruslan Kogan off when he proclaimed that he was about to push out a $199 Android phone by the year's end. And truthfully, the guy still hasn't totally delivered, but you won't find us kvetching about more Googlephones, regardless of MSRP. The Agora (AU$299; US$192) and Agora Pro (AU$399; US$256) are available for pre-order as we speak, though neither one is scheduled to ship out until the end of January. For those unfamiliar with Kogan, it's an online-only enterprise that has wares built specifically to its dimensions in China, and so far as we can tell, it's as legit as they come. As for specs, the Agora packs a 2.5-inch touchscreen (320 x 240), 3G networking, a backlit QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth 2.0 and a microSD card slot; the Pro adds in GPS, 2-megapixel camera and WiFi. So, with unsubsidized prices this low, are you willing to take a chance?

[Via iTWire]

To anyone even remotely familiar with Nokia's history, this tidbit won't come as a surprise at all. In fact, we've been hearing "Linux" and "Nokia" in the same sentence for years. At Nokia World in Barcelona -- the same place where the almighty N97 (pictured) was unveiled -- Ukko Lappalainen, vice president at Nokia's markets unit, informed Reuters that "in the longer perspective, Linux will become a serious alternative for our high-end phones." Potentially more interesting was his followup line: "I don't see anything in Android which would make it better than Linux maemo." Quite frankly, we'd be entirely more interested if this was some revolutionary epiphany, but it's basically just more of the same song and dance. Now, if an N98 pops out next month with a freakishly awesome and nimble mobile variant of Ubuntu, well -- that's a horse of a different color.

[Via LinuxDevices]

And so, it begins. A young, entrepreneurial Australian apparently thinks he has the chops to assemble an Android-powered handset in just over a month, and better still, he expects to sell it for just $199. Reportedly, this whiz-kid (25-year old Ruslan Kogan) offers up a variety of "Kogan-branded" kit that he has built directly for him in China, and presumably, he's hoping to do the same with a Google-fied cellie. Wondering what it'll look like? "Similar to the iPhone," meaning a touchscreen-based device with WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. In his words: "It's a matter of loading the Android system on to the phone, configuring it, making sure it works very well and then the manufacturing of the few thousands phones that we need to launch it is just a matter of a day or two." Yeah dude, piece of cake.

[Thanks, Nick]

Are you excited? Giddy? You should be. The inevitable has occurred, and even though it's far from elegant (and far from guaranteed-to-work), tethering on the T-Mobile G1 is a go. According to a few users over at TmoNews, this particular solution enables owners to share the G1's data connection via USB, which -- for all intents and purposes -- is tethering. You're going to have to put in some serious days minutes to get everything up and running properly, but trust us, it'll be worth it. Navigate down to the links below for all the instructions you could ever need... hopefully.

[Via AndroidGuys]

Read - G1 tethering instructions
Read - TmoNews discussion

OpenMoko, the company most famous for its altogether open Neo FreeRunner, is reportedly quite close to kicking out an Android-based handset. Before you get all shocked and appalled, let's look at this rationally. If you'll recall, we actually got wind of such an occurrence way back in April of this year, and some of those very details are jibing nicely with what we're hearing now. Apparently a company dubbed Koolu will be looking to OpenMoko for the design, and we could see a device emerge as early as next month. Initial specs for the elusive mobile include a 400MHz / 500MHz Samsung 2442B CPU, 128MB of SDRAM, a 2.84-inch 640 x 480 resolution touchscreen, 802.11b/g WiFi, aGPS / GPS, inbuilt accelerometer, a pair of "hard" buttons, Bluetooth support, a 2.5mm headphone jack (boo!) and a microSD card slot. Obviously we'll have to wait and see if any of this pans out, but we'll be the first to cross our fingers and hope for yet another Android phone in the mix.

[Thanks, Charles]

With the onslaught of Android, the Symbian Foundation, and the LiMo Foundation all looking to take their fair slices of the world's mobile market, you might think the pressure would be on the world's closed-source smartphone platforms to give up the goods. A question posed at a recent RIM developer conference suggested that at least some BlackBerry devs would like a crack at Waterloo's inner workings, mainly to get a better feel for its technical underpinnings and help vet it for robustness and security (or so they say) -- but these guys probably shouldn't be holding their breath. The answer from on high was that RIM has an open-source "team" that's looking into releasing the code for some of its development tools, but as for the platform itself, "that's a pretty big leap." With RIM's emphasis on the enterprise, we can see the argument going both ways -- black boxes can be somewhat secure by their very nature, but wouldn't it help to have more eyeballs vetting that stuff?

[Via RCR]

Back in February, we all had high hopes that the Linux-based Samsung i800 would be a real winner when it launched on Orange this fall. Unfortunately, the i900 is apt to be out and about before the i800 can even have a proper funeral. According to Edelman, Orange's PR firm, the "i800 has been withdrawn in order to... prepare a more competitive Linux mobile." In all honesty, we don't suspect that many folks will miss it, but those holding out on picking up a new cellie can safely move on to courting other handsets.

[Image courtesy of SmartphonesOfToday]

According to the oracle-like superbrains at J. Gold Associates, Google's Android OS and Nokia's Symbian will "combine to provide a single open source OS," sometime in the very near future... say, three to six months. Sure, Android is just about to launch on devices in late 2008, and Nokia just announced in June that it will be moving Symbian towards open source -- and of course the two companies have no formal relationship that would come close to permitting such a collaboration. Still, J. Gold assures us this is happening, stating, "A combination of the Android and Symbian efforts would be good for the industry, good for Google and good for Symbian." In related news, we understand a handful of similar mergers are in the offing: Linksys and Belkin, Red Hat and Ubuntu, Engadget and Gizmodo, and the inevitable one-two punch of Coke and Pepsi.

Update: Craziest thing, it turns out that Google, Nokia, and Symbian are all dismissing the platform merger talk as utter nonsense. And for once, we believe those trusty souls; who knows, maybe it's the complete lack of technical synergy between them?