Google’s Android operating system gave Linux-on-mobile sales a healthy boost in the fourth quarter of 2008. In its latest report on the state of smartphones, IT analysts Gartner said that Linux-based mobile sales increased from 2.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 3.2 million units at the end of 2008. This was despite a general slowdown in growth for the entire smartphone sector over the same period.

Gartner estimates that HTC’s G1 Android-based mobile smartphone accounted for as much as 20% of Linux sales during the quarter. All told, Linux-on-mobile sales climbed 19.5 percent during the quarter when compared with the corresponding 2007 quarter.

Comparing 2008 with 2007, however, the picture is not as rosy. Linux-based smartphone sales in 2008 were down 4.2 percent over 2007 sales. Sales of Apple’s iPhone in 2008 were a massive 245.7 percent higher than in 2007 and Research in Motion’s Blackberry devices increased sales by 96.7 percent.

At the top of the operating system pile Symbian remained dominant, accounting for 52.4 percent of the smartphone market in 2008. This was, however, down 6.1 percent over 2007 as Symbian also lost ground to Apple’s Mac OS X and RIM. Microsoft’s Windows Mobile managed to increase its sales by 12.2 percent when comparing 2007 and 2008.

source : www.tectonic.co.za

picture: htc.com

Key features
Massive 3.8″ 65K-color WVGA display
Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS
TouchFLO 3D Home screen and gesture controls
Wi-Fi and built-in GPS receiver
Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 Mhz CPU and 288 MB DDR SDRAM
Dedicated graphics chip (64MB RAM reserved for graphics)
Quad-band GSM and dual-band HSDPA support
5 MP auto focus camera with nice image quality
microSD card slot
Accelerometer sensor for auto screen rotation and turn-to-mute calls
Proximity sensor to automatically turn the screen off during calls
Fingerprint resistant rear panel
Touch sensitive keys with vibration feedback
Stereo FM radio with RDS
Standard 3.5mm audio jack
miniUSB slot and Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
Active magnetic stylus
MS Office Mobile document editor
Excellent Opera 9.5 web browser
Rich retail package, including 8GB microSD card

Main disadvantages:
A wee bit overweight
Sizeable body (still within acceptable limits though)
Average sunlight legibility
Video recording maxes out at CIF@30fps
There’s no dedicated camera key or flash
No D-pad (offers more precise navigation)
Power key is really hard to press
No TV out port

source: gsmarena.com

pricetag: RM3399

ps.: drool….
pss.: i’ll put it that into my next year wishlist! 🙂

read more:
htc.com
gsmarena.com