Steve Hemingway

I ordered a Motorola A1200 'Ming' phone from HK. My friend and colleague Lua came back with one from China earlier this week and as soon as I saw hers I wanted one. It is a mobile phone that runs on Linux!!!!!

This means that my phone now has far more processing power, and a much more powerful operating system than most of the computers I used to develop software on. Way back in the 80's when I worked at Psion André Schapps used to joke about writing FORTRAN compilers to run on washing machine processors, but now I have no doubt that it would be a breeze to write a C++ compiler on this phone.

I rather doubt I'll use many of the smartphone features - I am one of those curious individuals who mainly uses his phone to make and receive calls, although I do occasionally listen to the FM radio on my K750i, having repeatedly tried and failed to use it as an MP3 player. I have succeeded, but the Sony PC software is so dire that it really isn't worth it.

Anyway, I have never owned a Motorola phone. Like Nokia it seems to have fallen by the wayside as a producer of highly-rated phones. I am amazed that it has not released the Ming to the USA or to the UK.

You can get one on ebay, from HK. Please write a comment if you are interested in getting one of these & I'll see if I can get a quote for a bulk shipment (maybe 20 phones). The postage costs from HK are very high, although the prices are always sooo competitive. I would have to pay and charge VAT.

Information on A1200 Ming from Phone Scoop