Three mobile phone giants released seven new mobile handsets working on the LiMo software platform. Panasonic, Motorola and NEC released the phones recently, making the number of LiMo-based mobile phones increase to 21.

LiMo is short for Linux for Mobile. It is the open source Linux software platform for mobile phones. It is quickly gaining popularity among many mobile phone manufacturers.

The new mobile phones are: Panasonic Forma P906i and P706iμ; NEC Forma N906i, N906iμ, N906iL and N706i; and Motorola Motozine ZN5. These new phones will be initially available in Europe and Japan.

These new phones offer higher resolution displays compared to previous models using the LiMo software. They also have advanced features like mobile TV, GPS, sophisticated video streaming, 3G and roaming capabilities.

With 5 megapixels, the Motozine ZN5 currently offers the highest resolution camera phone that uses that LiMo platform.

Linux will release a LiMo 2.0 by the end of the year. Experts agree that this upgrade will encourage more mobile phone manufacturers to base their units in the software.

The LiMo Foundation, the Symbian Foundation and also Google are constantly seeking ways to improve the open source community. LiMo recently added 11 new partners including MIZI Research, Freescale Semiconductor, Telecom Italia and SK Innoace. The company currently has more than 51 partners throughout the globe.

Source: eFluxMedia