Deeda - An iPhone copy ?

An article from 'Electronista' writes about Deeda being a direct copy of the iPhone. The Deeda has a "30GB or 60GB hard drive, ultra wideband (UWB) for nearby peripherals, and a VGA front camera for video chats to complement the 2-megapixel camera at the back".

Source

IP communications firm Brevisys today generated controversy with news of its upcoming deeda handhelds. Each of the company's three new devices not only shares the same philosophy of an exclusively touchscreen-based interface but shares similar features and clear visual cues inspired by the Apple phone's interface.

[digg this] The most obvious parallel is the Pi, according to even the company's own claims. A 3.6-inch, 800x480 touchscreen controls both a phone as well as Wi-Fi Internet access, music, and video on 8GB of flash storage.

Unique to the handset is the option of a 30GB or 60GB hard drive, ultra wideband (UWB) for nearby peripherals, and a VGA front camera for video chats to complement the 2-megapixel camera at the back. Battery life is rated at 5 hours for active talking and 4 hours for Internet browsing.

Controversially, however, the company claims that its design is original and will be less restrictive to end users.

"Our multimedia players began their design and development process over a year before the recently unveiled Apple iPhone® and LG Prada Phone," the company writes. "As a result we have our own patents pending for our device designs and interfaces. However, unlike certain corporations we believe in individual creativity, not just a company's internal creativity and their ideas."

To support this, the handset maker touts that its deeda handhelds will embrace an open-source philosophy with a Linux-based OS that can freely install programs or receive code changes from outsiders to expose new features. An optimized version of Mozilla's Firefox 2 browser will come preinstalled along with social networking tools and a dedicated media jukebox interface.

The company also hopes to preempt similarly-inspired dedicated media players. Arriving at roughly the same time is the Menx, which shares the dimensions of the Pi without the cellphone or video calling functions, as well as the 3-inch Kiku. Either player will have the option of 4GB or 8GB of flash.

Surprisingly, the company purports that it will ship all three deeda systems in summer, shortly after the iPhone's launch. The Pi specifically will be available as an unlocked phone that should support either AT&T or T-Mobile networks in the US. Prices are unknown.