The German phone maker Road (Remote Office Access Device) has unleashed S101 Linux phone that poses to be a contender for Nokia communicator. The so-called handy PC, as the name suggests, sports to be a combo of phone and computer, it is based on the Linux operating system and Trolltech's Qtopia GUI. The quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE device comes with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on board too. You will open the clamshell device only to amaze yourself by its QWERTY keyboard, a 640 x 240 display – closed and a tiny monochrome 102 by 65 pixel external screen for dialing. The ROAD baby also boasts of an array of PIM and messaging apps and a viewer to read Microsoft Office files. it will come with features like PC synchronisation tools, media player software and a web browser pre-installed in it.

Road reveals that it will offer two variants, the S101 and S101K that almost replicate each other. The S101K simply adds what the company described only as "encryption" to the standard package - presumably support for protected VPNs and the like.the hardware seems to remain same in both the versions. The device is powered by a400MHz Intel PXA264 CPU, and 64 MB of RAM and 64MB of Flash. with 2 megapixel camera, the seems to have lot of features stashed inside like usual personal organizer stuff, MP3/video playback, an image editor, a Office doc viewer, a browser, POP/MAP email, remote PC access. There's a dictophone feature, which sounds like it can use its speakerphone to read you your emails and text messages. a 1,500mAh lithium-polymer battery provides the necessary gadget juice and ensures as much as four hours' talk time, 240 hours on stand-by, or five hours' PC usage. No details on the release date and price yet.

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