A new Linux-based phone is shipping to subscribers of China Mobile's "Go-Tone" GSM/GPRS service. The Samsung SGH-i858 features a large, 2.4-inch QVGA (240 x 320) color touchscreen, along with a slide-out hardware keypad. It runs version 2.5 of Mizi's "Prizm" Linux phone stack.

The SGH-i858 is the second recent Linux phone release from Samsung. The Korean consumer electronics giant began distributing in April its unique SCH-i819 - which features both GSM/GPRS and CDMA radios - to China Unicom

Both recent Samsung Linux phones also have a "slider" form factor, and support touchscreen as well as keypad operation. Like the SCH-i819, the new SGH-i858 is based on a Qualcomm multi-chip communications processor module, such as the MSM6500.

SGH-i858 features include a 2-megapixel camera, TV-out, text-to-speech software, bluetooth, MMS (multimedia messaging service), IrDA with learning universal remote control software, and a business card reader. It also has standard smartphone features such as a PIM (personal information manager), Media Player, and File Viewer.