Linux-based First Else phone unveiled

There's a new mobile phone manufacturer on the market, and today we got a first look at the First Else from Israeli manufacturer Emblaze Mobile, a Linux-based smartphone promising a "unique user experience".

First previewed in Japan in October, the First Else boasts to be a handset with features which will run completely autonomously of each other.

For example, when you're shooting a video or using GPS and a call comes in – it will not interrupt you, but merely flash up a notification to make you aware a call is waiting. You are even given the option to send a notification to the caller asking if the call is urgent, without stopping what you're doing.

Another feature we liked was the ability to set location-based reminders, so if you said you needed to pick up something from a certain shop, you'd get a buzz when you were close to it. Clever stuff.

This is all possible thanks to the phone's software called Else Intuition, developed in partnership with once Palm OS-owners, Access. This supports the phone's fan-like, one-hand-friendly UI called "sPlay", which splits the phone in to three parts from the start – Phone, Diary and Media. This then expands in to more options for you to choose from, but still giving you the ability to access any of your content from wherever you are in the phone's menu.

Specswise, you can expect a 5 megapixel camera, 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, 3G, Wifi, on-board-GPS, over-the-air back up, and its own media store.

The First Else phone has no networks on board as yet, but Emblaze in confident it will hit shelves in Q2 next year.

What do you think to the First Else? Let us know below.