[Linux-aus] Linux on mobile phones in Aus

[Steven Robertson]

Howdy,

First, apologies if there is another email from me on this; some kind of
 weirdness just happened on my computer.

I'm looking for a new mobile phone at the moment, and hoping to get one
running Linux. I've been able to find info about US phone models that
fit this description, and also talk of what will be Australian models,
but not until 2007 or so. I'm not too picky about the specs of the phone
at this stage, or whether it's a camera-, smart-, basic-, or
other-phone; my hope is that I'll be able to choose the most suitable
from a list of options. I have two questions on this:

First question: Does anyone know of particular models in Australia,
which are (preferably) available in Joe Blogg's Phone Shop down the road
(optus, vodafone, et al), rather than, say, mail-order? Apparently
Motorola and Samsung have a few options, but I have the above problems
if I try to narrow it down beyond that, and I haven't had much luck
asking in-store. A brute-force search through every model from every
company would work, but asking here seems like a smarter bet.

Second question (from the teach-a-man-to-fish department): are there any
sources of information on this, which are both up-to-date and relevant
for Australasia?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

-Steven