Ubuntu for phones

jotapesse · 2013-01-03 13:46:02

So, it's out now. What do you guys think about it? More info here.

Working Demo:

Last edited by jotapesse (2013-01-11 17:04:32)

Doomicide · 2013-01-03 13:47:28

Meh, I'm happy with my dumbphone.

Last edited by Doomicide (2013-01-03 15:20:28)

jotapesse · 2013-01-03 13:50:15

^ Well, the question was meant for smartphone users, you know the guys that already use android or ios phones, not dumbphone advocates. smile

schwim · 2013-01-03 15:03:58

There's a lot that Ubuntu is doing with their desktop that I dislike enough to keep me from using them on my phone but nonetheless, I'm excited to see where it goes. Tying together two of my most used products has a lot of allure.

Doomicide · 2013-01-03 15:20:06

jotapesse wrote:

^ Well, the question was meant for smartphone users, you know the guys that already use android or ios phones, not dumbphone advocates.

Mhm I see, still there is the possibility that someone would switch to a smartphone, now that a 'true linux' system is available, well at least as far as the name goes, I don't know about the details and underlying code.

gutterslob · 2013-01-03 15:37:56

I skimmed through the video and read the info on the web page, but still can't figure out whether it is an Android fork (they only state using Android drivers) or one that runs on the existing (or modified) GNU/Linux stack. Don't even know what display server they're employing. AFAIK, Android drivers don't support GLX, so how are they able to use Xorg? Wayland isn't quite ready yet. Still, at least it doesn't seem to be running on top of some laggy Java VM.

Also not entirely convinced a full-on gesture interface is the right way to go, particularly for newbies. Nokia's implementation of Meego-Harmattan's Swype-UI worked beautifully on the N9, but you could argue that it was because of the reasonably sized concave 4" screen. One-handed edge swiping would get cumbersome on bigger screens, I think.

Their "roadmap" seems a bit suicidal, though. Announce something for 2014 now? Sounds more like a sales-pitch to carriers and OEMs, and to be honest, it kinda seems like they're desperate to stay relevant in this so called "Post PC" era more than anything else.

Still, I wish Ubuntu/Canonical all the best. Many mobile operating systems coming out in the next 18 months; Jolla, Firefox, Blackberry, Tizen (?), Ubuntu.... Pretty sure not all of them will survive, but lets hope a couple of them at least make a dent in the Apple-Google duopoly and give consumers more options.

Last edited by gutterslob (2013-01-03 17:52:21)

shengchieh · 2013-01-04 03:47:34

gutterslob wrote:

Still, I wish Ubuntu/Canonical all the best. Many mobile operating systems coming out in the next 18 months; Jolla, Firefox, Blackberry, Tizen (?), Ubuntu.... Pretty sure not all of them will survive, but lets hope a couple of them at least make a dent in the Apple-Google duopoly and give consumers more options.

Tizen should come out, but not in US.
http://www.itworld.com/networking/33231 … -come-2013

open webOS
probably ends up in niche market such as medical and kinks.

Meego
Supposed to come out soon by a company of former Nokia workers.

I agree with earlier posting - I'm not interested in Ubuntu - too invasive - same with Android.
Let's hope the others make a dent in the smartphone war.

Sheng-Chieh

jotapesse · 2013-01-11 17:05:14

Updated first post with a working demo video.

Last edited by jotapesse (2013-01-11 17:07:51)

saneks · 2013-01-11 19:53:47

I read it is not a android fork, it is ubuntu. if you'd connect your phone to a monitor and keyboard, you have linux computer. but it needs some fancy quadcore phone or stuff like that.. the prototype one they presented was some simpler hardware. Sorry, I did not read the article very concentrated, but I kinda like the idea of a linux phone, but I am also a dumbphonist. I might become smart when it breaks. So I like the idea.

mynis01 · 2013-01-11 20:30:36

It runs the android kernel for hardware compatibility but it doesn't use the android userspace. This means no dalvik (android's java sandbox that all the apps run in) so native android apps will most likely be a no go. Most of the apps will be written in html5, which means there will probably be a lot of cross-compatibility between tizen, firefox OS and Ubuntu mobile. It looks like the OS used for the demos so far is running xorg, but this may change in the future. It appears it will be able to run native GNU/Linux apps, but you have to keep in mind whether you are using a phone with ARM or x86 architecture. There's also an SDK for the phone that supports native c and c++ apps, among other languages. While I like the idea of being able to use mobile apps on a desktop and visa versa, I don't think that will be very useful in the real world unless you're docking your phone to a monitor/keyboard/mouse.

intoCB · 2013-01-11 20:35:18

Good luck to them. Canonical is not more evil than existing companies providing this kind of experience.

Am I excited? No not really. We have Linux on smart phones and it's called Android. It's top dog. We won the smartphone wars. Now let's get back to the far more irrelevant mission of converting the world and his wife to CrunchBang on the desktop.

CrunchBang Linux

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#1 2013-01-03 13:46:02

Ubuntu for phones

#2 2013-01-03 13:47:28

Re: Ubuntu for phones

#3 2013-01-03 13:50:15

Re: Ubuntu for phones

#4 2013-01-03 15:03:58

Re: Ubuntu for phones

#5 2013-01-03 15:20:06

Re: Ubuntu for phones

#6 2013-01-03 15:37:56

Re: Ubuntu for phones

#7 2013-01-04 03:47:34

Re: Ubuntu for phones

#8 2013-01-11 17:05:14

Re: Ubuntu for phones

#9 2013-01-11 19:53:47

Re: Ubuntu for phones

#10 2013-01-11 20:30:36

Re: Ubuntu for phones

#11 2013-01-11 20:35:18

Re: Ubuntu for phones

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