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Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

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Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#51

Post by firefoxman1 »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #19

Edit: Here's the keynote video. Skip to about 6:35 sec for the new bits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU Direct link to 6:35 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU&feature=play... First thoughts: 2014 is a long way away and a whole year is an eternity in mobile space. It kind of looks like Unity in portrait mode but without the dock. What does it bring new to developers that isn't there in Android? F…

Wow, I'm impressed even though it is just a demo video. One thing that doesn't feel intuitive to me is the left/right edge choices. It's the same problem with Windows 8, I feel like if I pull an app in from one side, I should be able to switch to the previous app by pulling in from the other side.

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#52

Post by recoiledsnake »

mtgx wrote: post #45
recoiledsnake wrote: post #19

Edit: Here's the keynote video. Skip to about 6:35 sec for the new bits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU Direct link to 6:35 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU&feature=play... First thoughts: 2014 is a long way away and a whole year is an eternity in mobile space. It kind of looks like Unity in portrait mode but without the dock. What does it bring new to developers that isn't there in Android? F…

> It says it uses the Android kernel and drivers to be compatible with the hardware Where did you see that? Are you sure you're not confusing it with the "Ubuntu for Android" project? That is a different project from this. I don't think an Ubuntu phone will have anything to do with Android. It's its own OS, and you won't see it on all phones or anything like that - just on the "Ubuntu phones" that will be shipping st…

I got it from The Verge.

"As already teased and promised, today Canonical is taking the wraps off the mobile version of Ubuntu, which is built around the existing Android kernel and drivers, but doesn't use a Java Virtual Machine and promises to use "the full power of the phone.""

http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/2/3827922/ubuntu-phone-os-ann...

I got confused with all the simultaneous news articles so sorry about the "it says" part.

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#53

Post by emehrkay »

This is exciting. They are truly talking about a single device that does it all for you -- your phone is your computer.

The phone UI looks a bit different, he says "clean and simple," but just from the video it seems like a bit much to do things. That could just be an initial reaction based on years of other phone OS usage.

Why hasnt anyone run with WebOS' UI approach? The whole cards thing seems like the best approach i've seen thus far

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#54

Post by gregr401 »

mtgx wrote: post #45
recoiledsnake wrote: post #19

Edit: Here's the keynote video. Skip to about 6:35 sec for the new bits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU Direct link to 6:35 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU&feature=play... First thoughts: 2014 is a long way away and a whole year is an eternity in mobile space. It kind of looks like Unity in portrait mode but without the dock. What does it bring new to developers that isn't there in Android? F…

> It says it uses the Android kernel and drivers to be compatible with the hardware Where did you see that? Are you sure you're not confusing it with the "Ubuntu for Android" project? That is a different project from this. I don't think an Ubuntu phone will have anything to do with Android. It's its own OS, and you won't see it on all phones or anything like that - just on the "Ubuntu phones" that will be shipping st…

> Where did you see that? Are you sure you're not confusing it with the "Ubuntu for Android" project? That is a different project from this.

It was mentioned in the keynote video, towards the very end ~21:00.

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#55

Post by pajju »

subway wrote: post #28

Oh great, another Ubuntu for %s with no shipping devices. I really wish Canonical would partner with some OEM to actually produce some of these devices instead of just announcing they have software while expecting hardware OEMs to come running. I'd even be happy if they produced a firmware for use on the GN or N4.

Excellent point, they must have strong tie-ups with OEM partners, who can make in-expensive devices, otherwise its not going anywhere.

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#56

Post by StavrosK »

vibrunazo wrote: post #43
StavrosK wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could they? This isn't Android, it's an entirely different OS. If it ran Android apps, it might as well be a custom launcher instead.

They had a working prototype that would run Android and Ubuntu side by side. Would work as a standard Android phone. But when you dock it to the desktop, it's a 100% capable Ubuntu computer, sharing resources with Android. That was perfect. It's the best of both worlds, I'm sure it would be a huge hit. Leverage both the Android mobile ecosystem + Linux desktop at once? That was genius. But instead they chose the gree…

Yeah, I loved that, but it wasn't a mobile OS, it was just Ubuntu running as an Android app. It didn't even have a UI om the phone, IIRC.

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#58

Post by justincormack »

mtgx wrote: post #24
simonebrunozzi wrote: post #12

This is a good thing, but having known Canonical and Ubuntu since the start (2004), I would really love to see them succeed in the desktop market first. This initiative will de-focus their efforts. I admire them, and wish them good luck anyway.

I actually think this could help their desktop OS become more popular, so I'm excited about it, especially if they don't intend to lock down their bootloaders or allow carriers or manufacturers to mess with it too much. I just hope they don't start selling them in 2014 with obsolete technologies like the ARMv7 platform and OpenGL ES 2.0. They need to start with the 64 bit ARMv8 and OpenGL ES 3.0 GPU's. Better to star…

Yes Apple used the iPhone to sell more Macs after all, it is possible.

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#59

Post by runn1ng »

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #12

This is a good thing, but having known Canonical and Ubuntu since the start (2004), I would really love to see them succeed in the desktop market first. This initiative will de-focus their efforts. I admire them, and wish them good luck anyway.

I think Ubuntu is quite successful in the desktop market.

Whenever I see GNU/Linux installation on some desktop or notebook, it's almost always Ubuntu. If people want to switch to some GNU/Linux distribution from Windows or OS X, it's almost always Ubuntu.

So in this respect, I would say they are quite successful.

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#60

Post by muuh-gnu »

zanny wrote: post #30
jonknee wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The desktop market is going away in the consumer space. Unless you're targeting business, it's past the time to become relevant in desktop computing.

Bullshit, people still need to make things. Make emails, edit videos, edit photos, write documents. These aren't business class activities, but touch screens are insufficient for that function. I don't see people lugging around a laptop anymore, but I easily see people plugging their phone into a display, throwing a bluetooth or usb keyboard + mouse on, and expecting a productivity environment from that device. The h…

> edit videos, edit photos, write documents

Canonical doesnt produce video, photo and document editing software. The market's refusal to port that software to Linux has essentially killed it on the desktop for a majority of users. If they dont want to port, there is absolutely nothing Canonical can do about it. A new player cannot simply enter a new market and without effort get a significant part of it.

The only thing they _can_ do is get foothold in a new market first (mobile), then leverage that to get more influence on the desktop. Like Microsoft is leveraging their desktop monopoly to get foothold in mobile.

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