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Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

engadget.com

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Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#91

Post by jfoster »

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 think they are trying to tell device & part manufacturers that since both Ubuntu and Android are Linux kernels, they won't need to rewrite their drivers. Perhaps they've borrowed code from the Android kernel?

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#93

Post by rdtsc »

TylerE wrote: post #84
jmaygarden wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you missed the "throwing a bluetooth or usb keyboard + mouse on" part.

Ok. So now how are you putting the screen at a readable distance and angle? At the point you're carrying around a keyboard anyway, why not just have a Macbook Air?

> At the point you're carrying around a keyboard anyway, why not just have a Macbook Air?

Because you _don't have to_ carry around a keyboard and a display if you don't plan on producing content and just want to make phone calls read ebooks.

Can I tear off the screen and keyboard off a Macbook Air and use it as a phone? No? Well then I want a Ubuntu Phone then.

Well at least in theory ...

Another way to look at it, I already have a TV, a laptop, a tablet, and a phone. As mobile hardware gets faster and better, I would eventually just love to have one device -- a phone. I could connect it to my large screen tv, a good keyboard, a smaller LCD display, USB storage and so on.

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#94

Post by tree_of_item »

slurry wrote: post #63
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've come to conclude (as a home-and-office Linux user for nigh on 15 years now) that the standard Unix gui environment of X + widget toolkits + desktop environment is just too multilayered and complex to work for non-boffins. Too many moving parts that can go subtly wrong. You can succeed as an end-user Unix, but you have to burn down the gui architecture and start over. Apple ditched X. Android ditched X. But no "d…

Canonical is in the process of ditching X: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Wayland

Ubuntu Phone uses Qt/QML and HTML5: http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started/gomobile/

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#95

Post by mtgx »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #77
mtgx wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Quoting http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/phone/operators-and-oems : > Ubuntu has already been adapted to run on chipsets using the ARM and Intel x86 architectures relevant for mobile devices, with the core system based around a typical Android Board Support Package (BSP). So chipset vendors and hardware manufacturers do not need to invest in or maintain new hardware support packages for Ubuntu on smartphones. In short,…

But that doesn't say anything about being related in any way with Android code, does it?

Also I think since kernel 3.3 Android uses the exact same kernel as other Linux distros. The Android kernel got merged with the normal Linux kernel. So I don't see why it would be a problem for them to use the same kernel.

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#96

Post by mtgx »

rbanffy wrote: post #82
pajju wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

They may package the distro Cyanogenmod-style.

From the interview on Engadget, it seems they also want to rely on the community to basically make Ubuntu ROM's for Android devices, although their priority is still to partner with OEM's to make new Ubuntu phones.

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#97

Post by mtgx »

drcube wrote: post #72
mickle00 wrote: post #4

"...there are no immediate plans for actual Ubuntu phones, and no carriers have been signed up yet -- although we're told that the OS will run on any new phone built for Android, should the manufacturer see merit in installing Ubuntu instead." It will be interesting to see if/when a manufacturer picks this up, to hit the mainstream market.

Why the hell do I need manufacturer blessing?? I own the phone. Give me a ROM, Canonical.

It would be an impossible task to do that for all phones. But the community can make ROM's for different phones like they do it for Android.

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#98

Post by msh »

buster wrote: post #90
mladenkovacevic wrote: post #68

This announcement baffles me a little bit. An Ubuntu Phone? Why did they choose to announce a phone OS and not a tablet? Phones are light communication devices for sending brief messages, checking social statuses or updating them. Ubuntu is a full featured OS used in creating and consuming long-form content. If they are hoping to engage with existing OEMs I think they would've had a much better time of it with compan…

Ultimately this leads to my dream of only carrying a phone with all my stuff on,going to work, place it in a dock and start working with the phone as my PC replacement.

My dream too, like this http://philip.greenspun.com/business/mobile-phone-as-home-co...

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#99

Post by richbradshaw »

zoowar wrote: post #10

Does it come with Amazon spying?

Yes. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU&feature=play... after a few minutes/seconds the search interface is demoed, that searches for films, music and books, presumably from Amazon, though that's not specified.
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