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Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

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Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#211

Post by demetrius »

Shorel wrote: post #188
lttlrck wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So is it going to have two WMs and two versions of every desktop app? One touch optimized and one for the desktop? It doesn't sound all that wonderful. Desktop/mobile crossover might be better served with cloud-sync.

No. I think it will have a native GUI toolkit that can adapt to both with some hints by the developer.

Currently Canonical encourages using QML for writing apps that will be mobile-friendly: http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started/gomobile/

Maybe this is going to be the mobile toolkit you’re talking about?..

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#212

Post by Aardwolf »

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…

I still don't understand why desktop users have to suffer with a crappier desktop UI (Unity) due to this.

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#213

Post by no_more_death »

mtgx wrote: post #2

Swiping from the edges is exactly what I was hoping Google would do with Android, instead of wasting screen space with buttons. I think all Android's buttons could be repurposed into "edge actions", although they'd have to make them intuitive enough for people to get it quickly.

Android innovates on connections between apps more than the interface design itself. For the most part, the interface design is simply a modified desktop approach.

However, I would note that Google changed the old search button into a "swipe up from bottom" approach for Android 4.1. This brings up Google Now + voice search. So there is some "swipe from edge" functionality.

For Ubuntu Phone, the functions of the different edges will take getting used to. Of course, power users will eat it up.

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#214

Post by robmcm »

elithrar wrote: post #174
primitur wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know how easy it is to port touch-friendly UI frameworks/SDK's such as MOAI ( http://getmoai.com/ ) to Ubuntu? Damn easy. In fact, its already done: and right now, MOAI - and similar tools, just like it (Love2D, Cocos2D, &etc.) - are already out there, running on the existing OS's, and providing multi-touch interfaces that definitely compete with existing Frameworks/SDK's. There is little that Cocoa does, for…

> Do you know how easy it is to port touch-friendly UI frameworks/SDK's such as MOAI ( http://getmoai.com/ ) to Ubuntu? Damn easy. Starting from an existing touch framework/application is not the problem. "Porting" a desktop application to a touch application is not "just" (to quote polshaw) adding a new UI. There's a world of difference between a desktop GUI--esp. in the Linux world, where many apps are remarkably d…

You also have to be aware of context, otherwise you will have apps downloading crap loads of data over your limited SIM contract, or eating up your battery for something that only makes a difference on desktop...

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#216

Post by marshray »

fingerprinter wrote: post #193
marshray wrote: post #126

I'm feeling lazy after the holidays. Does anyone have a good argument for why any smartphone manufacturer (or carrier) would choose Ubuntu Phone over official or opensource Android? EDIT: OK, I've broken down and watched the video. Sounds like an important featre is the unified enterprise management with existing Ubuntu servers and desktops. I wonder if this will prove attractive to the remaining Blackberry holdouts?

This one is easy. Nexus X. Imagine if you are Samsung and you now must compete with Google releasing their own phone from google owned motorola. All those non-Google companies that now release Android phones should be looking past Android to something else. If they aren't, they are going to be extremely sorry in 2-4 years.

You really think Google is willing to drive Samsung, HTC, and LG away from Android just so Motorola can compete with them on hardware?

That would be an interesting move.

It will be very interesting to see how much Samsung, HTC, and LG (and Nvidia) do to support Phonebuntu.

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#217

Post by fingerprinter »

marshray wrote: post #216
fingerprinter wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This one is easy. Nexus X. Imagine if you are Samsung and you now must compete with Google releasing their own phone from google owned motorola. All those non-Google companies that now release Android phones should be looking past Android to something else. If they aren't, they are going to be extremely sorry in 2-4 years.

You really think Google is willing to drive Samsung, HTC, and LG away from Android just so Motorola can compete with them on hardware? That would be an interesting move. It will be very interesting to see how much Samsung, HTC, and LG (and Nvidia) do to support Phonebuntu.

If you were Samsung, HTC and LG, would you be betting your business on it? Would you not actively be looking at alternatives?

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#218

Post by marshray »

fingerprinter wrote: post #217
marshray wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really think Google is willing to drive Samsung, HTC, and LG away from Android just so Motorola can compete with them on hardware? That would be an interesting move. It will be very interesting to see how much Samsung, HTC, and LG (and Nvidia) do to support Phonebuntu.

If you were Samsung, HTC and LG, would you be betting your business on it? Would you not actively be looking at alternatives?

Yes, I would want to keep all my options open for future generations. But that doesn't mean I would invest real money in fully productizing and marketing an Ubuntu phone unless there was expected to be a real market for it.

Re: Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

#220

Post by nathan_f77 »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #142
elithrar wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hopefully porting from linux will be fairly straightforward too.. just a new UI support?, giving apps that work from desktop to mobile. Not to mention that is has most of the FFOS advantage too. I wouldn't trivialise the effort required to create a touch-friendly UI, especially from an existing desktop application (with the expectations that go with it).

Well, you're assuming they would need a new UI. You know what would be really nice to have on a phone if it didn't take any real effort to get it there? bash, ssh, nfs/sshfs/samba, etc. I know the typical user isn't going to care, but I could see how it would be a big win for developers , and as we all know, "developers developers developers."

I love my jailbroken iPhone for this reason. Bash, SSH and SSHFS are really useful to have.
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