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Ubuntu Edge fails to raise goal

indiegogo.com

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Re: Ubuntu Edge fails to raise goal

#51

Post by zx2c4 »

Kliment wrote: post #40
zx2c4 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Likewise. My N950 has an incredible keyboard -- it even have a proper control key -- but its operating system is completely dead in the water. There don't seem to be any modern Android phones that run on GSM and have physical keyboards. The Phonon Q has its SIM card soldered to the phone. I just ordered a Galaxy S Relay off ebay, which is last year's hardware and its physical keyboard is supposed to be kind of bad an…

How did you get an N950? And also, why dead in the water? It's still the most open and upgradeable mobile OS I've ever seen on a real device.

The OS is closed source, so I can't fix long standing show stopper bugs myself, and Nokia has ceased all development on it.

Re: Ubuntu Edge fails to raise goal

#53

Post by dalek_cannes »

mercurial wrote: post #46
martin-adams wrote: post #38

$32 mil is a lot to aim for, but their goal was to see if there is an marketplace for cutting edge technology where innovation can really thrive. If you lowered the threshold then it starts to lose what they set out to prove - is the industry too scared to innovate because they will lose their market share. They have proved there is a market for £12 mil on a product that is only a concept at this stage. Had this prod…

I don't know. I believe that "phones that can replace a computer" are years away still. So you are left with a Linux phone, and I'd bet the Jolla people to get it right. Also, I haven't tried Ubuntu Touch but the little I've seen of Unity hasn't really blown me away.

I agree. Is this a phone that I can:

1. Hold to my ear when a call arrives, without unplugging the video cable to my screen?

2. Wave around without fear of it falling and shattering to bits, taking most of my digital life with it (unless I'm using cloud/NSA)?

Re: Ubuntu Edge fails to raise goal

#54

Post by hkmurakami »

Aldo_MX wrote: post #8

I liked the idea, but I refuse to use a phone without a landscape physical keyboard. Virtual keyboards are awful. All of them. They take too much screen real state away from me, yet they're small enough to make me struggle when trying to write something complex like my secure password ... Swype and similar options are not an option either, because I write in different languages, and no matter how good the text predic…

I wonder if that has to do with the current "race to the bottom" for smartphone prices. Razer thin margins would force manufacturers to cut any parts they can, since most users won't pay a price premium for the keyboard.

Re: Ubuntu Edge fails to raise goal

#55

Post by Aldo_MX »

aneth5 wrote: post #28
Aldo_MX wrote: post #8

I liked the idea, but I refuse to use a phone without a landscape physical keyboard. Virtual keyboards are awful. All of them. They take too much screen real state away from me, yet they're small enough to make me struggle when trying to write something complex like my secure password ... Swype and similar options are not an option either, because I write in different languages, and no matter how good the text predic…

They work well for most of us. Consumers have expressed a pretty clear preference for large screen size over any inconvenience of virtual keyboards.

That's the sad part of this story, I'm pessimistic enough to predict that in the future only bootleg android vendors will offer what I'm looking for, it sucks to be in a niche that manufacturers don't care about anymore...

Re: Ubuntu Edge fails to raise goal

#56

Post by hkmurakami »

Aldo_MX wrote: post #49
helipad wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a language button right on my Nexus 4 keyboard for fast-switching between languages. I would never need to write in more than one language in the same message, so it's as simple as 2 taps to switch the entire phone dictionary. I'm not sure how it could get any easier?

I would never need to write in more than one language in the same message. Bon Appetite! Wait, are those quesadillas of surimi? Ok, this was an exaggerated example using French, English, Spanish and Japanese (although most people would consider the message as English only due to the fact that the words/concepts don't exist in English). But being honest I find myself often writing messages that combine words of differ…

I often use english words in Japanese messages I write, and writing roman characters in the Japanese interface is a miserable experience. I'm toggling back and forth pretty often.

Re: Ubuntu Edge fails to raise goal

#57

Post by igravious »

zx2c4 wrote: post #17
Aldo_MX wrote: post #8

I liked the idea, but I refuse to use a phone without a landscape physical keyboard. Virtual keyboards are awful. All of them. They take too much screen real state away from me, yet they're small enough to make me struggle when trying to write something complex like my secure password ... Swype and similar options are not an option either, because I write in different languages, and no matter how good the text predic…

Likewise. My N950 has an incredible keyboard -- it even have a proper control key -- but its operating system is completely dead in the water. There don't seem to be any modern Android phones that run on GSM and have physical keyboards. The Phonon Q has its SIM card soldered to the phone. I just ordered a Galaxy S Relay off ebay, which is last year's hardware and its physical keyboard is supposed to be kind of bad an…

It seems like the percentage of people who want a physical keyboard on their phones is good deal smaller than those who don't. So it makes sense to cater to the majority initially and then if that's successful to bring out a physical keyboard variant. There's no point in saying that you would have bought the Edge if only it had a physical keyboard. You are not the target market.

Why don't you make a HN poll and find out? Link the poll to here. Smartphones a) should b) should not have a physical keyboard Or something like that!

Re: Ubuntu Edge fails to raise goal

#58

Post by liljimmytables »

oracuk wrote: post #35
liljimmytables wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's unfair, IIRC they were quite explicit about the fact that they were using crowdfunding as a way to measure the market. They would quite definitely have had to "put their own skin in the game" (I want to know what games you've been playing) alongside the crowd funds, but now they know that there isn't a keen enough market outside of nerds and they haven't wasted their money. As a nerd I'm disappoint…

Not those sort of games: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/skin_in_the_game :)

Thanks! It's not a phrase I'd previously encountered, and I love this sort of word wrangling.

Re: Ubuntu Edge fails to raise goal

#59

Post by stinos »

aneth5 wrote: post #28
Aldo_MX wrote: post #8

I liked the idea, but I refuse to use a phone without a landscape physical keyboard. Virtual keyboards are awful. All of them. They take too much screen real state away from me, yet they're small enough to make me struggle when trying to write something complex like my secure password ... Swype and similar options are not an option either, because I write in different languages, and no matter how good the text predic…

They work well for most of us. Consumers have expressed a pretty clear preference for large screen size over any inconvenience of virtual keyboards.

The problem is that unlike most other electronics-related branches I can think of there's actually not so much diversity in smartphones. It's like the product is directed at 100% of the market while only, say, 90% of the market really wants it. The others are left in the cold, but buy anyway since there's no other option.

Compare this to e.g. audio equipment which I consider a more 'normal' market system. There's the typical consumer stuff, there's the more professional stuff and then in the high end professional devices there's even subclasses. This seems completely absent in the cellphone market, where every player just follows the rest. At least. that is my impression.

Re: Ubuntu Edge fails to raise goal

#60

Post by kunil »

Aldo_MX wrote: post #8

I liked the idea, but I refuse to use a phone without a landscape physical keyboard. Virtual keyboards are awful. All of them. They take too much screen real state away from me, yet they're small enough to make me struggle when trying to write something complex like my secure password ... Swype and similar options are not an option either, because I write in different languages, and no matter how good the text predic…

They probably cost too much and limits screen size. A bit too much to ask.

I can't write well on my touch screen too (and it is note 2) but I don't miss a key pad, screen size is a lot important for me.

Maybe web sites will start using touch screen friendly authentication methods along with a regular password (like that connect to dot screen)? I hate entering my passwords on my phone too

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