About Time Ubuntu Phone

[97prizm]

Canonical is releasing their Ubuntu Phone earlier than predicted in October of 2013. I really hope people look at this as an alternative to the iphone, windows, and android powered phones. This will be the first full operating system on a phone, not a scaled down version ie iOS and android. I'm really contemplating waiting till October to pick one up provided sprint will carry them. I really hope apple users look at this phone among others as a true alternative. Ubuntu Smartphone

What does everybody think? Would this truly make you have a second look?

 

[Azeem]

I like that .

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: 97prizm

I really hope apple users look at this phone among others as a true alternative.

What does everybody think? Would this truly make you have a second look?


Why target Apple? Android is #1 and those phones look like a direct ripoff of their common designs...

I like the concept of a real file system, the issue becomes how useful it is on a phone. On one hand, being able to receive, use and deal with documents and files, and use them in place, have freedom to install what you want, etc. is great. On the other hand, unless it can seamlessly and easily plug into display and input devices in a simple way, its about useless.

Hopefully they will use a high bandwidth connection like Lightning, so with one tiny connection, one can really use this as a computer that goes back in your pocket. At that point it would be useful/interesting...

 

[simple_gifts]

Hopefully it will look like a USB device if attached to a computer. A major non starter for me for Ipad / Iphone is the apparent need for additional proprietary programs to manage syncing those devices. Perhaps I'm wrong

I have a govibe music player which I can backup using standard OS utilities.

I'm not deploying a $800 windows or mac device so I can manage a $200 phone.

 

[JHZR2]

At least in the past, Ive set them up essentially as a USB drive. I even booted mac from an ipod before, so it may be doable. Does droid need zero interface programs, and just shows up as the X: drive on a computer?

The reality is that this thing should BE a computer, and thus not need to be hooked up to anything else to do anything, anyway. Optimally, it would just be a computer to computer transfer within a workgroup over wifi and done.

 

[zloveraz]

Originally Posted By: 97prizm

Canonical is releasing their Ubuntu Phone earlier than predicted in October of 2013. I really hope people look at this as an alternative to the iphone, windows, and android powered phones. This will be the first full operating system on a phone, not a scaled down version ie iOS and android. I'm really contemplating waiting till October to pick one up provided sprint will carry them. I really hope apple users look at this phone among others as a true alternative. Ubuntu Smartphone

What does everybody think? Would this truly make you have a second look?


It's scaled down just like Android is, I.E. Linux already.... All apps are based on HTML5, going to be a while to get around those limitations.

Skip to the 6:00 min mark unless you want to hear the marketing jumbo about Ubuntu desktop, TV, etc. http://www.ubuntu.com/phone

 

[LeakySeals]

I like it! Kicks the JOBS/China headstone over. Great news!

 

[jfking106]

Originally Posted By: LeakySeals
I like it! Kicks the JOBS/China headstone over. Great news!


Just where do you think these phones will be manufactured, hmm?

 

[badtlc]

ubuntu and android are very similar. Ubuntu phone is also designed to run alongside android. The ideal setup is with a dockable phone where you run android undocked and ubuntu when you are docked to a mouse/keyboard/monitor.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Hopefully it will look like a USB device if attached to a computer. A major non starter for me for Ipad / Iphone is the apparent need for additional proprietary programs to manage syncing those devices. Perhaps I'm wrong


I highly doubt that the champion of the open source OS world would present itself as proprietary in any way, shape or form.

Let's not forget that BOTH Ubuntu and Android run atop the Linux kernel.

 

[zloveraz]

Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Hopefully it will look like a USB device if attached to a computer. A major non starter for me for Ipad / Iphone is the apparent need for additional proprietary programs to manage syncing those devices. Perhaps I'm wrong


I highly doubt that the champion of the open source OS world would present itself as proprietary in any way, shape or form.

Let's not forget that BOTH Ubuntu and Android run atop the Linux kernel.


Yeah and iOS runs on top of UNIX, so what they all can be proprietary and locked down if they want to.

I suspect the carriers and studios will have the last word on this. DRM is an issue....

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: zloveraz
Yeah and iOS runs on top of UNIX, so what they all can be proprietary and locked down if they want to.



UNIX already is proprietary (hence the creation of work-a-likes like BSD and Linux). What was your point? Canonical and Ubuntu's whole schtick is free, open-source friendliness.

iOS is also NOT open-source; so when "they" "lock down" something, no one can fork it. When a project is open sourced, anyone can fork the code and carry on themselves. See the OpenOffice/ LibreOffice drama, or MariaDB from the MySQL database server.

http://www.ubuntu.com/about/ "Ubuntu is free. Always has been and always will be. From the operating system to security updates, storage to software."

 

[zloveraz]

Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
Originally Posted By: zloveraz
Yeah and iOS runs on top of UNIX, so what they all can be proprietary and locked down if they want to.



UNIX already is proprietary (hence the creation of work-a-likes like BSD and Linux). What was your point? Canonical and Ubuntu's whole schtick is free, open-source friendliness.

iOS is also NOT open-source; so when "they" "lock down" something, no one can fork it. When a project is open sourced, anyone can fork the code and carry on themselves. See the OpenOffice/ LibreOffice drama, or MariaDB from the MySQL database server.

http://www.ubuntu.com/about/ "Ubuntu is free. Always has been and always will be. From the operating system to security updates, storage to software."


I said quote "and locked down if they want to" I have a feeling Ubuntu Mobile will be an Android clone or something very similar regarding DRM, file system access, etc.

And iOS actually came from Darwin which is as open as any other Linux, nix variant.

 

[JHZR2]

Im not getting why any of this is THAT important. If I were shopping, Id want to know if the device that I was going to dump money on IS or IS NOT a full-fledged mini computer. That's all.

Of course there are real risks for just giving full access to everything on a mobile phone. However, without it acting like a complete and distinct standalone desktop/laptop computer just with phone and text capability, Im just not seeing why myself or anyone else should care.

The ONLY value to this is IF it can operate purely as a standalone computer when given a display and keyboard.

 

[rjundi]

My guess is user experience is going to be rough at first. Ubuntu cannot afford to make a perfection interface like apple and Samsung has spent hours writing code for.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
My guess is user experience is going to be rough at first. Ubuntu cannot afford to make a perfection interface like apple and Samsung has spent hours writing code for.


No, but I think they begat Unity some years ago specifically to cater to mobile devices.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
My guess is user experience is going to be rough at first. Ubuntu cannot afford to make a perfection interface like apple and Samsung has spent hours writing code for.


This is it. Whether you're a current user of Android, iOS, or Windows, the user experience will have to be good for the phone to compete. The previous generations of Windows phones were rough. The previous generations of Android phones were rough. I've never used a previous generation iPhone, but I'm sure they had their glitches, too.

Something as complex as a smart phone will likely take many iterations to get real smooth. There's a lot going on (memory management, voice calling management, numerous radios, battery management). I'm sure this new Ubuntu phone will be capable in the beginning, but the refinement and polish will likely take many software generations to fully materialize.

Since the OP appeared to be speaking to iOS users in particular, this is one of the significant draws to that type of system; it's very refined, very reliable, and very user-friendly. At the obvious expense of not being expandable or fully customizable. In my opinion, there's a very fine line between being open enough to allow for unrestricted app development, and being too closed to as to restrict app development too far. I personally think Android is on the "too open" side and I personally think Apple is on the "too closed" side. Maybe the new Ubuntu phone will be like baby bear...right in the middle.

(But because of its very nature [open source software], I feel that it will follow Android's model very closely.)

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I personally think Android is on the "too open" side and I personally think Apple is on the "too closed" side. Maybe the new Ubuntu phone will be like baby bear...right in the middle.

(But because of its very nature [open source software], I feel that it will follow Android's model very closely.)


The entire Ubuntu phone OS is 1) entirely open-sourced , and 2) had already been put through its paces in various iterations as Unity. The whole point of developing and distributing Unity a few years ago was to create a user experience that was consistent across desktops, tablets and phones. *It's not new*.

 

[rjundi]

Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I personally think Android is on the "too open" side and I personally think Apple is on the "too closed" side. Maybe the new Ubuntu phone will be like baby bear...right in the middle.

(But because of its very nature [open source software], I feel that it will follow Android's model very closely.)


The entire Ubuntu phone OS is 1) entirely open-sourced , and 2) had already been put through its paces in various iterations as Unity. The whole point of developing and distributing Unity a few years ago was to create a user experience that was consistent across desktops, tablets and phones. *It's not new*.


I am talking the device specific drivers. My observations are even Google with their Nexus 7 had a clunky interface until recently when they ironed it out. Unfortunately my Nexus 7 collected dust until my daughter(7) took it over. I was surprised how far along Google had come in making a very nice working OS. Not Apple or Samsung smartphone like but very good.

There are lots of things I dislike about my iPhone however the interface/touch screen etc is an incredibly smooth experience. And it never crashes or requires a reboot.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
I am talking the device specific drivers.


Point taken. Canonical'll have to tread slowly and carefully with providers and manufacturers. Luckily, I guess, like Android, Ubuntu runs on the Linux kernel so perhaps most of the kinks have been worked out. They're rolling out a new display server called Mir that they intend to use on desktops, tablets and phones; hopefully THAT is being well tested before being deployed!