Dual-core Smartphone Runs Android and Ubuntu

nk497 writes "ARM is showing off a test handset at Mobile World Congress, which runs Android 2.3 and Ubuntu 10.04 at the same time on a Texas Instruments OMAP 4 chip. ARM envisages a time when the only computer you'll ever need is your smartphone and with Nvidia announcing it will be putting quad-core mobile processors into tablets by autumn and smartphones by Christmas, that prospect looks to be approaching faster than anyone expected." Video is attached if you're curious.

Comments

Battery life must be bad

[EricTheRed]

but that will improve.

Saying that this sort of thing will happen eventually, with Meego being mothballed after Nokia defected to Windows we need a good Linux based OS other than Android

Re:Battery life must be bad

[migla]

Did you watch the video. You could fit a battery the size of a cat on that phone.

Re:Battery life must be bad

[CRCulver]

Intel has announced that it is going ahead with Meego development. Meego was never just about mobile phones, but extends to netbooks and in-vehicle devices as well, so the loss of Nokia was no crushing blow. Nokia was the only major handset manufacturer committed to the Meego edition for mobile phones, there are also several smaller firms who planned to release Meego smartphones by the summer (Aava was preparing Meego cores for multiple firms). Meego has in no way been "mothballed".

Re:Battery life must be bad

[MozeeToby]

Most of the Dual cores draw less power than the single cores at idle, which is where your phone's CPU spends most of it's time. There are only a very few applications that seem to peg even my 1.5 year old Motorola Droid, mostly games and whatnot. I would expect the average battery life to improve when moving to a new dual core compared to a single core simply because they can slow the clockrate and disable unused parts of the die. Of course, maybe the new single cores will perform even better battery life wise, I'm just saying compared to what is common now.

If I'm not playing games the display is typically the number one power user at something around 35%. Next is cell standbyat 18%. Only after that is OS related things which all added up together come to about 17%. CPU just isn't the biggest power draw on most smartphones, unless you're playing graphics intensive games. If you're doing something like browsing the web you'll see the transceiver and display numbers jump up faster than the browser's because there really isn't that much to think about when it comes to displaying a page.

Motorola is going to be selling this soon

[YesIAmAScript]

Motorola Atrix 4G.

It runs Android 2.2 and Ubuntu at the same time and you can buy it (for a crazy high price) soon.

That's not a phone!

[Arab]

That's a space station!

Been trying to do this for a while...

[rwa2]

People have been running ARM Debian / Ubuntu on their Android devices for some time:
http://www.android-devs.com/?p=152 (albeit you'd only be booting one or the other OS at a time)

A simpler way is by using the chroot method such as the one described at: http://www.misfit.co.zw/?p=144 , that way you can still run the Android OS with all the drivers and everything, but be able to SSH or VNC into a full Debian ARM install running on a chroot on a partition in your SD card.

I haven't had too much luck with it yet (TnT-Lite on my GTablet didn't let me use the loopback device to mount an img file... will try again using a straight ext2 partition on my SD card). Looking forward to being able to apt-get stuff onto my phone/tablet, though :-P

Phone "external monitor and input" standard

[swb]

I really wish they would come up with a standard for external displays and input for mobile phones.

A standard would allow things like a phone slot in your car that would enable your phone's full UI to appear on your car's larger touch display, enabling music/phone/apps in the car in a way that exceeds "ipod integration" and the lame, out of date software experience most cars provide on in-dash electronics, as well as providing an ergonomic experience (steering-wheel mounted controls for music, volume, phone) more appropriate for behind the wheel.

I'm semi-surprised Apple hasn't already gone there, given the number of carmakers that provide interfaces compatible with Apple's iPod. Are there technical limitations that would preclude this for the iPhone? Even if it "only" included the standard display 2x zoomed (ala the iPad's execution of iPhone apps), it would be a lot nicer than even a phone on a Pro-clip type mount.

And this is just cars -- I can imagine TVs with these slots and "remote controls" that provide touch interfaces, etc.

Re:ARM needs to get real

[VirginMary]

What is this silly "phone" thing you speak of? I just want a universal computing device that fits in my pocket and has an always-on Internet connection! Yes, I would be running a VoIP application on it amongst hundreds of other applications. But anything that is phone-centric? No interest in that at all! Finally I would like to be able to wirelessly have this device talk to my 46" screen, keyboards, mice etc. And yes, it must run a form of UNIX and I do want command-line access, too!

Re:Where are all the neo-luddites?

[KingMotley]

Just download the internet and put it on a SD card when you want to access it away from home.