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First Look At Ubuntu Touch, the Smartphone OS
colinneagle writes "The first developer preview of Ubuntu Touch – aka 'Ubuntu for Phones and Tablets' – was unveiled just a few short months ago. And, just a few weeks back, it was announced that the team was shooting for having a fully functional (aka "can use it as your actual phone, on a daily basis") version by the end of May. May is now over, so Bryan Lunduke published some screenshots and analysis of the core features of the Ubuntu OS for smartphones and tablets."
It's interesting. I'm an Ubuntu and Linux Mint user at home, but I can't really see value in having it on a phone. Although it would be nifty if I had a docking station at home and work where I could just drop my phone into it to use it as a more portable computer with a full monitor, keyboard and mouse when available, and the regular phone touch interface when on the go.
Bryan Lunduke published some screenshots and analysis of the core features of the Ubuntu OS for smartphones and tablets.
Did the submitter even read TFA? I clicked the link. No screenshots. No analysis.
Sure, but unlike Maemo/Meego/Sailfish, it was Not Invented Here.
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
Which one? Android, Meego, Maemo, Tizen, WebOS, Firefox OS, Sailfish, etc? We have a lot, each one with their own strenghts and focus. Ubuntu Touch points toward integration between desktop and phones (as in you connect to a monitor and you have a desktop running from your phone) and having the same environment in phones, tablets and desktops (maybe in a bit smarter way than in Windows 8). And being Linux based, and in good part using common libraries (i.e. for a lot of them you can develop in qt/qml), or html5 apps, or being able to have compatibility layers (i.e. Preenv to run WebOS apps in Maemo) there is the possibility that a lot of apps could be shared or ported between them.
That's like saying "Don't we already have Linux for desktops? Hasn't this been done already?"
Also, God forbid there should be a little variety, choice and competition in the smartphone OS market.
Sure, but Android seems to be the only flavour that has gained enough of a foothold.
Why run Windows while DOS is mature?
I have to admit, I actually like this phone. As long as it actually does give root without voiding the warranty, I think I may actually buy one if they ever come out.
No, it won't. It's built on Open Source software, the source code is open and subject to constant peer review, any backdoors in their would be noticed.
Windows 10 is great - I used it to download Linux.
At least the Amazon backdoor will come as a standard feature.
Android doesn't run emacs
Just blegh. It looks unrefined and not finished. Boring, bland, plain fugly. More like an alpha version. Not the Gold RM version. No mass market appeal at all.
Well... that's precisely because it is unrefined and not finished. At the moment, they're only running enough on there for it to work as a phone. The design team are putting together theming stuff right now. It's a brillian piece of multitasking, which all companies to. While one group is working on apps, and doing rather well, the other team is holding back on any designs until it is ready.
To say there is no mass-market appeal is too early to say right now. Sure, I don't predict that there's going to be a great deal of adoption, but I do feel that some people will really take to it. I'm personally keeping an eye on it for that moment that it does become a viable replacement for my android phone. It's not there yet, but I'm confident it will be.
Well, if you're referring to Android, then I think the answer is yes & no. It's probably more accurate to describe it as a phone OS based around a Linux kernel, as opposed to a mobile incarnation of an open GNU/Linux (which a lot of people would simply refer to as Linux). I think it could also be accurately described as a less-open fork of Linux. The distinction is a pretty fuzzy one, though. And you're right, in that there are also things like the Maemo/Meego/Mer/Sailfish effort (as others have noted).
As I understand it, this Ubuntu effort is more purely an open GNU/Linux implementation, with added-on phone-centric bits. The cool thing about this is that if you have a high-end Ubuntu Touch phone, then you'll be able to plug it into a docking station and use it as a full-fat Linux desktop. This also means (of course) that it's more independent as a device, and doesn't rely on touching base all the time with the Google mothership, which might appeal to some users from a privacy point of view. If this does mature to the point of being very usable, I for one might be very tempted.
which is easily solved with a simple apt-get purge unity
---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
I love how on Slide 9, he points out the attention to detail... except that in the largest text in the screenshot there's a glaring typo.
Not so much a gripe about Ubuntu Phone (since it's not a released product) as it is about TFA,
I'm sure it won't matter, since your carrier will pass on whatever call information and data used no matter what OS you're running on the phone. Also, any online services (Facebook, Google, etc.) are doing the same.
sudo apt-get install NSA-backdoor
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
You sir, have just given me a new simlink to add to my Linux systems....
sudo make me a sandwich
Not that I use (or particularly care about) Ubuntu anyway, I would assume that being the high profile company that they are in the Linux world, if they made any violations of the GPL or other licenses the software they use, someone would pick up on it fairly quickly.
Windows 10 is great - I used it to download Linux.
Wish I had this feature the first time I was sent a goatse pic.
Silence is a state of mime.
Android doesn't run emacs
Correction: Android doesn't run emacs *well*
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zielm.emacs&hl=en
I think a linux presence on new smart phone hardware is long overdue. What's up for debate is -- ubuntu.
sudo apt-get install NSA-backdoor
NSA-backdoor is already the newest version.
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
constitutional-rights
Really? I didn't read the article, mainly because I refuse to read anything by him or Katherine Noyes. To me, he'll always be the same childish columnist who tried to bait Linux Hater Blog, pitching a hissy fit when LH refused to play along.
Awesome
I can with nemo or nitdroid.
Ubuntu for phones uses a fork of Linux
Most distros use their own fork of the linux kernel. There's nothing wrong with that