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Two Ubuntu Phones Coming In 2014, Aiming For Top 50 iOS/Android Apps
An anonymous reader writes "Mark Shuttleworth just had a conference call with the press where he announced Canonical has partnered with BQ in Europe and Meizu in China to manufacture Ubuntu phones that will ship in 2014. By the time devices ship, the hope is to have ports of the top 50 Android and iOS apps available on Ubuntu."
Mark Shuttleworth notes "The mobile industry has long been looking for a viable alternative to those that reign today. Ubuntu puts the control back into the hands of our partners and presents an exciting platform for consumers, delivering an experience which departs from the tired app icon grid of Android and iOS and provides a fluid, content-rich experience for all."
Mark Shuttleworth notes "The mobile industry has long been looking for a viable alternative to those that reign today.
This explains the vast numbers trashing their iOs and Android devices and switching over to Windows 8 phones. Good thing we'll have another trusted team like Canonical added to the equation. /sarc
You can have my SIG when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
Tired to whom? It is simple and intuitive. The OS should connect you with your apps quickly and easily, not distract from your task. Does anyone really want a Windows start menu on mobile?
My first Android device was a G1. Honestly, it was junk. The iPhone of the day blew it out of the water. It served as a showcase in the broader market for what Android could do, and helped Google gather real world usage data. This is arguably a "public beta" of sorts, from a development perspective.
"Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad." [Ecclesiastes 7:3]
That, right there, makes everything about these new smartphones, and Ubuntu in general, entirely worthless. The entire point of all this is to put control in the hands of the USERS, not "partners!"
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
I'm curious which apps they mean. Okay, Angry Birds and Facebook, but the most popular apps are things like Google Maps and Now/Siri. It's all very well to have an alternative open OS but I doubt many people care what the underlying system is, they just want their proprietary apps on a reasonable phone.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
I bet most of the popular apps are front-ends to private services like f...book, google, pictures sharing services, $streaming_service etc. which invariably collect your data and try to lock you in. I question the value of a Free and Open Source OS, and of the front-end apps themselves even if they're Free and Open Source, when all the "cloudy" back-end is where the interesting stuff happens and it is locked, out of control and may be working against your interests.
Even as a desktop linux user I'm suffering from this already, what with all the tracking when browsing the web.
If we want Freedom on the mobile OS we're going to need Free back-ends to go with it (i.e. if you store private data on the web/internet, you should have the option of doing it on your own server, like installing the back-end software easily on a small VM that you pay a couple dollars per month for).
We need more chat apps, sharing apps etc. using open and universal protocols (like e-mail, IRC, XMPP) rather than made solely to be one customer of a single one company.
It won't have better power management (battery life) than iphone and if it doesn't have better battery life than android - I don't care.
Aiming for top 50k apps. Anything less than supporting all the apps I use simply diminishes the value. I don't need to switch to a less valuable device.
The type of people who value less closed systems are also those, as a group, with a wide range of needs. If I value my privacy and am willing to use less popular devices, why would I then be willing to use the most popular apps?
What I believe the ecosystem needs more than another device are apps that provide features available in the popular ones, but with the least possible amount of information gathering or sharing.
More frankensteins in the market.
Really? I know a LOT of iphone users and most of them only pull up Siri when they want to make fun of the answers.
I've only met one person who actually tries to seriously use siri.
Anecdotal evidence is anecdotal. I know a lot of people who use Siri to set alarms, make appointments on their calendar, and search for things such as nearby restaurants.
" Ubuntu puts the control back into the hands of our partners"
WRONG.
If it's not putting control back into the hands of ME, then I don't want it.
CM without GAPPS is perfect.
Ubuntu for phones is currently un-useable right now even on decent hardware like the Nexus 4, or are the manufacturers being given something that works and that is actually being withheld from the public and developers?
If they are withholding the working OS from us developers, there will be hell to pay.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Windows Phone sold over 20% of what Apple iPhone sold in Q3 of 2013. I think that is very viable.
In the beginning, it was mostly wrong at understanding me, but these days it is remarkably correct. Very useful feature for creating reminders on the go (or at night, in bed. No need to find writing material/leave bed).
Bert
If I can do half the things I could with my N900, I might buy two.
Is that so you can do 100% of the things that you want to do?
/ducks
Hopes?
Hmm, RIM/Blackberry tried to throw money at this, didn't work. Magic wishes and dreams will not cause a company to spend money for a developer to work on a new style platform with unknown revenue chances.
Can someone explain to me the difference between Tizen an this ubuntu phone OS? What about Tizen is insufficient?
Getting the apps running on Ubuntu is going to require that the app developers see value in releasing for the platform. It's already hard enough getting developers to make apps for Windows phone. Will Ubuntu with it's even smaller market share be able to convince app developers that it is worth their time to port the apps to Ubuntu?
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Many apps are built using COTS frameworks that let you develop code once and generate builds for iOS and Android. I know atleast one does this with iOS/Andorid/BB10. Thing is, these companies are not going to support Ubuntu. Not until HTML 5 use is widespread.
We need a Linux Mint phone running MATE (or at least Cinnamon). Everybody will ditch their existing devices for a traditional desktop environment in a heartbeat!
ROTFLMAO @ "Chumpy" -> http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...
(You sure "talk a good game" -> http://games.slashdot.org/comm... but you can't even produce a MERE SCRIPT!, windbag...)
You aren't even on the level of a "script kiddie", & full of HOT AIR!
You certainly won't reply there in that 2nd link I posted either, as that would remove your downmods to my posts like this one you can't validly disprove or justify your downmod on -> http://games.slashdot.org/comm...
Oh, I suspect that IS the case here (simply logging out of a registered account & trolling by ac is a common troll trick around here OR using alternate registered 'luser' accounts sockpuppets to do the job will also, & Lumpy is LOADED with those & trolling - which doesn't matter: He PROVES he's all talk, no action (or skills, OR brains, lol))
(You're all TALK, & NO action "CHUMPY!)
* :)
(You know it, I know it, & so does anyone reading AND laughing their asses off @ you now... lol!)
APK
P.S.=> Answer the question in the subject-line Lumpy - since you had to "eat your words" in the 1st link above flavored with your FOOT IN YOUR MOUTH + the "bitter taste of SELF-defeat", lol...
... apk
If I want to run "the top 50 Android Apps" I would just get an Android phone. There is no real reason to have Ubuntu on a phone instead of Android if it's also targeted at the "Partners" and locks the end user out. I would like a Linux phone not because "it can do the same thing as Android", I would one want one if it can do MORE.
Son, there are exactly 2 things worth doing in bed.
If you think either one of them requires creating memoranda for yourself, you're doing it wrong.
running Xfce. That.
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
I don't care a lick about a facebook app and 49 games. Please sell me a compact, reasonably lightweight, open source phone with a good web browser, a good offline sat-nav app, and regular security updates.
Is there still updates/plans for Firefox OS in the next year or two? I would definitely still love to see a Mozilla OS. They seemed pretty good at keeping their OS open and in user control (no weird technologies, etc.).
"Ubuntu puts the control back into the hands of our partners"
You can interpret what Mark Shuttleworth said as a WIN for manufacturers and telecom companies, but it doesn't necessarily make it a LOSE situation for USERS. It will be a win for the USERS if the phone itself competes with Apple hardware style, at an Apple Price point with a Linux Desktop Digital Freedom/Digital Privacy expectations.
There are differences of opinion as to what the developer tools should be for the Ubuntu Touch Phone for certain. As it stands, Ubuntu is pushing QT/QML as the hammer for every application being a nail. I'm not keen on this. The choice of toolset should be consistent with the desktop choice because that's what UBUNTU's current user/developer base are accustomed to. I have witnessed most of their tools being compiled for the Ubuntu Touch system, but they have yet to be debugged so there is hope on that front for all the desktop tools to come to Ubuntu Touch. If that happens that will be a big win for all LINUX Users from any LINUX flavor. I'm a touchy feely kind of guy however. I want to try it before I buy it. That's why I bought the Nexus 4 and have a dual-booting Android Kitkat/Ubuntu Touch phone and Android wins hand-down right now with key features. Android's coolest feature is hotspot wifi, but Currents, Firefox(Google Search), TuneIn, Youtube and Dramafever are by far my household's favourites. I can setup my phone as a wifi-hotspot for my netbook when I'm away from home while listening to a tunein stream on the phone itself. I can currently use mobile data with Android. My phone certainly doesn't replace my laptop or desktop that's certain. It's just a complementary accessory. As a last resort having my phone handy with a mini bluetooth keyboard could be ok, but not for all-day usage. Bose Mini-Link Speakers are a godsend to my ears when they are connected via bluetooth to our android phones. If these capabilities are found on the Ubuntu Touch, then it's a no-brainer decision because Android can be replaced. I hope that GNOME comes to Ubuntu Touch. I don't know about other users, but I would love to see it replace unity everywhere altogether.
Google still wins from this because AOSP reference point hardware license IMHO is still in effect. That means if you buy an Ubuntu Touch Phone, odds are it will come in a dual-boot Android/Ubuntu setup as a default. Everybody wins because everybody gets a piece of the $$$ pie and the USERS get their DIGITAL FREEDOM/DIGITAL PRIVACY.
Sorry, but until you *used* an n900, you simply have no idea how limited an android phone is. Full terminal by default, I can remote-X phone applications from my laptop, openvpn is 3 clicks away, I can run fucking lighttpd and torrent trackers on it (with the DEFAULT repositories). I wrote a Mandelbrot generator for a class project (in pure SDL and unix IPC). Took 5 minutes with a chroot to get that sucker compiling and running on my n900.
You could spend a week rooting, customizing and overhauling the best android phone out there and still not come close to what the n900 would do out of the box.
"Linux Desktop Digital Freedom/Digital Privacy expectations" are a lose for telecoms. Users winning and telecoms winning are mutually-exclusive possibilities. Therefore, your initial assertion is wrong.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Crap phones that don't have apps, made by companies we've never heard of. Sign me up!
"tired app icon grid of Android and iOS"
Yeah, it's so tired from ButtonFly days that it stuck around. That kind of tired? Or the kind of tired something gets when it ain't broke?
Only a year of two until Canonical shuts down then. They're not making any money, They're unlikely to make any money and generally people don't want an Ubuntu based anything.
Their server support business is lacklustre (Redhat, Novell, IBM and Oracle eat their lunch) and not enough to support a business.
It's hard to call Canonical a successful company - it's only still around because of its unique financial status.
The hardware Ubuntu phone OS needs is not low end. They might have had a chance with low-end phones, but the OS is too heavy and doesn't offer enough compelling reasons to use it. With so much abstraction, it's sure to be buggy as well.
Like Ubuntu TV, Edge, Unity and Mir this is going nowhere. Their hardware "partner" will load a few hundred phones with Ubuntu, they'll also sell Android Phones with the exact same hardware. It doesn't cost them anything, if they don't sell - the manufacturer will just reflash them.
Exactly. If this is proper linux, does that mean i'll be able to load up kde plazma or linux mint? We will have access to the drivers? or will this basically be android with the ubuntu logo? Why arn't phone OSs as simple as they are on my puter? and why aren't enough of the so called geeks angry about it?
OP has clearly never used a Windows Phone or else it would be clear to OP that the problem with Windows Phone isn't Windows Phone. Windows Phones work great; they shit all over my Android devices in terms of user experience (except in a few niche cases).
The problem with Windows Phone is that it is a Microsoft product - and nobody wants to buy a Microsoft product.
If you want to bring up a history of bad design, bad management and general incompetence look no further than Canonical. Microsoft is bad, don't get me wrong - but Canonical haven't done *anything* right in the past 5 years, where Microsoft occasionally has some wins.
http://www.droidreport.com/bla...
I think I'll throw my hat in the ring with SilentCircle instead of the company that decided privacy is passe.
Why can't they get dalvik running and through dalvik be able to run android apps on their OS. That way people would be able to have access to the whole desktop + their old Android apps.
You are a fucking idiot. Lumpy OWNS YOU as it is obvious you keep popping up as he prods you. You are such a puppet.
...yells, "All trolls are assholes!" A big, ugly guy taps him on the shoulder and says, "Would you care to rephrase that?" "Why, are you a troll?" "No--I'm an asshole."
Ubuntu will only ever be a niche device that a few lonely geeks want. This will never make it to mainstream.
Lumpy keeps running away. Who pwned who? You've got it in reverse.