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Ubuntu Touch For Phones Hits RTM, First Phones Coming This Year
An anonymous reader writes: In early 2013, Canonical showed the world Ubuntu Touch, a version of Ubuntu developed specifically for smartphones. Now, the mobile operating system has finally reached "release to manufacturing" status. (Here's the release announcement.) The first phone running Ubuntu Touch, the Meizu MX4, will start shipping in December. "Details are scarce on its hardware, but a leak from iGeek suggests the Pro variant may have a Samsung Exynos 5430 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 2560x1536 resolution screen. ... This more powerful hardware is good news if true, and it bodes well for Ubuntu's vision of computing convergence." Softpedia has a preview of the RTM version of the OS. They say performance has improved significantly, even on old phones, and that the UI has been polished into a much better state.
Will Ubuntu Touch for Phones include spyware, like the shopping lens that they ship with the desktop version of Ubuntu?
Ubuntu phones don't have to battle with anybody, just like Linux doesn't need to conquer the desktop. All it needs to provide is an open source Linux based phone that respects users' privacy (Android is spyware so it doesn't count) and sells just enough to give them reason to produce future phones.
True. And! Luckily Canonical has a really stellar track record with users privacy issues. ... yeah, not really
No doubt the GUI will be optimised for a machine with a keyboard & mouse.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Firstly, there's no such thing as a Final Fantasy OS.
Then what's this I keep hearing about Cloud computing?
Back when Canonical was trying to push Ubuntu for Android, the idea was that you'd get the normal Android GUI while mobile. But when you plug in an HDMI monitor and pair a Bluetooth keyboard, you'd get an X11 desktop. In theory you wouldn't even need a mouse if you're satisfied with using the device's screen as a trackpad.
Considering that you can install ubuntu touch in several of the existing android phones, it is already battling with Android on the installed base.
It runs in different fronts. With WP8 is battling against an unified desktop/mobile OS (something that iOS and Android aren't doing). With Sailfish/Tizen is battling for developers of QT/linux environments (and getting enough developers will be good for all 3 platforms),
And as any race, your immediate objective is to catch the ones that are right infront of you, not the ones that are on top, To be the 3rd mobile platform is a good near term objective.
Firefox OS It is already on market, and is probably very used on markets like India and South America
And to understand why it matters you must understand the players. The manufacturers are providing cheap phones where they can run without the restrictions/conditions of WP/Android, same goes for carriers (that are actively pushing Firefox OS phones in emergent markets), and developing apps considering that is Firefox OS around means doing open, multiplatform web apps, not just for one OS/device, that is in the end Mozilla's goal, if Ubuntu touch means more html apps, then it will be something possitive for Mozilla.
You can access and install apps from the Firefox Marketplace on Android, it turned Firefox OS irrelevant, or made it more relevant than before?
A shim to run Android apps might work for apps available from F-Droid or Amazon, not so much for apps that are exclusive to Google Play Store.