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The First Ubuntu Phone Is Here, With Underwhelming Hardware
A few days ago, Fast Company reviewer Jay Cassano was enthusiastic about Ubuntu's approach to apps for its new phone OS: namely, not relying on them, and instead interfacing seamlessly with existing websites and protocols. Now, new submitter ablutions (4006541) writes with a less than glowing review at The Daily Dot of the actual hardware that the OS is launching on. A sample that conveys the gist: Let's start with the good stuff: It sports a 4.5-inch multi-touch screen and a respectable 8-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel lens on the front. That's pretty much it. The list of negatives is a bit longer.
While this review of the Ubuntu offering may be "less than glowing", it's still much more positive than this review of Firefox OS. I've never seen any other device or software review filled with so many negatives.
At this point, Mozilla needs to ask itself, "What chance does Firefox OS really have?"
I mean, we already have iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry OS, Tizen, Sailfish, and now Ubuntu Touch, among others. Firefox OS is at the very end of that list in terms of quality, usability, usefulness, and every other practical measure.
Why is Mozilla wasting so many resources on an 8th place (that's an optimistic ranking, too) mobile OS that is generally disliked by anyone who has actually had to use it?
I know that Mozilla supporters will toss out some vague claims of "openness" or "freedom" in response, but those are just forms of denial. Or they'll claim it's targeting third-worlders, but even they can do better by buying older Android devices.
Ubuntu Touch should be the final nail in Firefox OS's coffin, were Mozilla to have any sense. It will clearly never be able to compete. So they're best off cutting their losses, and putting an end to the project. They should redirect the resources toward something that will actually benefit users, like undoing some of the awful changes that have been made to Firefox these past few years, or finally getting Electrolysis to work (after so many years of trying and failing). Regardless of what they do with such resources, they need to admit that these resources are better spent elsewhere, rather than wasted on Firefox OS.
Do we get all the source code ?
Are they happy for people to make custom images for it ?
well were it open enough then it wouldn't be a big problem to port over dalvik for some android action. it's probably possible. with the current one as well.
besides, the phone HAS apps. it's just that they decided to focus more on HOMESCREEN WIDGETS.
the fucking "cards" are HOMESCREEN WIDGETS on limited home screen. limited, how so? their shape and positions are limited, so the copped out. cheaper and faster to make the home screen like that
besides all that, you can get pretty decent android phones for sub 100$ now with specs about the same - and you get to run android apps AND you get to run custom homescreens AND you get to read your news, control your music playback and everything else from the homescreen if you really want to, except you get more control over how the homescreens are laid out(you could make one of the homescreen pages a "music" page, one a "news" page and so forth).
besides, if the cards concept as they call it is any good you'll have it in android next week. fuck, the material design guidelines are pretty much "material" cards too(that's the new android recommended ui paradigmschimshshit). I wouldn't be so as surprised to go to android market today and finding some homescreen replacement or another that does the same thing.
furthermore, you can make android apps in qml/qt as well! in fact, it's much less cumbersome method than doind native android(you need to do some android shims only for very few native api's that most apps don't need anyways and it's outweighted by the ease of integrating c++ code into your qt/qml projects vs. native android using ndk).
in short, the ubuntu guys are putting a lot of spindoctoring and this is a completely different much cheaper to achieve cop out than the original ubuntu phone and has almost nothing to do with the original ubuntu phone concept, which at least had the aspect of running desktop ubuntu if you wanted when connected to something! by the way, you can get ubuntu for android on any friggin android phone! or debian for android as well for that matter!
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
While many parts are open source, Sailfish OS is not completely free software and contains parts under a proprietary EULA.
Firefox OS is mostly open source as well but contains binary android drivers.
Without free drivers, there will always be a binary blob on your system which can then "phone home" or do other nasty things. Before a phone is created which does not require these blobs, there will be no phone completely running free software.
The openmoko gta01 and freerunner were attempts at this.
The gta04 by golden delicious was pretty good too and was able to run without any binary blobs (it was not necessary to install the binary powervr driver to use the phone normally without 3D).
The next upcoming thing is the neo900: http://neo900.org/