Who Would Actually Build an Ubuntu Smartphone? 230
Nerval's Lobster writes "When Canonical whipped back the curtain from its upcoming Ubuntu for smartphones, it set off a flurry of blogosphere speculation about the open-source operating system's chances on the open market. But which company would actually build such a device? Apple and Research In Motion and Nokia are all out of the running, for very obvious reasons. Motorola, as a subsidiary of Google, is also unlikely to leap on the Ubuntu bandwagon. While Hewlett-Packard has flirted with smartphones in the past, most notably after its Palm acquisition, the company doesn't seem too focused on that segment at the moment. That leaves manufacturers such as HTC, which currently offer devices running either Google Android or Windows Phone. But given Android's popularity, it might prove difficult for Canonical to convince these manufacturers to do more than release a token Ubuntu device—especially if Google and Microsoft apply counter-pressure."
Who cares? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Insightful)
Same here.
I think this is the right strategy to let geeks play with it first and solve all the problems. THEN try to sell it to the general public.
Personally, I would definitely want to try this. Hell, I would even buy a new device for this, if needed.
Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Interesting)
Give me a ubuntu rom that works and I'll install it myself.
Yeah, I talked to a Ubuntu guy at an Android conference about this who was showing off a dual Android-Ubuntu runnin Mororola Atrix II. His position was fairly much 'no', since they want to sell this to manufacturers as a feature they can have. Shame, though I can see their point of view.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Dual boot?
The demo I saw was Ubuntu and Android running in tandem on the same Galaxy S3. I'm not sure whether Ubuntu was in Android user space, vice versa, or whether both are under some supervisor. But the handset was showing the Android UI while Ubuntu Desktop was on a HDMI monitor, Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.
It all seems rather nice. The two OSs can communicate, for example you could interact with the Android contacts database from an app in Ubuntu.
Re: (Score:2)
Native Android? Hell Yeah! I would love to flash this on my S2. I suffered with a laggy HTML5 based WebOS Pre, then loved my silky smooth 3GS, but hated the walled garden, so moved again to a Galaxy S2. My S2’s H/W by all accounts blows my old 3GS out of the water,and yet I still find the Android experience more laggy than my 3 year old 3GS. I’m sure much of this is the Java VM holding Android back. I can’t wait to have an Linux phone with the native speed of IOS.
Before buying one, I'd wan
Re: (Score:2)
yet I still find the Android experience more laggy than my 3 year old 3GS
Could be the hardware. After doing a lot of comparison shopping when I needed a new phone I decided early on that I wanted a galaxy S and landed on the Blaze. Although it wasn't the newest (Samsung were hyping the Galaxy SIII at the time, hard) I landed on the Blaze for its dual core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S3 processor, plus being 4G, it was a no-brainer. The SIII was considerably more expensive as I wanted a month-to-month bill, not a two year contract, which was the only deal they offered with the SIII. And I
So you're saying... (Score:2)
Re:Who cares? (Score:4, Interesting)
I think this is the current plan [firstpost.com]:
The new mobile OS will presently only work on the Google Nexus Phone, (the one which was released by Samsung). Ubuntu will release an open-source code as a file and users can install it on their Nexus phone. The OS will replace Android once you install it.
Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Funny)
... case closed ...
No, dammit, keep that case open! I want to put in an aftermarket battery. I have my soldering iron right here.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Do you mean migrating from Ubuntu to another distro on PCs like a lot of people are doing? Because it's been clear for awhile that the problem is that Shuttleworth is now trying way too hard to be the next Steve Jobs. And so the Ubuntu name dies not with a bang, but a whimper, being cheaply commercialized and spread too thin across its 7 remaining users.
-- Ethanol-fueled
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Everything doesn't have to cater to everybody. Duh.
Right, but if a mobile OS boots in a forest, and nobody is there to write fart apps for it, does it make a noise?
Re:Who cares? (Score:4, Interesting)
UbuntuPhone is technically a parasite on Android (because it depends on Android's make-believe-open hardware to make it past the gatekeepers doing their best to control American mobile networks), but it's likely to end up as a symbiotic relationship. My guess is that if Ubuntu Phone is viable 5 years from now, it'll basically be a native-code framework that wraps Android. Your 'launcher' app will be native "Ubuntu", but you'll have at least one instance of DalvikVM spawned and running in the background on one or more cores, and 97% of the apps running on an "Ubuntu" phone will be Android anyway.
It might even be a good thing for both Google AND Canonical. Google still gets politely ignored by Qualcomm (mostly because Qualcomm owns enough IP to make it nearly impossible to build a CDMA phone that can legally be sold in the US without using their chips, so Google's threats to take Motorola's business elsewhere ring hollow), but Canonical has one strength that Google has kind of been teetering a bit at lately... it still has a dominant CEO who's a kind of a loose cannon. Google hasn't been pwn3d by Wall Street, but they're big enough now that they have to at least go through the motions of pretending they care what institutional investors want. Shuttleworth can still openly say and do things that would get Google hauled in front of the SEC, FTC, and/or Congress for corporate blasphemy.
don't get the cart before the horse (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
More to the point, what carrier would support it. An all too easy to hack phone, would get in a way of a lot of the cost extra features.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Same ones that sell Nexus?
Or ones that just let you have a sim card and get out of your way?
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
I can already buy sim-only contracts from every UK carrier, and sim-free unlocked handsets from all over the place (not least Google and their Nexus range). Clearly they don't care that much.
If Canonical could get the phones manufactured, they could just sell them sim-free and unlocked from their website, in the same way as Google do. The challenge is getting a manufacturer to sign up for it.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The thing is, a year or two ago, I would have bought one. Until recently, I ran Ubuntu as my primary desktop since Dapper (before that, I was a RedHat person), so you would think I would be part of the primary target group. But, if my own feelings are in any way indicative, this is going to be a very tough sell. Even I gave up hope for Ubuntu (and linux) after numerous annoyances and bugs...things were getting worse each year, not better.
- The Ubuntu One annoyance started it for me.
- The Gnome 3 fiasco.
Re: (Score:3)
Given the last two items, why would a nerd who is protesting Apple's closed system ever want to choose Ubuntu?
Nerds like to tinker. We pride ourselves on it. But we also pride ourselves on using the best tool for the job. That is no longer Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is completely misreading their market.
My switch: I have been using Win 7 for about 6 months now, and I love it.
In what way is Windows 7 more open than Ubuntu? Don't like Unity- you can install Gnome 3, or anything else. Don't like Ubuntu One? You can uninstall the programme easily enough.
Slashdotters don't like iOS because of the closed ecosystem; you can't install what you want, you can't change the settings you want to change, you can't access the low-level functionality of your device if you need/want to. Ubuntu has none of those problems. Not only is it still completely configurable, and you can install from any
Re: (Score:3)
My argument was not that Ubuntu is more open than Apple. However, I do think that from a user's perspective it is less open than Windows or Android. That it why I said Ubuntu is not the choice for someone looking to escape Apple's closed ecosystem.
I understand your argument: You can install whatever app you want on Ubuntu. Technically, this is true. In practice, no. The apps most people want are not available on Ubuntu, and probably never will be.
The vast majority of people who have stuck with windows
Re: (Score:3)
You have a different opinion, and I won't try to convince you. I myself had the same opinion for many years. My only point was that, in response to the original question of "who will buy this?" I think it was always a pretty small niche, and now even smaller with long-time users like me throwing in the towel.
My view:
- With Windows, I can install pretty much any application I want.
- With Apple, I am completely at the company's mercy.
- With Ubuntu, it is sort of in between. I can install whatever I want th
Re:don't get the cart before the horse (Score:4, Insightful)
I would buy one, I think, depending on details. Since the death of MeeGo, there hasn't been a serious GNU/Linux based phone on the market. If Ubuntu can deliver a phone with something approaching the same feature set as they do in their full desktop distro, then it would be exactly what I've always wanted from a Smartphone.
I know you're being snide, but a reminder that Ubuntu is still the most popular Linux distro; although it is no-longer flavour of the month with the Slashdot crowd, it still has a large enough following to be a serious player.
And hey, Unity is always being criticised as looking like a phone/tablet OS shoehorned onto a desktop...
Re: (Score:2)
So maybe newegg is the OEM for the uPhone.
Can I run it on my old phone? (Score:3, Interesting)
Isn't that sad? A state-of-the-art piece of technology is only a clunker because its handicapped.
Re:Can I run it on my old phone? (Score:5, Funny)
Isn't that sad? A state-of-the-art piece of technology is only a clunker because its handicapped.
Tell me about it...
-- Stephen Hawking
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Hawking is still looking for the idjit who took the brakes off his wheelchair.
Re: (Score:3)
Bazinga!
[John]
Re:Can I run it on my old phone? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Please name the devices.
There are many ROMS cyanygenmod is just one.
If you bought a device with a locked bootloader you will have to blame the man you see in the mirror.
Or just do both (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Connecting the machine to HDMI would display a prompt to start the X11 session,
The point of a phone is that you can use it "on the go". Hopefully, you wouldn't need an external HDMI display to access the Ubuntu, that would kinda defeat the purpose... (Yes, it's nice on a hotel room TV, but what about Starbucks, bus stops, chair lifts, boring dinners, or any of the other occasions where you might surf using your pocket device...)
Re: (Score:2)
Where do old phones go to die?
I have old PCs lingering on being useful despite the fact that they are unsuitable for their primary purpose anymore. Why not allow the same thing for phones and tablets?
An old phone could be a dedicated HTPC or a low profile server. Kind of the opposite of virtualization.
Re: (Score:2)
Hopefully, you wouldn't need an external HDMI display to access the Ubuntu, that would kinda defeat the purpose
You could just tap the "Ubuntu" icon to launch your X session. It'd just pop up automatically when you dock to a monitor.
Yes, it's nice on a hotel room TV
That or a home TV.
but what about Starbucks, bus stops
I carry a netbook for these situations. With their discontinuation, one might consider using a laptop-style dock for the phone, something Motorola didn't end up pulling off with its Atrix phone.
chair lifts, boring dinners, or any of the other occasions where you might surf using your pocket device
In the dual-boot scenario I mentioned, Android still works. So would your X session, provided that your applications have been modified to use a touch-friendly widget set.
Re: (Score:2)
Better yet, drive the screen separately from the other display and use it for Mouse and keyboard only.
Re: (Score:2)
That or a home TV.
The purpose of such a Ubuntu phone is to have Ubuntu at your disposal while on the road. At home, you've got your fully fledged PC with big keyboard, ergonomic mouse, nice screen...
Yes, I do have a Nokia N900, and being able to open up a terminal locally (on the built-in screen) and use the command line is really nice :-)
bus stops
I carry a netbook for these situations.
Whenever you take the bus, you've got your netbook with you? The advantage of a phone is, it fits into your pocket, no backpack needed. Or maybe, the backpack is not just for the netbook,
Re: (Score:2)
Whenever you take the bus, you've got your netbook with you?
Yes, in fact. That's why I bought a 10" laptop instead of a bigger laptop: it fits in an ordinary messenger bag that doesn't look like the "mug me" magnet that a typical laptop case is.
Re: (Score:2)
Many of us welcome true mobile computing... (Score:5, Insightful)
I would like to do actual development on a smart phone, and why not? It has more hundreds of times the computing power of mainframe I, as a student, shared with the entire university!
I want an app that lets me use any computer and keyboard to connect to my phone, and use it as a gateway to the cloud, to hold my personal work, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps you should tell your University to get rid of their Cray-1 and upgrade their mainframe to something which was manufactured this century.
Re: (Score:2)
A Pi-Cluster?
Re: (Score:2)
Any reason you can't just install an ssh server on your phone?
Or is that not cloud/whizbang/synergistic enough for you?
Re: (Score:2)
I think you have some points, but only number 1 and 3.
Point 1 is taken into account by those things called network and usb port (backups!) but yes, it's easier to lose a small device than a laptop. Or destroy it by a fall, or getting it stolen.
Point 2, that's not different from developing on any computer. If the programs I create for a living are going to run on customers' hw and pay my bills I need to move them off my computer, right? Maybe you were hinting at compatibility issues.
Point 3 will be taken
Re: (Score:3)
No you wouldn't, you think you would, but you wouldn't.
1. If you lose your phone, then all your work is gone.
False. Ubuntu has cloud storage built into it if you choose to use it.
2. If your program is going to run an anything but your phone you will need to move it off to another system anyways.
LOLWUT? You can compile for target architectures that are different from your own. This has been built into compilers for a very long time now.
Unless you are aware of this and meant that if the target architecture is anything other than your phone, you will have to move it off anyway. Still -- why would that matter? By the way, why would someone need to do this anyway? Canonical is shooting for a complete solution -- i.e. your phone IS yo
Re: (Score:2)
"Mainframes" are alive, well, and pretty powerful depending on your use case. IBM's zSeries is probably the most prevalent. They're nothing to laugh at either. We run hundreds of VMs on the ones we run in our datacenter. They are mostly used for enterprise use, so end users don't really see or hear about the progress and technology behind them anymore since the concept is... like you said, old news as of 20 years ago.
Re: (Score:2)
Oh I use a mainframe nearly every day, and I bitch and moan about it every day, and make sure the higher ups are embarrassed by the system.
Re: (Score:2)
I am familiar with running linux in a chroot on android, but I cannot find any links for this Ubuntu on Android thing. It seems like they want to sell it. Is there a package I am just missing?
Re: (Score:2)
they just announced it. From what I understand, it will be ready to try in a year or so.
Netbook + Google Voice (Score:2)
Does a netbook, Ubuntu Netbook Remix, and Google voice count. It saves airtime when travelling + free unlimited texting. A larger screen and keyboard are helpful for the baby boomers nearing retirement. When away from WiFi, it rolls over to a cell so no calls are lost.
Initially, it will be a custom ROM... (Score:2)
I have little doubt that they are interested in getting a phone maker to make a phone for them. If I were to guess, they will first target the Google Nexus devices.
Re: (Score:2)
Who would build an Ubuntu desktop? (Score:2)
Phones will probably stop sucking at almost exactly the same time that you can go buy a "white box" phone which doesn't have any OS preloaded at all.
Or better yet, when Coolermaster and Silverstone make phone enclosures, Asus and Gigabyte sell phone boards, etc..
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
It's never happened with Laptops.
Wat?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Or better yet, when Coolermaster and Silverstone make phone enclosures, Asus and Gigabyte sell phone boards, etc..
You really feel Asus, Gigabyte etc. contribute much when they're all using the same few chipsets from Intel/AMD? Almost all the "differentiation" could have been done with expansion cards in case you'd like another NIC or more USB3 ports or two more SATA3 ports. The differences otherwise are highly marginal.
Seriously... (Score:2)
We already have too many OS contenders in the market already. Canonical should instead made applications if they're hot to trot in order to jump into the hot cell phone markets. That said, the expenential bell curve on smart phones is soon to start rounding off once the majority of dumb phone users are forced into the upgrade due to availability. Once we're there, people will be looking for the next best hot exponential bell curve market (currently tablets) ad infinitum... The only areas unaffected by smart
Re: (Score:2)
Samsung (Score:2)
huawei? (Score:2)
Who ? (Score:2, Funny)
Does a cellphone even work from inside the TARDIS ?
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Rose's did
Re: (Score:2)
after a bit of jiggery pokery yes they do in fact Martha Jones? used her (loaned) cell phone to call The Doctor back to earth during that sontaren gas thing.
and of course during The Stolen Earth Team Who rigged up a way to call The Doctor when they were out of timesync by a couple seconds.
but anyway as long as you can have a BinBlob for the radio stuff i think an OS phone could work
heck are they working on the hooks for Phones in the main Kernel??
Why not RIM? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Why would you want to raise them from the grave? They'll be dead and buried before Ubuntu for smartphone is worth its weight in gold.
I can't see Verizon activating my white box phone (Score:2)
It would allow me to access the full capabilities of my handheld, instead of the crippled giveaway shite they now have.
Their walled garden and practice of disabling Features and then charging monthly fees to enable them would end.
The only way that would ever happen is if the whole industry shifted to an open model and they lost market share.
Until someone comes along the an open plan and a competitive network, to get the ball rolling.
I would gladly pay retail for my own handset and escape the crippled device
Re: (Score:2)
Verizon, et al (with the possible exception of Sprint) have a large enough market share that the small percentage of hackers (classical definition) won't make a dent in their bottom line. This is assisted by the high cost to enter the market. Unfortunately, unless there is some sort of apocalypse or some other technical catastrophic, this will require legislative solution.
It's kind of ironic that the iPhone was successful for AT&T. Apple was the first company (at least I'm aware of) that told the car
No company is required here (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The Pi is small, but still bigger than my phone. Specially with all the necessary accessories.
I smell Kickstarter scam (ahem project). (Score:2)
Taking bets on how soon someone posts a kickstarter project scam that promises nothing more then pairing a free OS to some POS handset and how many thousands of fools will pay $100 for a free T-Shirt and empty promises.
Other manufacturers (Score:2)
My answer to this one is the same as my response to the "who would buy RIM" question. There are lots of companies out there that currently manufacture PCs, laptops or commodity tablets but who don't manufacture phones (or not in any great quantity). I can see them as being the main target.
Lenovo is one possibility. Acer ans Asus are others. Dell has tried and failed at phones before, and could be game for another attempt (and they have a history of selling Ubuntu devices). And the dozens of others, big and
Companies that might build an Ubuntu Phone (Score:2)
Amazon is a possibility if they don't want to have all of their eggs in the Android basket. They've proven they can manage manufacturing, and no one does distribution better.
Re: (Score:2)
The real obstacle is a competitive network that will activate it .
I don't think the OS is a selling point. (Score:2)
Must say I'm inclined to agree with the article, for the very simple reason that I don't think the OS on a phone is a very good selling point.
The selling point is what you can do with the phone. How it somehow makes life easier/better/more fun for you. Exactly what about Ubuntu (Phone Edition) is going to give it the edge over Android, iOS or even Blackberry OS 10?
No. (Score:2)
I wouldn't build an Ubuntu anything. Too much Unity.
Who will build it? The Chinese (Score:2)
I look forward to CES 2014 when there's 200 devices demoing Ubuntu and Firefox OS.
Why asking? (Score:2)
The rest is somehow shared between WebOS, MeeGo and Boot2Gecko!
The chances that Ubuntu really makes its way to the mobile phone market is the same as the ones for you to get the Higgs Boson in your microwave owen.
Foxconn (Score:3)
Doesn't Have to be a Big Name (Score:2)
There are lot of companies in places like China and Taiwan that are able to manufacture mobile devices. Because of Android's liberal licensing, a lot of these companies have churned out Android devices under brand names that you've never heard of. If Ubuntu software is equally or more liberally licensed, they will be more than happy to slap this free software on their devices and flood the market with them cheaply.
Canonical to buy Nokia after Windows Phone fiasco (Score:3)
Don't panic. This is just an idea that passed in my head.
Still, I would love this to happen...
Hold please. (Score:3)
While Hewlett-Packard has flirted with smartphones in the past, most notably after its Palm acquisition, the company doesn't seem too focused on that segment at the moment.
HP has a focus?
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
Re: (Score:2)
what i would like to see is a distro that either
1 has ROOT completely unlocked (and no nag screen when you dare to login to XWindows under ROOT)
or
2 has tracked down each and every unneeded use of ROOT and fixed them
A mounting volumes R/W as a user
B editing USER settings files (btw WHYTF does this even require hand editing)
C any of a dozen or more different "Gotcha! You need ROOT for this" (with a 10% chance that you need actual ROOT for this)
type things
oh and SU is not an answer sinc
Re: (Score:2)
It's called sudoers. Try it sometime.
Sudoers man page [die.net]
Re: (Score:2)
does not address the combo of Root Nazi and unneeded requiring of Root
how do i set things up so that %User% is treated as being the same as Root (just with a different home folder)
and Sudoers just controls who can use SU
bad critter no biscuit
Re: (Score:3)
Sudoers controls who can use sudo, not su. There's a difference. Sudo temporarily escalates a user's privileges to the same as root for a given command. "su" changes the user's shell to the same as root. "su - username" logs you in as root themselves. If you type cd ~, you will go to /root (or wherever the root home directory is).
%User% ALL = (ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL
is the line you are looking for. Add it to the very end of your sudoers file (visudo). Whenever you type sudo, you will not have to ente
Re: (Score:3)
how do i set things up so that %User% is treated as being the same as Root
Perhaps you could run Windows 95.
Sudoers just controls who can use SU
Or you could read the man pages for sudo [die.net] and su [die.net], which are two different commands.
I understand that it can be annoying to have to authenticate to do administrative actions, but understanding how things like sudo or fstab work will solve most of the problems you described, while logging in and running everything as root can create problems you didn't even know existed.
Re: (Score:2)
how do i set things up so that %User% is treated as being the same as Root (just with a different home folder)
That's called Windows and I thought everyone over here agreed on the fact that it's a terrible idea...
Re: (Score:2)
Id like a plain gnu/Linux on my phone.
Re:The real question is (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
I know some have experienced these problems, but personally I haven't. I could say just the same about Windows 8 since I've had some really strange BSODs (albeit they look nicer now). And i'm running on pure Intel/Nvidia. I know full well there are plenty of alternatives, but I personally just don't see a window manager you don't like as sufficient reason to throw the entire distro under the bus publicly. It's popular to do so, I realize, but in my mind a lot of the hate is based less in realism and mor
Re:The real question is (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Bollocks
Debian has remained pure whilst Canonical has taken the good work done by the Debian guys/gals and hacked it around an awful lot.
A good number of people I know who were Ubuntu users have gone back to Debian, moved sideways to Mint or even leapt into the Fedora world.
I don't use Ubuntu or Debian (I'm more of a RH guy) but I will stick up for the principles that Debian stands for any day of the week.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:build your own (Score:4, Informative)
Now it's called "The Chinese".
They offer you any combination of software and hardware you would like, from what's freely available, for a small price. There are zounds of companies selling cheap, branded devices which are simply customized generic devices onto which some generic Android version has been installed. All it takes for Ubuntu for Mobiles is to be flexible enough to allow itself to be slammed onto those generic devices. Screen Resolution from X*Y pixels to Z*T pixels, accelerometer support, 3G Support, USB Dongle Support, etc. and you're done.
here in Romania we have Allview which offers cheap phones and tablets, with Android 4.0.4 and above. A dual-SIM (both SIMs working at the same time) device costs about 160 USD retail price, no strings attached. Of course, you don't get an exquisite hardware quality but at this price you can't ask for it, really. Those devices work, they do their stuff well enough.
Re: (Score:3)
It's a nice idea, but the Chinese hardware market is kind of weird compared to the rest of the world.
In America, companies like Qualcomm release chips whose precise capabilities and documentation are kept under lock and key, and it's nearly impossible for anybody outside of a small, handpicked group of companies to actually get their hands on a chip that wasn't harvested from a device... but customers deemed worthy by the chipmaker pretty much get to know whatever they want to learn about.
In China, the comp
Re: (Score:2)