12 ms·

Canonical announces Ubuntu for smartphones

474 points by blacktulip 14y ago

madoublet 14y ago
My favorite part of Ubuntu Phone and Firefox OS is that they treat HTML5 as a first class citizen. Native development would be so much simpler if all platforms did the same.
mtgx 14y ago
Swiping from the edges is exactly what I was hoping Google would do with Android, instead of wasting screen space with buttons. I think all Android's buttons could be repurposed into "edge actions", although they'd have to make them intuitive enough for people to get it quickly.
- dmix 14y ago
  Isn't this what Windows 8 did for submenus? I found it incredibly confusing in the context of using a mouse, but never tried it with touch.
- recoiledsnake 14y ago
  Swiping from the left and right edges on phones is prone to get confused with the swiping inside apps, that's the reason that none of the big mobile OSes have it. I am curious to see whether that's taken care of here.
  - yesimahuman 14y ago
    This is already a problem with Chrome for iOS. It makes building apps in the browser difficult when swiping on the left and right edges triggers a "tab" switch.
    - kklimonda 14y ago
      Chrome for Android does the same (you can change tabs by swiping left-right), and it's very unreliable - I manage to change tabs by accident by swiping, but can never do that on purpose...
      - jordanthoms 14y ago
        Interestingly, I find the gestures from the side work much better on the Nexus 4 with the screen curve. Seems they designed the phone with chrome in mind.
  - wmf 14y ago
    Given that the Nexus 4 screen is designed to support edge swipes I wouldn't be surprised to see Android move in that direction.
- clauretano 14y ago
  Tough to make invisible things intuitive, but you can always force a quick intro tutorial like webOS and Windows 8. Trouble is, hand your device to someone else and they might have no idea how to operate it. Jolla is really pushing edge gestures in their interface, and in the demo videos that have floated around in the last couple months it looks like a joy to operate.
  - zanny 14y ago
    In Phobuuntu's defense, you just need to know that the app quickmenu is on the left, status bar on the top, previous thing on the right, and application options on the bottom.
- jxdxbx 14y ago
  Edge actions and gestures are great as shortcuts for advanced users. I'm starting to think that "no chrome" UIs will never be suitable for ordinary users. Especially because they, practically speaking, will never be standard.
- no_more_death 14y ago
  Android innovates on connections between apps more than the interface design itself. For the most part, the interface design is simply a modified desktop approach. However, I would note that Google changed the old search button into a "swipe up from bottom" approach for Android 4.1. This brings up Google Now + voice search. So there is some "swipe from edge" functionality. For Ubuntu Phone, the functions of the different edges will take getting used to. Of course, power users will eat it up.
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mickle00 14y ago
"...there are no immediate plans for actual Ubuntu phones, and no carriers have been signed up yet -- although we're told that the OS will run on any new phone built for Android, should the manufacturer see merit in installing Ubuntu instead." It will be interesting to see if/when a manufacturer picks this up, to hit the mainstream market.
- drcube 14y ago
  Why the hell do I need manufacturer blessing?? I own the phone. Give me a ROM, Canonical.
  - mtgx 14y ago
    It would be an impossible task to do that for all phones. But the community can make ROM's for different phones like they do it for Android.
    - wmf 14y ago
      Canonical must have at least one ROM that they use for their own testing. Why won't they even release that?
      - takluyver 14y ago
        Information around the web suggests that it's being tested on the Galaxy Nexus, and that the image for that will be released.
  - marshray 14y ago
    No serious company wants the responsibility of bricking someone's smartphone. Where it would get interesting is if they introduced this as a UML guest Android app.
  - muyuu 14y ago
    "We're told the Galaxy Nexus-compatible build will be available for download within the next few weeks"
LukeHoersten 14y ago
I really wish Canonical would focus on making the Linux Desktop/Laptop experience better but perhaps this will play out like Apple: bootstrap the company's growth on the success of a mobile device (iPod in Apple's case). Plus, Canonical can offer something Google really can't: a common interface across all devices (Chromebook hasn't really worked out).
- rednukleus 14y ago
  > Chromebook hasn't really worked out What?
- samwillis 14y ago
  The chromebook was the biggest selling laptop this Christmas on amazon. http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/chromebook-christmas-bestseller-102858 http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/chromebook-christmas-be... Definitely far from not working out! I think it's pretty darn proven as a consumer product.
  - LukeHoersten 14y ago
    Amazon is the main channel for Chromebooks but not Macbooks. Amazon may not be a great sample of the laptop market percentage. I see way more Apple laptops than Chromebooks day to day. It'd be great if that changed in the future (and perhaps it will after this holiday shopping season via your link).
- deleted 14y ago
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tomrod 14y ago
How exciting! Now to figure out how to install this. I'm not sure i understand how one could actually place phone calls with this.
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cypher517 14y ago
Can I run this on my old iPhone 3G?
- paramsingh 14y ago
  Most probably not. Apple doesn't like people hacking into Apple devices.
  - olgeni 14y ago
    That's too bad for them...
    - da_n 14y ago
      Although their bank balance begs to differ... Ultimately though I would agree with you and hope smartphones will just be thought of as small computers in the future, you buy the hardware and have choices about what OS you want to run. I would love to be able to install different distros like with PC's, Mint Mobile running Cinnamon Touch would be good.
zoowar 14y ago
Does it come with Amazon spying?
- deleted 14y ago
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- richbradshaw 14y ago
  Yes. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU&feature=player_detailpage#t=401s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU&feature=play... after a few minutes/seconds the search interface is demoed, that searches for films, music and books, presumably from Amazon, though that's not specified.
  - socceroos 14y ago
    It's a full Ubuntu Desktop. Dock your phone and run "sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping". Or, alternatively, just open the Software Centre and remove it from there.
makepanic 14y ago
more informations directly on http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started/gomobile/ http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started/gomobile/ and more presentation for ubuntu for phones on http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/phone/design http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/phone/design
simonebrunozzi 14y ago
This is a good thing, but having known Canonical and Ubuntu since the start (2004), I would really love to see them succeed in the desktop market first. This initiative will de-focus their efforts. I admire them, and wish them good luck anyway.
- iamtherockstar 14y ago
  On the contrary, due it being the same base, it will actually make the apps faster and more memory performant on the desktop, because it has to run in a constrained environment on mobile. I think it'll make for a more performant desktop OS.
  - wmf 14y ago
    iOS app ports certainly seem to be popular on OS X.
- TylerE 14y ago
  "Will de-focus?" Anyone who was paying attention when they starting shoving Unity down user's throats knew where this was headed years ago.
- jonknee 14y ago
  The desktop market is going away in the consumer space. Unless you're targeting business, it's past the time to become relevant in desktop computing.
  - zanny 14y ago
    Bullshit, people still need to make things. Make emails, edit videos, edit photos, write documents. These aren't business class activities, but touch screens are insufficient for that function. I don't see people lugging around a laptop anymore, but I easily see people plugging their phone into a display, throwing a bluetooth or usb keyboard + mouse on, and expecting a productivity environment from that device. The hardware has the power to do that now. I can do that with my Android tablet. If I were to do that with an Ubuntu phone, though, I'd have access to much more mature productivity software built for the desktop.
pajju 14y ago
Here is the original Keynote - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU worth watching, Trust me.
untog 14y ago
I hope that this and Firefox OS can borrow from each other liberally. I'm far from convinced that either will succeed, but I hope they do.
venomsnake 14y ago
We need unlocked phones ... not another screen manager and drivers ...
- wmf 14y ago
  Nexus; next question?
  - venomsnake 14y ago
    How to buy it free of contract outside US is a good one ... it has very limited availability.
recoiledsnake 14y ago
Edit: Here's the keynote video. Skip to about 6:35 sec for the new bits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU Direct link to 6:35 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU&feature=player_detailpage#t=401s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU&feature=play... First thoughts: 2014 is a long way away and a whole year is an eternity in mobile space. It kind of looks like Unity in portrait mode but without the dock. What does it bring new to developers that isn't there in Android? Firefox OS's USP is web apps with native bindings(same as WebOS'). It says it uses the Android kernel and drivers to be compatible with the hardware, so will OEM(s) shipping devices with this OSes fall foul of Google's anti-fork rules[1] for Android? Or does that apply only to the Android SDK/Dalvik VM? [1] http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57512418-94/alibaba-google-forced-acer-to-drop-our-new-mobile-os/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57512418-94/alibaba-google-...
- justincormack 14y ago
  I think having anti-fork rules on the Android kernel would violate the GPL, so that couldn't happen...
  - Andrex 14y ago
    The anti-fork rules concern Google's support and applications for devices, not the source code of the OS itself. Amazon has forked Android, but by doing so they aren't allowed to use any of Google's apps in their devices.
  - fluidcruft 14y ago
    The golden handcuffs are your ability to ship Android's userland (including access to use of trademarks and Play Store). If Google shuts you out, you're out. Ship all the linux kernels you want. Technically, you can probably ship something based on pure AOSP, but your competitors will have had pre-AOSP access to the code for multiple months and there are no guarantees that AOSP even works without Google's magic proprietary mojo. CyanogenMod had to develop the missing pieces when Google sent their C&D over the proprietary bits. I would suspect defensive things designed to make it more difficult for Amazon to leech AOSP are either present or coming soon particularly with the rumors that Amazon is working toward introducing a phone.
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subway 14y ago
Oh great, another Ubuntu for %s with no shipping devices. I really wish Canonical would partner with some OEM to actually produce some of these devices instead of just announcing they have software while expecting hardware OEMs to come running. I'd even be happy if they produced a firmware for use on the GN or N4.
- pajju 14y ago
  Excellent point, they must have strong tie-ups with OEM partners, who can make in-expensive devices, otherwise its not going anywhere.
  - rbanffy 14y ago
    They may package the distro Cyanogenmod-style.
    - mtgx 14y ago
      From the interview on Engadget, it seems they also want to rely on the community to basically make Ubuntu ROM's for Android devices, although their priority is still to partner with OEM's to make new Ubuntu phones.
    - regularfry 14y ago
      They'd be relying heavily on other phone designers including display adapters in their phones, which virtually nobody has done so far. Motorola have one model, but I can't remember seeing any others.
pajju 14y ago
"now web applications are first class citizens on phones too" - wow. This made my day, my year.
- zanny 14y ago
  Firefox is already doing this on Android with the marketplace though. They are providing abstraction layers on the marketplace to let web apps take first class citizenry rolls on the current market leader. So it isn't a very persuasive argument for adoption.
vibrunazo 14y ago
Here's their developer site: http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started/gomobile/ http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started/gomobile/ From what it looks like, I'd need to redesign my apps from ground up using QML. They could have leveraged Android apps ecossystem, like Amazon, OUYA and even BB10 are doing. But chose not to. Out of nothing other than greed. And for that one reason, I predict dead on arrival. Edit: Just had an Ubuntu community manager answer my question on their official g+ hangout. And confirmed that indeed. You'd have to redesign apps for it from scratch in QML. Nor are they planing to make Android apps compatible, nor easy to port in any way. Oh well, I'm certainly not gonna waste my time developing for yet another platform. Goodbye.
- bamdadd 14y ago
  Service Temporarily Unavailable
- StavrosK 14y ago
  How could they? This isn't Android, it's an entirely different OS. If it ran Android apps, it might as well be a custom launcher instead.
  - vibrunazo 14y ago
    They had a working prototype that would run Android and Ubuntu side by side. Would work as a standard Android phone. But when you dock it to the desktop, it's a 100% capable Ubuntu computer, sharing resources with Android. That was perfect. It's the best of both worlds, I'm sure it would be a huge hit. Leverage both the Android mobile ecosystem + Linux desktop at once? That was genius. But instead they chose the greedy path and try to control all of it themselves. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv1Z7bf4jXY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv1Z7bf4jXY edit: I just learned that Ubuntu for Android was not abandoned. It's still a separate project. They wanna release Ubuntu for Android first in mid 2013. And hopefully that will be a gateway to get Android users interested in the Ubuntu Phone which will launch in 2014. http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android
    - 14y ago
shimon_e 14y ago
Will Android apps be supported? Or must they be hacked? People want the best Google Maps not some second class html5 version.
zanny 14y ago
I really want to give a "fuck yeah" for using qt as the app backend. I think qt5 is amazing and hope it can really take off. Especially with Necessitas you can port Ubuntu native apps to Android easily, and then porting to the desktop is trivial. I don't think they talked enough about how you can easily write a qt5 app that can run on everything but ios (and even that is seeing some traction). I wonder how this is going to conflate with their ongoing focus on the desktop towards python + gtk apps. Also, Plasma Active is already targeting mobile and I don't like how once again the GNU stack is fragmenting in approaching mobile into 3 camps (plasma active, gnome, ubuntu).
- forgottenpaswrd 14y ago
  "I wonder how this is going to conflate with their ongoing focus on the desktop towards python + gtk apps." Are they?. IMHO they are making Unity and everything else use Qt. Python could use Qt too. I had a lot of apps that used gtk, it was ok in the past when the license of Qt was not LGPL, but now I'm porting everything to native and Qt.(luckily I abstracted the UI). Gtk just has not serious support for OpenGL, mac or Windows.
  - zanny 14y ago
    > Python could use Qt too. Can. Pyside is very mature for GUI building now. My concern is that the Ubuntu phone OS might not be beefy enough to run a bunch of python interpreters for apps, or that it might not come with one stock.
    - deleted 14y ago
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pajju 14y ago
I always wished for myself and for the larger web community a 'Rock solid web based Open' Mobile Platform, and the change is happening very fast. I fell in love with Ubuntu, with the 12.04 Release. Remarkable, well thought user experience. 6 months back, I switched completely to Ubuntu 12.04 and its my primary machine now. I'm blown away with their agile methodologies, love every small part of the web-integration and the Ubuntu software market. Worth mentioning, Ubuntu Desktop is also strongly emerging as perfect web platform with tight integration with web-services. Many Developers are considering this as a strong open platform(as its web), and have started writing apps for ubuntu software market. So these apps should run seamlessly on Smartphones too. The concept of HUD to search inside an webapps and navigate complex menu's is revolutionary! Worth mentioning, webapps are now exactly like native desktop apps; I recently used the Gmail webapp, it opens as separate app and we can search inside gmail. (They have an API to enable such HUD controls for any webapp). All such advancements are only possible today, as we have faster Javascript engines, can leverage Cloud services, access to cheaper hardware and much faster Internet Penetration and adoption than ever before. The web can function as a strong platform by itself and not a hybrid model.
dharma1 14y ago
proud to say I worked on this :)
- moilolita 14y ago
  Cool. Congrats from an enthusiastic future user.
- socceroos 14y ago
  Nice! Contributor or employee?
  - dharma1 14y ago
    employee - UI design
emehrkay 14y ago
This is exciting. They are truly talking about a single device that does it all for you -- your phone is your computer. The phone UI looks a bit different, he says "clean and simple," but just from the video it seems like a bit much to do things. That could just be an initial reaction based on years of other phone OS usage. Why hasnt anyone run with WebOS' UI approach? The whole cards thing seems like the best approach i've seen thus far
- tree_of_item 14y ago
  If I had to guess, I'd say people are probably scared of patents surrounding WebOS's cards system.
  - MatthewPhillips 14y ago
    The winners do not adopt the innovations of the losers. History is littered with products with unique innovations that were never again touched.
- idle_processor 14y ago
  For the unfamiliar (like me) here's a video of WebOS Activity Cards from Palm's 2009 keynote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUSui3rH1a8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUSui3rH1a8
guard-of-terra 14y ago
Now I know what I will be getting when my N900 finally laid to rest. It's not just Ubuntu, but the whole variety of Linux flavours for phone that will surely arise once hardware is here.
kevinprince 14y ago
It says big things that no mobile operators or traditional hardware manufacturers are onboard.
husam212 14y ago
I feel like, Canonical = Apple with openness in mind.
benwerd 14y ago
My first reaction to this was "we don't need another phone platform". But you know what? I think their corporate focus is really smart - particularly at a time when both RIM and Microsoft are leaving craters in that market. I really hope they succeed.
mladenkovacevic 14y ago
This announcement baffles me a little bit. An Ubuntu Phone? Why did they choose to announce a phone OS and not a tablet? Phones are light communication devices for sending brief messages, checking social statuses or updating them. Ubuntu is a full featured OS used in creating and consuming long-form content. If they are hoping to engage with existing OEMs I think they would've had a much better time of it with companies like Acer, Asus and other similar desktop makers who are trying to get their foot into the tablet market. Not to mention the added difficulties of dealing with carriers.
- rdtsc 14y ago
  They already showed the tablet (Nexus 7 hardware) before. So the next step is a phone. Since they don't have an OEM partner yet for either might as well announce a phone. > Phones are light communication devices for sending brief messages, checking social statuses or updating them. Well that exactly why they picked phone, isn't it. They want a phone to be a light communication device for sending brief messages _and_ also a full fledged OS that can consume long-form content.
- css771 14y ago
  I think the reason for that is that they want to target the developing world with low end smartphones primarily. Not everyone will go for a tablet. But everyone needs a phone. The growth is still primarily in phones in the developing world.
- macspoofing 14y ago
  >Phones are light communication devices for sending brief messages, checking social statuses or updating them ... ... in 2005. Phones are powerful computing devices, and they are big business.
  - sliverstorm 14y ago
    Yup. Phones are still not as powerful as standard computers, but I would hazard the good ones are at least as fast as a laptop from 5 years ago. (Guess what OS I was running on my laptops 5 years ago?)
mikecane 14y ago
So how does this affect getting Open webOS -- which is usually placed on top of Ubuntu on desktops -- onto smartphones? Does it make it easier or is this irrelevant to that?
jug6ernaut 14y ago
As exciting as this is(and for the record based on initial impression i am excited) i am really getting tired of these Key Notes telling me what to think about there products. I know its all marketing but being constantly told how "amazing" "revolutionary" "awesome" these things are really is annoying. I can decide these things for myself thank you.
fullreset 14y ago
awesome! now i can look forward to upgrades that will kill my phone as effectively as they do my desktop.
- keithpeter 14y ago
  Haven't had that for years on Ubuntu, including beta releases (alpha or pre-alpha, yes you get breakage). Like others here I'm hoping for a phone with desktop device when plugged into a dock driving a monitor and keyboard. I can dream...
Off 14y ago
A mini review by the Verge for those who want to see more : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXWnMTm7We8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXWnMTm7We8
macco 14y ago
How do they finance this? This whole thing is very interesting from a entrepreneurial stand point. The risk is much higher than on the desktop market.
weakwire 14y ago
"It's one search to rule them all"...
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tsahyt 14y ago
What I really want isn't a special Ubuntu Phone. It's a proper Linux running on Android devices, that's tailored for mobile usage. This looks great but I'd like to see it on my Android phone instead of Android.
- socceroos 14y ago
  Did you watch the video? You dock your phone and you've got the full desktop. This ubuntu phone is literally the FULL ubuntu desktop with a new UI on top. The only thing docking does is switch you to your desktop environment.
  - tsahyt 14y ago
    Yes I did watch it. I probably wasn't precise about what I meant. The emphasis was the "running on Android devices" part. I'd really like to see ROMs for existing devices rather than waiting for an entirely new Ubuntu Phone. Given that by today, Ubuntu is (with a few possible exceptions) always installed on a machine after buying it, releasing a ROM seems more natural than trying to convince manufacturers to adopt it. Don't get me wrong, I would definitely like to see a phone shipping with this and if it's any good on the hardware side I'd probably buy it. For now, I wish for a ROM though.
jedmeyers 14y ago
Battle for number 3 place is on. And ubuntu does not look like an underdog here.
marshray 14y ago
I'm feeling lazy after the holidays. Does anyone have a good argument for why any smartphone manufacturer (or carrier) would choose Ubuntu Phone over official or opensource Android? EDIT: OK, I've broken down and watched the video. Sounds like an important featre is the unified enterprise management with existing Ubuntu servers and desktops. I wonder if this will prove attractive to the remaining Blackberry holdouts?
- deleted 14y ago
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- socceroos 14y ago
  You can dock your smartphone and have a complete desktop environment - no half-assed stuff - a full on desktop environment with all your desktop grade apps. That's even better than WP8 can do. That alone is huge.
- fingerprinter 14y ago
  This one is easy. Nexus X. Imagine if you are Samsung and you now must compete with Google releasing their own phone from google owned motorola. All those non-Google companies that now release Android phones should be looking past Android to something else. If they aren't, they are going to be extremely sorry in 2-4 years.
  - marshray 14y ago
    You really think Google is willing to drive Samsung, HTC, and LG away from Android just so Motorola can compete with them on hardware? That would be an interesting move. It will be very interesting to see how much Samsung, HTC, and LG (and Nvidia) do to support Phonebuntu.
    - fingerprinter 14y ago
      If you were Samsung, HTC and LG, would you be betting your business on it? Would you not actively be looking at alternatives?
monstrado 14y ago
It would have been great if they released with a "Try it now on your rooted Android devices".
hobbyist 14y ago
I am some how not very comfortable with ubuntu. Its bloating with so much code that its much slower than my arch linux. But the good thing about this project is that with ubuntu, the other disributions will also try their hands on smartphones, which will certainly bring new ideas on the table. Like with current desktops there will be 2 kinds of smartphones, one which run "linux" and the rest. P.S: Android only shares a common kernel with ubuntu, with rest being entirely different
bitsoda 14y ago
Those swiping gestures from the edges look incredibly cumbersome and awkward. It may look cool in a demo, but performing that repeatedly to use my phone throughout the day looks to be a bad experience.
- benjiweber 14y ago
  The n9 does this. It's actually really enjoyable. I've been using it for a few months. I find myself so used to it I keep trying to do it on android phones. The n9 form factor does suit these gestures because it has a screen with smoothly bevelled edges that entices you to swipe.
  - daliusd 14y ago
    I will second this: N9 is really nice device. BB10 will do this as well (does this if you have alpha device).
codex 14y ago
Canonical is always trying to make itself more relevant by chasing the new hotness. First it was copying Windows. Then it was copying the Mac. Then tablets. Now smartphones. Unfortunately, the open source nature of their efforts means that they can never supply a meaningful value-add, even if they had as much money as their competitors.
- daliusd 14y ago
  Are you implying that Open Source has some secret destructive or creativeness repelling power? Android is open source.
systems 14y ago
am i the only one who think the interface is too complicated?
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zaidrahman 14y ago
Regardless of what the aftermath of Ubuntu on mobile may have, without any prejudice of it being over an eternal year away: the iOS interface for multi tasking is tame. It needs an overhaul. For post-pc devices to go mainstream, they should display how easy it is to multitask on them. This use case scenario is extremely important on the iPhone. Android, Windows Phone, WebOS, and now Ubuntu Mobile — all have better multi tasking interfaces. However, the counter argument is that an OS completely build out of blind gestures serves as completely not obvious. This is a problem for first case use scenarios. That being said, power users can rejoice alike. P.S. If the Ubuntu Mobile continues to lag, we should just forget about it before it becomes the next WebOS. This is just getting embarrassing.
guilloche 14y ago
I love to see a real linux on smartphone. But what's the graphics system? Definitely, it should not be X since X is too complicated. Is it wayland?
retube 14y ago
Can a phone running Ubuntu actually make a phone call? (no youtube here)

474 points by blacktulip 14y ago

My favorite part of Ubuntu Phone and Firefox OS is that they treat HTML5 as a first class citizen. Native development would be so much simpler if all platforms did the same.

mtgx 14y ago

Swiping from the edges is exactly what I was hoping Google would do with Android, instead of wasting screen space with buttons. I think all Android's buttons could be repurposed into "edge actions", although they'd have to make them intuitive enough for people to get it quickly.

dmix 14y ago
Isn't this what Windows 8 did for submenus? I found it incredibly confusing in the context of using a mouse, but never tried it with touch.
recoiledsnake 14y ago
Swiping from the left and right edges on phones is prone to get confused with the swiping inside apps, that's the reason that none of the big mobile OSes have it. I am curious to see whether that's taken care of here.
- yesimahuman 14y ago
  This is already a problem with Chrome for iOS. It makes building apps in the browser difficult when swiping on the left and right edges triggers a "tab" switch.
  - kklimonda 14y ago
    Chrome for Android does the same (you can change tabs by swiping left-right), and it's very unreliable - I manage to change tabs by accident by swiping, but can never do that on purpose...
    - jordanthoms 14y ago
      Interestingly, I find the gestures from the side work much better on the Nexus 4 with the screen curve. Seems they designed the phone with chrome in mind.
- wmf 14y ago
  Given that the Nexus 4 screen is designed to support edge swipes I wouldn't be surprised to see Android move in that direction.
clauretano 14y ago
Tough to make invisible things intuitive, but you can always force a quick intro tutorial like webOS and Windows 8. Trouble is, hand your device to someone else and they might have no idea how to operate it. Jolla is really pushing edge gestures in their interface, and in the demo videos that have floated around in the last couple months it looks like a joy to operate.
- zanny 14y ago
  In Phobuuntu's defense, you just need to know that the app quickmenu is on the left, status bar on the top, previous thing on the right, and application options on the bottom.
jxdxbx 14y ago
Edge actions and gestures are great as shortcuts for advanced users. I'm starting to think that "no chrome" UIs will never be suitable for ordinary users. Especially because they, practically speaking, will never be standard.
no_more_death 14y ago
Android innovates on connections between apps more than the interface design itself. For the most part, the interface design is simply a modified desktop approach. However, I would note that Google changed the old search button into a "swipe up from bottom" approach for Android 4.1. This brings up Google Now + voice search. So there is some "swipe from edge" functionality. For Ubuntu Phone, the functions of the different edges will take getting used to. Of course, power users will eat it up.

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mickle00 14y ago

"...there are no immediate plans for actual Ubuntu phones, and no carriers have been signed up yet -- although we're told that the OS will run on any new phone built for Android, should the manufacturer see merit in installing Ubuntu instead." It will be interesting to see if/when a manufacturer picks this up, to hit the mainstream market.

drcube 14y ago
Why the hell do I need manufacturer blessing?? I own the phone. Give me a ROM, Canonical.
- mtgx 14y ago
  It would be an impossible task to do that for all phones. But the community can make ROM's for different phones like they do it for Android.
  - wmf 14y ago
    Canonical must have at least one ROM that they use for their own testing. Why won't they even release that?
    - takluyver 14y ago
      Information around the web suggests that it's being tested on the Galaxy Nexus, and that the image for that will be released.
- marshray 14y ago
  No serious company wants the responsibility of bricking someone's smartphone. Where it would get interesting is if they introduced this as a UML guest Android app.
- muyuu 14y ago
  "We're told the Galaxy Nexus-compatible build will be available for download within the next few weeks"

LukeHoersten 14y ago

I really wish Canonical would focus on making the Linux Desktop/Laptop experience better but perhaps this will play out like Apple: bootstrap the company's growth on the success of a mobile device (iPod in Apple's case). Plus, Canonical can offer something Google really can't: a common interface across all devices (Chromebook hasn't really worked out).

rednukleus 14y ago
> Chromebook hasn't really worked out What?
samwillis 14y ago
The chromebook was the biggest selling laptop this Christmas on amazon. http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/chromebook-christmas-bestseller-102858 http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/chromebook-christmas-be... Definitely far from not working out! I think it's pretty darn proven as a consumer product.
- LukeHoersten 14y ago
  Amazon is the main channel for Chromebooks but not Macbooks. Amazon may not be a great sample of the laptop market percentage. I see way more Apple laptops than Chromebooks day to day. It'd be great if that changed in the future (and perhaps it will after this holiday shopping season via your link).
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tomrod 14y ago

How exciting! Now to figure out how to install this. I'm not sure i understand how one could actually place phone calls with this.

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cypher517 14y ago

Can I run this on my old iPhone 3G?

paramsingh 14y ago
Most probably not. Apple doesn't like people hacking into Apple devices.
- olgeni 14y ago
  That's too bad for them...
  - da_n 14y ago
    Although their bank balance begs to differ... Ultimately though I would agree with you and hope smartphones will just be thought of as small computers in the future, you buy the hardware and have choices about what OS you want to run. I would love to be able to install different distros like with PC's, Mint Mobile running Cinnamon Touch would be good.

zoowar 14y ago

Does it come with Amazon spying?

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richbradshaw 14y ago
Yes. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU&feature=player_detailpage#t=401s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU&feature=play... after a few minutes/seconds the search interface is demoed, that searches for films, music and books, presumably from Amazon, though that's not specified.
- socceroos 14y ago
  It's a full Ubuntu Desktop. Dock your phone and run "sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping". Or, alternatively, just open the Software Centre and remove it from there.

makepanic 14y ago

more informations directly on http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started/gomobile/ http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started/gomobile/ and more presentation for ubuntu for phones on http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/phone/design http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/phone/design

simonebrunozzi 14y ago

This is a good thing, but having known Canonical and Ubuntu since the start (2004), I would really love to see them succeed in the desktop market first. This initiative will de-focus their efforts. I admire them, and wish them good luck anyway.

iamtherockstar 14y ago
On the contrary, due it being the same base, it will actually make the apps faster and more memory performant on the desktop, because it has to run in a constrained environment on mobile. I think it'll make for a more performant desktop OS.
- wmf 14y ago
  iOS app ports certainly seem to be popular on OS X.
TylerE 14y ago
"Will de-focus?" Anyone who was paying attention when they starting shoving Unity down user's throats knew where this was headed years ago.
jonknee 14y ago
The desktop market is going away in the consumer space. Unless you're targeting business, it's past the time to become relevant in desktop computing.
- zanny 14y ago
  Bullshit, people still need to make things. Make emails, edit videos, edit photos, write documents. These aren't business class activities, but touch screens are insufficient for that function. I don't see people lugging around a laptop anymore, but I easily see people plugging their phone into a display, throwing a bluetooth or usb keyboard + mouse on, and expecting a productivity environment from that device. The hardware has the power to do that now. I can do that with my Android tablet. If I were to do that with an Ubuntu phone, though, I'd have access to much more mature productivity software built for the desktop.

pajju 14y ago

Here is the original Keynote - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU worth watching, Trust me.

untog 14y ago

I hope that this and Firefox OS can borrow from each other liberally. I'm far from convinced that either will succeed, but I hope they do.

venomsnake 14y ago

We need unlocked phones ... not another screen manager and drivers ...

wmf 14y ago
Nexus; next question?
- venomsnake 14y ago
  How to buy it free of contract outside US is a good one ... it has very limited availability.

recoiledsnake 14y ago

Edit: Here's the keynote video. Skip to about 6:35 sec for the new bits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU Direct link to 6:35 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU&feature=player_detailpage#t=401s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU&feature=play... First thoughts: 2014 is a long way away and a whole year is an eternity in mobile space. It kind of looks like Unity in portrait mode but without the dock. What does it bring new to developers that isn't there in Android? Firefox OS's USP is web apps with native bindings(same as WebOS'). It says it uses the Android kernel and drivers to be compatible with the hardware, so will OEM(s) shipping devices with this OSes fall foul of Google's anti-fork rules[1] for Android? Or does that apply only to the Android SDK/Dalvik VM? [1] http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57512418-94/alibaba-google-forced-acer-to-drop-our-new-mobile-os/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57512418-94/alibaba-google-...

justincormack 14y ago
I think having anti-fork rules on the Android kernel would violate the GPL, so that couldn't happen...
- Andrex 14y ago
  The anti-fork rules concern Google's support and applications for devices, not the source code of the OS itself. Amazon has forked Android, but by doing so they aren't allowed to use any of Google's apps in their devices.
- fluidcruft 14y ago
  The golden handcuffs are your ability to ship Android's userland (including access to use of trademarks and Play Store). If Google shuts you out, you're out. Ship all the linux kernels you want. Technically, you can probably ship something based on pure AOSP, but your competitors will have had pre-AOSP access to the code for multiple months and there are no guarantees that AOSP even works without Google's magic proprietary mojo. CyanogenMod had to develop the missing pieces when Google sent their C&D over the proprietary bits. I would suspect defensive things designed to make it more difficult for Amazon to leech AOSP are either present or coming soon particularly with the rumors that Amazon is working toward introducing a phone.

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subway 14y ago

Oh great, another Ubuntu for %s with no shipping devices. I really wish Canonical would partner with some OEM to actually produce some of these devices instead of just announcing they have software while expecting hardware OEMs to come running. I'd even be happy if they produced a firmware for use on the GN or N4.

pajju 14y ago
Excellent point, they must have strong tie-ups with OEM partners, who can make in-expensive devices, otherwise its not going anywhere.
- rbanffy 14y ago
  They may package the distro Cyanogenmod-style.
  - mtgx 14y ago
    From the interview on Engadget, it seems they also want to rely on the community to basically make Ubuntu ROM's for Android devices, although their priority is still to partner with OEM's to make new Ubuntu phones.
  - regularfry 14y ago
    They'd be relying heavily on other phone designers including display adapters in their phones, which virtually nobody has done so far. Motorola have one model, but I can't remember seeing any others.

pajju 14y ago

"now web applications are first class citizens on phones too" - wow. This made my day, my year.

zanny 14y ago
Firefox is already doing this on Android with the marketplace though. They are providing abstraction layers on the marketplace to let web apps take first class citizenry rolls on the current market leader. So it isn't a very persuasive argument for adoption.

vibrunazo 14y ago

Here's their developer site: http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started/gomobile/ http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started/gomobile/ From what it looks like, I'd need to redesign my apps from ground up using QML. They could have leveraged Android apps ecossystem, like Amazon, OUYA and even BB10 are doing. But chose not to. Out of nothing other than greed. And for that one reason, I predict dead on arrival. Edit: Just had an Ubuntu community manager answer my question on their official g+ hangout. And confirmed that indeed. You'd have to redesign apps for it from scratch in QML. Nor are they planing to make Android apps compatible, nor easy to port in any way. Oh well, I'm certainly not gonna waste my time developing for yet another platform. Goodbye.

bamdadd 14y ago
Service Temporarily Unavailable
StavrosK 14y ago
How could they? This isn't Android, it's an entirely different OS. If it ran Android apps, it might as well be a custom launcher instead.
- vibrunazo 14y ago
  They had a working prototype that would run Android and Ubuntu side by side. Would work as a standard Android phone. But when you dock it to the desktop, it's a 100% capable Ubuntu computer, sharing resources with Android. That was perfect. It's the best of both worlds, I'm sure it would be a huge hit. Leverage both the Android mobile ecosystem + Linux desktop at once? That was genius. But instead they chose the greedy path and try to control all of it themselves. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv1Z7bf4jXY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv1Z7bf4jXY edit: I just learned that Ubuntu for Android was not abandoned. It's still a separate project. They wanna release Ubuntu for Android first in mid 2013. And hopefully that will be a gateway to get Android users interested in the Ubuntu Phone which will launch in 2014. http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android
  - 14y ago

shimon_e 14y ago

Will Android apps be supported? Or must they be hacked? People want the best Google Maps not some second class html5 version.

zanny 14y ago

I really want to give a "fuck yeah" for using qt as the app backend. I think qt5 is amazing and hope it can really take off. Especially with Necessitas you can port Ubuntu native apps to Android easily, and then porting to the desktop is trivial. I don't think they talked enough about how you can easily write a qt5 app that can run on everything but ios (and even that is seeing some traction). I wonder how this is going to conflate with their ongoing focus on the desktop towards python + gtk apps. Also, Plasma Active is already targeting mobile and I don't like how once again the GNU stack is fragmenting in approaching mobile into 3 camps (plasma active, gnome, ubuntu).

forgottenpaswrd 14y ago
"I wonder how this is going to conflate with their ongoing focus on the desktop towards python + gtk apps." Are they?. IMHO they are making Unity and everything else use Qt. Python could use Qt too. I had a lot of apps that used gtk, it was ok in the past when the license of Qt was not LGPL, but now I'm porting everything to native and Qt.(luckily I abstracted the UI). Gtk just has not serious support for OpenGL, mac or Windows.
- zanny 14y ago
  > Python could use Qt too. Can. Pyside is very mature for GUI building now. My concern is that the Ubuntu phone OS might not be beefy enough to run a bunch of python interpreters for apps, or that it might not come with one stock.
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pajju 14y ago

I always wished for myself and for the larger web community a 'Rock solid web based Open' Mobile Platform, and the change is happening very fast. I fell in love with Ubuntu, with the 12.04 Release. Remarkable, well thought user experience. 6 months back, I switched completely to Ubuntu 12.04 and its my primary machine now. I'm blown away with their agile methodologies, love every small part of the web-integration and the Ubuntu software market. Worth mentioning, Ubuntu Desktop is also strongly emerging as perfect web platform with tight integration with web-services. Many Developers are considering this as a strong open platform(as its web), and have started writing apps for ubuntu software market. So these apps should run seamlessly on Smartphones too. The concept of HUD to search inside an webapps and navigate complex menu's is revolutionary! Worth mentioning, webapps are now exactly like native desktop apps; I recently used the Gmail webapp, it opens as separate app and we can search inside gmail. (They have an API to enable such HUD controls for any webapp). All such advancements are only possible today, as we have faster Javascript engines, can leverage Cloud services, access to cheaper hardware and much faster Internet Penetration and adoption than ever before. The web can function as a strong platform by itself and not a hybrid model.

dharma1 14y ago

proud to say I worked on this :)

moilolita 14y ago
Cool. Congrats from an enthusiastic future user.
socceroos 14y ago
Nice! Contributor or employee?
- dharma1 14y ago
  employee - UI design

emehrkay 14y ago

This is exciting. They are truly talking about a single device that does it all for you -- your phone is your computer. The phone UI looks a bit different, he says "clean and simple," but just from the video it seems like a bit much to do things. That could just be an initial reaction based on years of other phone OS usage. Why hasnt anyone run with WebOS' UI approach? The whole cards thing seems like the best approach i've seen thus far

tree_of_item 14y ago
If I had to guess, I'd say people are probably scared of patents surrounding WebOS's cards system.
- MatthewPhillips 14y ago
  The winners do not adopt the innovations of the losers. History is littered with products with unique innovations that were never again touched.
idle_processor 14y ago
For the unfamiliar (like me) here's a video of WebOS Activity Cards from Palm's 2009 keynote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUSui3rH1a8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUSui3rH1a8

guard-of-terra 14y ago

Now I know what I will be getting when my N900 finally laid to rest. It's not just Ubuntu, but the whole variety of Linux flavours for phone that will surely arise once hardware is here.

kevinprince 14y ago

It says big things that no mobile operators or traditional hardware manufacturers are onboard.

husam212 14y ago

I feel like, Canonical = Apple with openness in mind.

benwerd 14y ago

My first reaction to this was "we don't need another phone platform". But you know what? I think their corporate focus is really smart - particularly at a time when both RIM and Microsoft are leaving craters in that market. I really hope they succeed.

mladenkovacevic 14y ago

This announcement baffles me a little bit. An Ubuntu Phone? Why did they choose to announce a phone OS and not a tablet? Phones are light communication devices for sending brief messages, checking social statuses or updating them. Ubuntu is a full featured OS used in creating and consuming long-form content. If they are hoping to engage with existing OEMs I think they would've had a much better time of it with companies like Acer, Asus and other similar desktop makers who are trying to get their foot into the tablet market. Not to mention the added difficulties of dealing with carriers.

rdtsc 14y ago
They already showed the tablet (Nexus 7 hardware) before. So the next step is a phone. Since they don't have an OEM partner yet for either might as well announce a phone. > Phones are light communication devices for sending brief messages, checking social statuses or updating them. Well that exactly why they picked phone, isn't it. They want a phone to be a light communication device for sending brief messages _and_ also a full fledged OS that can consume long-form content.
css771 14y ago
I think the reason for that is that they want to target the developing world with low end smartphones primarily. Not everyone will go for a tablet. But everyone needs a phone. The growth is still primarily in phones in the developing world.
macspoofing 14y ago
>Phones are light communication devices for sending brief messages, checking social statuses or updating them ... ... in 2005. Phones are powerful computing devices, and they are big business.
- sliverstorm 14y ago
  Yup. Phones are still not as powerful as standard computers, but I would hazard the good ones are at least as fast as a laptop from 5 years ago. (Guess what OS I was running on my laptops 5 years ago?)

mikecane 14y ago

So how does this affect getting Open webOS -- which is usually placed on top of Ubuntu on desktops -- onto smartphones? Does it make it easier or is this irrelevant to that?

jug6ernaut 14y ago

As exciting as this is(and for the record based on initial impression i am excited) i am really getting tired of these Key Notes telling me what to think about there products. I know its all marketing but being constantly told how "amazing" "revolutionary" "awesome" these things are really is annoying. I can decide these things for myself thank you.

fullreset 14y ago

awesome! now i can look forward to upgrades that will kill my phone as effectively as they do my desktop.

keithpeter 14y ago
Haven't had that for years on Ubuntu, including beta releases (alpha or pre-alpha, yes you get breakage). Like others here I'm hoping for a phone with desktop device when plugged into a dock driving a monitor and keyboard. I can dream...

Off 14y ago

A mini review by the Verge for those who want to see more : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXWnMTm7We8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXWnMTm7We8

macco 14y ago

How do they finance this? This whole thing is very interesting from a entrepreneurial stand point. The risk is much higher than on the desktop market.

weakwire 14y ago

"It's one search to rule them all"...

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tsahyt 14y ago

What I really want isn't a special Ubuntu Phone. It's a proper Linux running on Android devices, that's tailored for mobile usage. This looks great but I'd like to see it on my Android phone instead of Android.

socceroos 14y ago
Did you watch the video? You dock your phone and you've got the full desktop. This ubuntu phone is literally the FULL ubuntu desktop with a new UI on top. The only thing docking does is switch you to your desktop environment.
- tsahyt 14y ago
  Yes I did watch it. I probably wasn't precise about what I meant. The emphasis was the "running on Android devices" part. I'd really like to see ROMs for existing devices rather than waiting for an entirely new Ubuntu Phone. Given that by today, Ubuntu is (with a few possible exceptions) always installed on a machine after buying it, releasing a ROM seems more natural than trying to convince manufacturers to adopt it. Don't get me wrong, I would definitely like to see a phone shipping with this and if it's any good on the hardware side I'd probably buy it. For now, I wish for a ROM though.

jedmeyers 14y ago

Battle for number 3 place is on. And ubuntu does not look like an underdog here.

marshray 14y ago

I'm feeling lazy after the holidays. Does anyone have a good argument for why any smartphone manufacturer (or carrier) would choose Ubuntu Phone over official or opensource Android? EDIT: OK, I've broken down and watched the video. Sounds like an important featre is the unified enterprise management with existing Ubuntu servers and desktops. I wonder if this will prove attractive to the remaining Blackberry holdouts?

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socceroos 14y ago
You can dock your smartphone and have a complete desktop environment - no half-assed stuff - a full on desktop environment with all your desktop grade apps. That's even better than WP8 can do. That alone is huge.
fingerprinter 14y ago
This one is easy. Nexus X. Imagine if you are Samsung and you now must compete with Google releasing their own phone from google owned motorola. All those non-Google companies that now release Android phones should be looking past Android to something else. If they aren't, they are going to be extremely sorry in 2-4 years.
- marshray 14y ago
  You really think Google is willing to drive Samsung, HTC, and LG away from Android just so Motorola can compete with them on hardware? That would be an interesting move. It will be very interesting to see how much Samsung, HTC, and LG (and Nvidia) do to support Phonebuntu.
  - fingerprinter 14y ago
    If you were Samsung, HTC and LG, would you be betting your business on it? Would you not actively be looking at alternatives?

monstrado 14y ago

It would have been great if they released with a "Try it now on your rooted Android devices".

hobbyist 14y ago

I am some how not very comfortable with ubuntu. Its bloating with so much code that its much slower than my arch linux. But the good thing about this project is that with ubuntu, the other disributions will also try their hands on smartphones, which will certainly bring new ideas on the table. Like with current desktops there will be 2 kinds of smartphones, one which run "linux" and the rest. P.S: Android only shares a common kernel with ubuntu, with rest being entirely different

bitsoda 14y ago

Those swiping gestures from the edges look incredibly cumbersome and awkward. It may look cool in a demo, but performing that repeatedly to use my phone throughout the day looks to be a bad experience.

benjiweber 14y ago
The n9 does this. It's actually really enjoyable. I've been using it for a few months. I find myself so used to it I keep trying to do it on android phones. The n9 form factor does suit these gestures because it has a screen with smoothly bevelled edges that entices you to swipe.
- daliusd 14y ago
  I will second this: N9 is really nice device. BB10 will do this as well (does this if you have alpha device).

codex 14y ago

Canonical is always trying to make itself more relevant by chasing the new hotness. First it was copying Windows. Then it was copying the Mac. Then tablets. Now smartphones. Unfortunately, the open source nature of their efforts means that they can never supply a meaningful value-add, even if they had as much money as their competitors.

daliusd 14y ago
Are you implying that Open Source has some secret destructive or creativeness repelling power? Android is open source.

systems 14y ago

am i the only one who think the interface is too complicated?

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zaidrahman 14y ago

Regardless of what the aftermath of Ubuntu on mobile may have, without any prejudice of it being over an eternal year away: the iOS interface for multi tasking is tame. It needs an overhaul. For post-pc devices to go mainstream, they should display how easy it is to multitask on them. This use case scenario is extremely important on the iPhone. Android, Windows Phone, WebOS, and now Ubuntu Mobile — all have better multi tasking interfaces. However, the counter argument is that an OS completely build out of blind gestures serves as completely not obvious. This is a problem for first case use scenarios. That being said, power users can rejoice alike. P.S. If the Ubuntu Mobile continues to lag, we should just forget about it before it becomes the next WebOS. This is just getting embarrassing.

guilloche 14y ago

I love to see a real linux on smartphone. But what's the graphics system? Definitely, it should not be X since X is too complicated. Is it wayland?

retube 14y ago

Can a phone running Ubuntu actually make a phone call? (no youtube here)