5 ms·

I don't quite get what's going on here. Is this an idea for a major commercial product or is it a quirky fun thing for the ubuntu community? The scale they're a

by netcan 13y ago

I don't quite get what's going on here. Is this an idea for a major commercial product or is it a quirky fun thing for the ubuntu community? The scale they're aiming for seems to imply the former. Usable as a desktop is a cool idea, but more of a "linux on your wristwatch" idea than one with real use. I mean, if you have a keyboard & monitor handy, how hard is it to have a PC too? Cheap micro desktops are coming out all over the place. Cheap. Am I missing the point entirely? Is this all about Ubuntu mobile itself with android & ubuntu desktop as extras? I hope this doesn't sound like hating. I actually want this to succeed. It's cool. Crowd funding a major player in the OS/mobile space is even cooler. Lots of potential spinoffs down the road (like the iOS laptop I've wanted to get my dad for years). That said... Can anyone explain this to me? What are they trying to do here?

btian 13y ago
It's somewhere in between, I'd say more towards the latter. At around ~60k units it's hardly a "major" commercial product considering even Microsoft sells millions of their Surface RT tablets in a quarter. I think it's a very cool idea (dual boot and everything). Hardware specs look top notch.
lettergram 13y ago
I think the idea is that it is both a PC and a phone. This allows you to plug in your phone as your PC (like those cheap micro desktops), and have a working cell phone. One thing I find really interesting is that for a galaxy 4S or iPhone5 the cost is somewhere between $650-$800 for a uncontracted phone. That being said, this Ubuntu phone would be both a Cheap micro desktop as well as a presumably good phone running either android or Ubuntu mobile and both for roughly the same price as the other "nice" phones out there. Beyond this specific phone, I am guessing their real purpose is to break into the mobile OS industry using this Ubuntu phone because it would make headlines and in turn give a nice PR campaign. Not to mention it would prove that there is a sizable market for higher end phones which can support the Ubuntu desktop/cell phone idea and push the technology forward quicker.
rufugee 13y ago
I mean, if you have a keyboard & monitor handy, how hard is it to have a PC too? If your phone supports use as a full computer, then the need for a PC is obviated. In my case, I have roughly 3500 employees, of which approximately 2000 have computers. Almost all of them carry smart phones. I envision a future state where those smart phones are also their PCs...they become more mobile and can easily access their data at any of our locations and I've just cut 2000 computers out of my budget. Sure, an Ubuntu desktop won't work for all, but it would work for many of our staff...70% of what we do is web-based already.
- daliusd 13y ago
  I just wonder why aren't you investigating existing smartphones for that. Many of them already have HDMI connection, multi core processors and can be connected with bluetooth keyboard. The software most probably will not be problem with Android (not sure about other OSes).
  - Brakenshire 13y ago
    You'd need a fully fledged desktop to make it work. Is there a project like that in existence which you could just install on a random smartphone? I haven't heard of one.
    - daliusd 13y ago
      I guess there is no but my question is do we really need one?
  - spudlyo 13y ago
    In my view, none of the Operating Systems available on current phones are suitable for the kind of desktop work I do. This is an actual Linux based phone, not just a Linux kernel with a VM that runs some phone apps. As a Linux hacker I feel like I could do quite a lot with this phone.
    - daliusd 13y ago
rythie 13y ago
The problem is that if you go to some random machine, you'll most likely have the following problems: - Getting an account takes most of the one day you're there - None of the software you use is there - It's not even the OS you use - There are restrictions on the machine - There are viruses on the machine (if it's a home machine) For these reasons people often use carry around a laptop. Carrying a laptop is pain, because you need to look after it and so you don't have it everywhere you go. You don't with a phone - it's in your pocket - all the time.
- andy_ppp 13y ago
  Now: I just dropped my phone in the toilet - all my numbers are gone and I've lost $600+. Future: I just dropped my whole fucking life in the toilet. I had shedloads of work on there amounting to many times the cost of the phone! Near Future: Ah it's okay - I backed up my phone to my computer. Error: Too Much Recursion.
  - socceroos 13y ago
    Answer: UbuntuOne In fact, they're even considering full-blown AES 256 encryption on all your devices backed-up data.
claudius 13y ago
> I mean, if you have a keyboard & monitor handy, how hard is it to have a PC too? > Am I missing the point entirely? I believe one of the key points is that multiple computers suck. You have to sync/merge data, you have to sync/merge emails (unless you have your private IMAP server), you have to sync/merge chat logs, you have to upgrade software in multiple places… I am really happy I got rid off my desktop a few years back and am now using only a notebook with a docking station at home and a phone. If I could only have a phone, that would be heaven on earth.
fingerprinter 13y ago
>Am I missing the point entirely? Is this all about Ubuntu mobile itself with android & ubuntu desktop as extras? It's a phone! It's a computer! It's both! More seriously, imagine a phone that is always a phone unless you want to make it a computer. Plug it into a TV/Monitor/glass and you have a full computer desktop. I travel quite a bit. I have in my bag at the moment a laptop, a phone and a tablet. With this, I need just the phone. I also used to work in an office. When I went home, I had a computer at home. If I never wanted to do anything, read an email or what not, I needed to VPN in or sync something. Things ALWAYS got out of sync. Now, I can just plug into a monitor and have my work system at home. Or, say, you are a corporation. You have 10,000+ people. Assuming you are a normal corporation of that size, many of those people have phones AND computers/laptops. It is highly likely that a very large number of those people could get by with one device: a phone that is also a computer. Cost savings for those corporations would be huge.
- netcan 13y ago
  "With this, I need just the phone." You still need the keyboard and monitor, don't you?. If you are traveling, it would probably be best if they snapped together into a nice, book-like shape. Like a laptop, but with the computer conveniently removed? Regarding money-saving at a 10,000 PC corporation.. really? First, they would have to use Ubuntu, and they use Windows. Second, its not really that much money. Even if this is free in the sense that they need to have a phone anyway, they still need the monitor & stuff. If they were happy with an ubuntu appliance PC, I'm sure they could get the computer part of the computer in micro computer form for $200 or so every 3-5 years if the saving was worth it. Most importantly, phones break, get lost or stolen. I don't see it.
  - dwild 13y ago
    Find me an equivalent in a micro computer form for $200 or so. Find me an equivalent in a cellphone form for 830$. Now find me an equivalent that do both. I don't think it's a really good idea to replace everything with a single device, but you can't say that it's not less expensive.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
minor_nitwit 13y ago
Watch the video on youtube about ubuntu for android. This is from a year ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv1Z7bf4jXY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv1Z7bf4jXY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzc0uMXGFBY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzc0uMXGFBY

by netcan 13y ago

btian 13y ago

It's somewhere in between, I'd say more towards the latter. At around ~60k units it's hardly a "major" commercial product considering even Microsoft sells millions of their Surface RT tablets in a quarter. I think it's a very cool idea (dual boot and everything). Hardware specs look top notch.

lettergram 13y ago

I think the idea is that it is both a PC and a phone. This allows you to plug in your phone as your PC (like those cheap micro desktops), and have a working cell phone. One thing I find really interesting is that for a galaxy 4S or iPhone5 the cost is somewhere between $650-$800 for a uncontracted phone. That being said, this Ubuntu phone would be both a Cheap micro desktop as well as a presumably good phone running either android or Ubuntu mobile and both for roughly the same price as the other "nice" phones out there. Beyond this specific phone, I am guessing their real purpose is to break into the mobile OS industry using this Ubuntu phone because it would make headlines and in turn give a nice PR campaign. Not to mention it would prove that there is a sizable market for higher end phones which can support the Ubuntu desktop/cell phone idea and push the technology forward quicker.

rufugee 13y ago

I mean, if you have a keyboard & monitor handy, how hard is it to have a PC too? If your phone supports use as a full computer, then the need for a PC is obviated. In my case, I have roughly 3500 employees, of which approximately 2000 have computers. Almost all of them carry smart phones. I envision a future state where those smart phones are also their PCs...they become more mobile and can easily access their data at any of our locations and I've just cut 2000 computers out of my budget. Sure, an Ubuntu desktop won't work for all, but it would work for many of our staff...70% of what we do is web-based already.

daliusd 13y ago
I just wonder why aren't you investigating existing smartphones for that. Many of them already have HDMI connection, multi core processors and can be connected with bluetooth keyboard. The software most probably will not be problem with Android (not sure about other OSes).
- Brakenshire 13y ago
  You'd need a fully fledged desktop to make it work. Is there a project like that in existence which you could just install on a random smartphone? I haven't heard of one.
  - daliusd 13y ago
    I guess there is no but my question is do we really need one?
- spudlyo 13y ago
  In my view, none of the Operating Systems available on current phones are suitable for the kind of desktop work I do. This is an actual Linux based phone, not just a Linux kernel with a VM that runs some phone apps. As a Linux hacker I feel like I could do quite a lot with this phone.
  - daliusd 13y ago

rythie 13y ago

The problem is that if you go to some random machine, you'll most likely have the following problems: - Getting an account takes most of the one day you're there - None of the software you use is there - It's not even the OS you use - There are restrictions on the machine - There are viruses on the machine (if it's a home machine) For these reasons people often use carry around a laptop. Carrying a laptop is pain, because you need to look after it and so you don't have it everywhere you go. You don't with a phone - it's in your pocket - all the time.

andy_ppp 13y ago
Now: I just dropped my phone in the toilet - all my numbers are gone and I've lost $600+. Future: I just dropped my whole fucking life in the toilet. I had shedloads of work on there amounting to many times the cost of the phone! Near Future: Ah it's okay - I backed up my phone to my computer. Error: Too Much Recursion.
- socceroos 13y ago
  Answer: UbuntuOne In fact, they're even considering full-blown AES 256 encryption on all your devices backed-up data.

claudius 13y ago

> I mean, if you have a keyboard & monitor handy, how hard is it to have a PC too? > Am I missing the point entirely? I believe one of the key points is that multiple computers suck. You have to sync/merge data, you have to sync/merge emails (unless you have your private IMAP server), you have to sync/merge chat logs, you have to upgrade software in multiple places… I am really happy I got rid off my desktop a few years back and am now using only a notebook with a docking station at home and a phone. If I could only have a phone, that would be heaven on earth.

fingerprinter 13y ago

>Am I missing the point entirely? Is this all about Ubuntu mobile itself with android & ubuntu desktop as extras? It's a phone! It's a computer! It's both! More seriously, imagine a phone that is always a phone unless you want to make it a computer. Plug it into a TV/Monitor/glass and you have a full computer desktop. I travel quite a bit. I have in my bag at the moment a laptop, a phone and a tablet. With this, I need just the phone. I also used to work in an office. When I went home, I had a computer at home. If I never wanted to do anything, read an email or what not, I needed to VPN in or sync something. Things ALWAYS got out of sync. Now, I can just plug into a monitor and have my work system at home. Or, say, you are a corporation. You have 10,000+ people. Assuming you are a normal corporation of that size, many of those people have phones AND computers/laptops. It is highly likely that a very large number of those people could get by with one device: a phone that is also a computer. Cost savings for those corporations would be huge.

netcan 13y ago
"With this, I need just the phone." You still need the keyboard and monitor, don't you?. If you are traveling, it would probably be best if they snapped together into a nice, book-like shape. Like a laptop, but with the computer conveniently removed? Regarding money-saving at a 10,000 PC corporation.. really? First, they would have to use Ubuntu, and they use Windows. Second, its not really that much money. Even if this is free in the sense that they need to have a phone anyway, they still need the monitor & stuff. If they were happy with an ubuntu appliance PC, I'm sure they could get the computer part of the computer in micro computer form for $200 or so every 3-5 years if the saving was worth it. Most importantly, phones break, get lost or stolen. I don't see it.
- dwild 13y ago
  Find me an equivalent in a micro computer form for $200 or so. Find me an equivalent in a cellphone form for 830$. Now find me an equivalent that do both. I don't think it's a really good idea to replace everything with a single device, but you can't say that it's not less expensive.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

minor_nitwit 13y ago

Watch the video on youtube about ubuntu for android. This is from a year ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv1Z7bf4jXY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv1Z7bf4jXY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzc0uMXGFBY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzc0uMXGFBY