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But are you sure it's a good alternative? It runs a slow and ugly UI, comes with built-in Amazon ads and privacy concerns, and will drain battery rapidly when
by mcbed00 13y ago
But are you sure it's a good alternative?
It runs a slow and ugly UI, comes with built-in Amazon ads and privacy concerns, and will drain battery rapidly when using as a desktop, so you won't be able to make a call when your car breaks down on the way home.
If this is the future, count me out.
- Shorel 13y agoStill much faster than Android/Java apps.
- zipppy 13y agoTypically when being run as a desktop, it would be plugged in. Maybe not always, but I don't see people expecting to regularly use a desktop computer off of battery power. The built-in Amazon ads are enough for me to not use it, however.
- smithzvk 13y agoShouldn't it be charging when you are using it as a desktop?
- ihsw 13y agoThis is what's keeping me from buying into it, I just cannot in good conscience support Canonical's approach to Ubuntu. They're authoritarian and secretive in their feature development, and that runs directly contrary to any notion of hacker ethics or FLOSS philosophy. I used to subscribe to the linux sub-reddit but left because of all the Canonical apologists, "But they're nowhere near as bad as Microsoft/Apple/Google" and "They've got to make money somehow, what's wrong with anonymous search statistics being sent to Amazon?" etc etc.
- jdmichal 13y agoMan, they just keep adding letters to OSS...
- mpyne 13y agoThat's because FL (Free/Libre) is at least slightly different from the O (Open) part of the acronym.
- fader 13y agoAnd here all this time I thought that releasing your source code under the GPL qualified as "FLOSS philosophy". Seriously, working on something for a while until you get it into a state where you're happy releasing it to the world isn't an attack on Freedom. Especially when you GPL it once you do release it.
- gnur 13y agoHow can you say it is slow? It isn't out yet. When it will come out it will basically be a high-end Android device that can be used as an Ubuntu desktop (all current HDMI adapters require power, so it won't drain the battery when you are using it as a desktop). Perhaps this is a concern to you, but it won't be much harder to keep charged then it is to keep a current smartphone charged while using it. And if you really are concerned, buy an external charger / car adapter.
- mcbed00 13y agoThe Unity interface has been notoriously buggy and slow. Canonical write core parts of their OS in Python. All my experience with their software indicates it will be slow. I don't think the people working there are incompetent, more likely overstretched to breaking point.
- Shorel 13y agoYes, Python is slow. They are not using Python for the phone version, but something coming from QT that runs at native speed.
- illumen 13y agoIt's fast and stable. Canonical write core parts of their OS in C. All my experience with their software indicates it will be fast. Even some of their ubuntu one storage engineers know graphics programming well enough to win game programming competitions. They're good, and have copious free time to make this perfect.
- fingerprinter 13y agoHave you even tried it? Unity on desktop is very, very good. Unity on the phone (running on my nexus 4) is blazingly fast. I mean, stupidly fast. Android and iOS feel super laggy compared to it. Particularly Android. Just seems like you are trolling.
- pekk 13y agoWhat a pathetically misinformed comment. Core parts of their OS in Python? That automatically means it will be slow?
- 1337biz 13y agoSame here. I am writing this on an Ubuntu machine. But I am using it strictly for writing and a bit of web surfing. I would never use it on my phone. It seems to try to emulate a user friendly touch and feel but it fails at doing this (at least for me). Since removing the program listing menus I am forced to use the search option much more ( hello amazon!), the working spaces are completely unusable because they not separated entities and interfere with another, etc. As the only programs I am running are more or less Firefox, Libre & Acrobat I am to lazy to install a different distribution, but otherwise I would be long gone.
- nrivadeneira 13y agoOne of the great parts about it being Ubuntu is that you can simply remove the Amazon stuff: http://askubuntu.com/questions/192269/how-can-i-remove-amazon-search-results-from-the-dash http://askubuntu.com/questions/192269/how-can-i-remove-amazo... I'm running Ubuntu right now and love it. I do wish that it didn't come with Amazon by default, but as a free OS, I accept that there's going to be some of that sort of thing happening. Regarding battery, I was under the impression that it would charge when being used as a desktop. Is this not correct?
- mcbed00 13y agoThat's not good enough. Defaults are extremely important in software, because that's the experience novice users will be stuck with permanently. It's not even implemented in an intuitive or user-friendly way. When you search your computer, you don't expect Amazon search results to randomly appear. Compare the Ubuntu dash search to Spotlight on OSX, it looks very amateurish. Instead of improving it, their developers have to waste their time fudging Amazon search results in.
- nrivadeneira 13y agoYou don't expect it because it doesn't occur with other OS's, but it's common functionality with web search. I'd prefer that it was off by default, but if the only price I pay for what I find to be an excellent free OS is that I have to toggle ads off, then I'm OK with that. Your opinions about the UI are subjective, of course; I find Ubuntu's search UI to be better than OSX's Spotlight. I also don't find sluggishness to be an issue at all, in fact I experience just the opposite.
- quadrangle 13y agoPlease don't defend the Amazon shopping lens. It is indefensibly awful. Ubuntu should drop it, and it is the primary thing that makes people distrust Canonical now. Go ahead and promote all the other benefits of Ubuntu all you like, they are real.
- sbarre 13y agoWow you seem to already own this phone. That's amazing!
- mcbed00 13y agoIt's running a Ubuntu variant. I used Ubuntu for many years (and previously recommended it to others). I even helped with repo's at one point. Canonicals downfall has been long and well-documented. Try to keep up.
- tmzt 13y agoI believe Nexus 4 is one of the supported devices for the Ubuntu phone variant, and will have a similar OS as the Edge.
- gizmo686 13y agoThis phone is a first generation. In line with jt2190 notion, you are not buying the phone as much as you are creating the market. Once that market exists, it can be iterated on and improved.
- fingerprinter 13y agoNice. 2 hr old account, 2 hr old comment. A troll comment? Yeah, I think we know what's up.
- dlitz 13y agoAs long as it's good enough, it could help pave the way for future phones that are better.
- LandoCalrissian 13y agoWell if you end up not liking it you can install Android on it and still have a great phone.
- achiang 13y agoIt will come with Android pre-installed already, in a dual-boot configuration.
- achiang 13y agoThe current Ubuntu Phone image does not have any Amazon integration at all. When in desktop mode, you will be plugged into A/C power.