Ubuntu on smartphone! - What do you thin about it?

[calcmandan]

I wouldn't mind a tablet flavor of ubuntu to replace webos when HP kills the platform. I love my touchpad. That said, I don't have much optimism that the platform will survive HP's mismanagement.

[gsmanners]

Interesting strategy.

Specifically, Shuttleworth sees “Android as its primary competitor. But, from the industry viewpoint, Google acquisition Of Motorola Mobility has shook up the hardware vendors, so some of them are looking for non-Android alternatives.”

Shuttleworth added that Canonical can be very congenial to service partners and independent software vendors (ISV)s. With Ubuntu, “there’s plenty of room to share revenue with providers. We’ve also already heard from people who are already shipping tablets that they want Ubuntu on the tablet.” In addition, “Ubuntu already has a developer and customer base.”

[Mikeb85]

Could definitely be interesting but then the launcher vertical would take up too much screen space. Honestly, Android is so far along I can't see Ubuntu being able to displace it. And for Ubuntu to compete it would need to have a horizontal launcher and widgets would be nice, but then it would basically just be the same as Android (Android 4.0 has a top bar, a search box similar to dash, a horizontal launcher and the < home > buttons...).

[3rdalbum]

If it was compatible with Android apps, that could really be something. I'd need GPS navigation in addition to ordinary phone functions before I'd even consider an Ubuntu phone. Being able to run the regular Google Maps and Google Navigation would satisfy the requirement.

[F.G.]

so, don't know if this is relevant, but i think the openmoko freerunner phone uses (or at least can use) debian, so i can see another ubuntu variant for this kind of thing (whether it would be useful or not, hmm, ...).

[JC Cheloven]

I wouldn't mind a tablet flavor of ubuntu to replace webos when HP kills the platform. I love my touchpad. That said, I don't have much optimism that the platform will survive HP's mismanagement.

This already hapened a while ago. Even jokes are made from that

My first thought was indeed about this: webOS and the HP toy simply came too late, into a market with other companies strongly established. Now is even more late for such an attempt, I'm afraid it wouldn't succeed.

[calcmandan]

That's the thing, who cares? Joke all you want. It's my platform of choice and I really can't see myself on droid or ios. I've tried both platforms and they both literally left me frustrated.

Yeah the fanboys will always laugh at the other technologies, and it's silly as hell.

This already hapened a while ago. Even jokes are made from that

My first thought was indeed about this: webOS and the HP toy simply came too late, into a market with other companies strongly established. Now is even more late for such an attempt, I'm afraid it wouldn't succeed.

[moldaviax]

I would probably get one for the sake of it, if they ever saw the light of day.

Realistically though would Canonical want to engage in the patent wars around those devices? In the event they achieved some success, I imagine they or their partners would be hit with lawsuits.

Ideally all those devices should be sold as open hardware so we could choose what to put on them...

M.

[whitefort]

Why do people want a desktop os on a tablet or phone?

I agree - that's an utterly stupid idea. It's almost as bad as expecting people to use a tablet OS on their desktop...

[Merk42]

I agree - that's an utterly stupid idea. It's almost as bad as expecting people to use a tablet OS on their desktop...

Yea I dunno what Microsoft is thinking with Windows 8. I commend them for actually doing a radical change for once though.