Ubuntu phone OS

[whatthefunk]

I need to upgrade from an LG optimus T so if there any reasonable priced and with reasonable phone companies and plans, ill get this phone to support Ubuntu.

This is a long way from being a product you find in the store.

[tartalo]

it will be a preinstalled OS not one you can install on existing phones.

Hmmm, I can't find now in http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/phone/ the paragraph that I understood as "You will be able to download and install this on your Android-capable-device". Did I imagine it in my wishful thinking, or did they reword it to avoid confusion?

[Copper Bezel]

The only source I can find for a general release ROM is the BBC article. The Verge repeats the claim. I don't know whether either of them knows anything we don't.

Edit: And that ROM is the one we see in the The Verge review, which is only for the Galaxy Nexus, although that may or may not matter long-term (others will doubtless tweak if Ubuntu is not providing official support.)

[bcschmerker]

Fascinating, especially if United States PCS service providers jump on the Ubuntu® bandwagon; perhaps metroPCS® is already testing new smartphones that meet the hardware specs for the new smartphone OS - I still haven't a replacement for my Motorola® W840 as of 2 January 2013, and Casio® has a few potential candidate models (including one exclusive to Verizon® in factory-software form) for that replacement. Where can I find a list of smartphones, by manufacturer and model, with the Cortex® A9 X4 APU, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD, &c. specified for Ubuntu® for Phones?

[Mikeb85]

Hope some OEMs actually pick this up. Doubt they will, but one can hope. Would love to have a full Linux OS on a phone, either this or Sailfish OS.

[TRPrecht]

I would love to have this OS on my [or any] phone.... but vaporware until I have it in my hands.

[KiwiNZ]

I would love to have this OS on my [or any] phone.... but vaporware until I have it in my hands.

Software in development is not vaporware.

[mastablasta]

I don't know where you get the idea of "DRM-laden" and "closed" from, though, as Ubuntu is open-source and has no DRM.

they used closed source device drivers.

So with QML on the phone, and Qt5, in time GTK will be -GONE-? As will gnome?

i dont' know why they hung on gnome when the radical change was announced. they could have mdified KDE to look like unity does now if the default is not cool enough. i too find it funny they went with qt ont he phone. how does that make it same as their gtk based desktop?

Kudos to Canonical for trying to ramp up business and awareness!

that is true and it is a good thing. however a few other things bothered me -
1. applications are not made yet so when it comes out it will be essentially empty. which is ok as windows 8 RT is also more or less empty LOL.... the hting thta bothered me is when Mark was saying how you can use same apps on desktop and on phone - that is not true at all. well at leats not at the moment. plenty still won't work on arm and are not compiled for it.

2. i would like them to focus more on solving current bugs on desktop instead of these new escapades and new features. i am afraid this could also be a buggy product. plenty bugs on desktop need to be crushed for good user experience and they could work to crush plenty of them on 12.04. instead most just get confirmed and after some time since they are not solved they get "closed".

i still can't figure out why they decided to focus desktop on Gnome. Gnome 2 was great for beginners to linux and unity might be a good option as well. but they could have done a similar interface in qt and then you could really have same applicaitons for phone and for desktop (scalable or something)

[KiwiNZ]

There were no Apps for IOS when it was first announced, same for Android so to say it will be empty when launched is misleading.

[Paddy Landau]

they used closed source device drivers.

I think that you are confusing closed-source and DRM. Yes, sometimes you need closed-source drivers. So what? That is true in any OS on any system using hardware without an open-source driver. It doesn't stop you from using Ubuntu on different hardware with open-source, if you have a thing against closed-source.

There were no Apps for IOS when it was first announced, same for Android so to say it will be empty when launched is misleading.

On the other hand, iOS and Android are well-established. I think that for Ubuntu to go head-to-head with them and Microsoft without a billion-dollar advertising budget (as Microsoft has) will doom the Ubuntu phone to irrelevance.

It would have made much more sense for Canonical to move on with its Ubuntu for Android. That is a clever move, as it would get people used to Ubuntu — and then introducing Ubuntu phone would make sense (although getting apps ported to it would still be problematic).