Ubuntu Phone OS Unveiled 248
Today Canonical announced Ubuntu for phones. The new operating system is designed to provide easier access to apps and content than is provided by current mobile OSes. They do this by relying on swipe gestures from the edges of the phone's screen. "Every edge of the phone is used, letting you move faster between apps, settings and content. A short swipe from the left edge of the screen is all it takes to reveal your favourite apps. Page either left or right from the home screen to see the content you use most. A full left-to-right swipe reveals a screen showing all your open apps, while a swipe from the right brings you instantly to the last app you were using. ... A swipe from the right edge takes you back to the last app you were using; another swipe takes you back to the app you used before that. It’s natural to keep many apps open at once, which is why Ubuntu was designed for multi-tasking. ... Swiping up from the bottom edge of the phone reveals app controls." The Ubuntu phone OS is built to work well on low-powered devices. Canonical will be at CES next week working on raising interest from manufacturers. As far as software goes, they have this to say: "Web apps are first class citizens on Ubuntu, with APIs that provide deep integration into the interface. HTML5 apps written for other platforms can be adapted to Ubuntu with ease, and we’re targeting standard cross-platform web app development frameworks like PhoneGap to make Ubuntu ‘just work’ for apps that use them." (In the attached video, the phone OS discussion starts at about 6:37.)
Video and first thoughts. (Score:5, Informative)
Here's the keynote. Skip to about 6:35 sec for the new bits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU [youtube.com]
Direct link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpWHJDLsqTU&feature=player_detailpage#t=401s [youtube.com]
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/ [cnet.com]
Inspired by RIM's Playbook? (Score:5, Informative)
windows 8 (Score:5, Informative)
In the video, shuttleworth goes on about how ubuntu is this revolutionary way to have the same software on your phone and desktop. Umm, did he miss the memo about windows 8? I mean I know Windows 8 sucks and all, but ignoring the big gorilla in the room just makes him seem out of touch.
Re:Oh, great, exactly what I don't want... (Score:4, Informative)
Settings > General > Multitasking Gestures > Off. That leaves swiping from the top edge to open Notification Center. I can't think of any other interaction mechanism that iOS intercepts. Tapping with the wrong number of fingers doesn't do anything, unless perhaps you've switched on some accessibility feature by mistake?
Re:Video and first thoughts. (Score:5, Informative)
Google isn't stamping out forking. It's stamping out forked projects calling themselves Android, which is sensible.
That creates confusion all over the place, because people expect shit to work, and would blame Google if their Angry Birds didn't work on their phone running Ubuntu Android.
If HTC, Ubuntu, or even you want to add all sorts of app-breaking UI fluff on top of Android, go ahead, just don't release it as Android, and then you take the blame when shit doesn't work.
Which is why this is called Ubuntu Mobile, or Ubunutu Phone or whatever, and not Ubuntu for Android or whatever it would have been called.
Re:Video and first thoughts. (Score:2, Informative)
Acer specifically signed a contract saying they'd only use official Android, and then did just the opposite. Had they not joined the AOSP program, there would be no issue.