Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone
Summary: In Canonical's latest move, the company purposes bringing its Ubuntu Linux desktop to high-end Android phones.
You may soon be seeing Ubuntu Linux on your Android smartphone.
You have to give Canonical, Ubuntu Linux's parent company credit for thinking big. Today Canonical is unveiling Ubuntu for Android. What is in the world is that? It's bringing the Ubuntu Linux desktop to to multi-core Android smartphones docked with a keyboard and monitor. With it, Canonical claims you'll be able to use Android on the phone and Ubuntu as your desktop, both running simultaneously on the same device, with seamless sharing of contacts, messages and other common services.
The company states that the phone experience will be pure Android--it’s a normal Android phone. When the device is connected to a computer screen, however, it launches a full Ubuntu desktop on the computer display. It’s exactly the same Ubuntu Unity desktop many of you are already using and it will include all of Ubuntu's current applications, from office productivity to photography, video and music.
These hybrid Android/Ubuntu smartphones and tablets will share all data and services between the environments. Both Android and Ubuntu run simultaneously on the device. So Android applications such as contacts, telephony and texting are accessible from the Ubuntu interface.
The idea is that Ubuntu for Android will gives mobile workers a company phone that is also their enterprise desktop. Canonical contends that “The first PC for the next billion knowledge workers could be a phone - but they won’t just want to use it as a handset. They will want all the flexibility and productivity of a full desktop, as well as the convenience of a smartphone on the move. Ubuntu for Android represents the first opportunity for handset makers and network operators to address this growth opportunity in emerging markets.” In a statement, Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical and Ubuntu's founder said, “The desktop is the killer-app for quad-core phones in 2012. Ubuntu for Android transforms your high-end phone into your productive desktop, whenever you need it”
Just don't plan on downloading it any time soon. Ubuntu for Android is directed at “manufacturers targeting the corporate phone. The customized version of Ubuntu drops in cleanly alongside the rest of Android, and the necessary Android modifications are designed for easy integration. Hardware requirements include support for HDMI and USB, standard features in high-end handsets planned for late 2012.”
In an attempt to persuade OEMs and carriers that Ubuntu for Android is a good deal, Canonical also states that “Ubuntu for Android justifies the cost to enterprise customers of upgrading to higher bandwidth 4G connections and contracts. Cloud apps like Google Docs work best with a full desktop, and shine with the lower latency of LTE. Network operators can deliver their own branded applications and services as part of the Ubuntu desktop, in partnership with Canonical.”
At the same time, Canonical still has its own plans for purely Ubuntu-powered smartphones, tablets, and TVs. This new effort seems to fit in nicely with Canonical's recently announced plans for a more aggressive push towards the business desktop.
Other companies are already exploring the use of smartphones and tablets with the desktop. This is, after all, Windows 8 Metro's plan, Apple will be bringing Mac OS X and iOS even closer together in Mountain Lion, and Google is integrating Chrome and Android. Canonical, though, as I recently worried, is trying do to much with too little.
Can Ubuntu work with Android on high-end phones and tablets? Technically, sure. No problem. But commercially.... I can't see it. I hope I'm wrong, but as either a standalone mobile operating system or in partnership with Android, I don't see a lot of room for Ubuntu on smartphones or tablets.
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Talkback
RE: Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone
RE: Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone
Agreed. Now I can get my own back on Stevie boy.
Stevie Boy Ubantu on a phone is crap.
RE: Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone
So when's the last time you used a smartphone/tablet for actual work instead of just dicking around? How did you justify the purchase of a 700-dollar toy (as almost all uses for mobile OSes are)?
I can't see the point in doing that; smart devices cost too much money for what little they do.
Having a desktop operating system installed on a smartphone/tablet is actually a pretty good idea for a couple of reasons:
First, you can actually get work done; you can't type on glass but you can type on a keyboard; and you can install applications the normal way if you need something; downloading resources is an area at which every mobile OS is a miserable failure- so are office apps which don't have the full feature set you need.
Second, you can build 'hybrid' devices that take advantage of both a laptop's usability and a tablet's portability. Pull the tablet out of the case, and it becomes the screw-around machine you bought it for. Put it into the case, and suddenly you have a laptop with a netbook screen (the size of the keyboard is up to the manufacturer, of course) that has a 24-hour battery life and running a real-work-capable desktop OS.
There have been a couple of devices that have already tried this: for example, the Motorola Atrix; and ASUS' Transformer line. They both run Android when they're docked to a keyboard and so are effectively useless for actual work.
Android's a great system, don't get me wrong. So is iOS, to the extent Apple allows.
But in terms of a serious work platform? Don't make me laugh- and if I'm buying a 500-dollar device it must perform 110% of the tasks that cheaper computers already do; otherwise, no sale, I'll buy a netbook instead.
You do need official programs for Ubuntu, though; or programs "given ascendance" that ship stock with the thing. LibreOffice is a given, of course; you'll also want a 10-foot interface depending on what you're hooking the tablet up to, a few games compiled for ARM, a web browser that comes with an effective ad-blocker (so you can surf the web at decent speed and not require so much bandwidth downloading crap) such as Firefox (it needs a new interface though).
But once you have that I don't see a reason why this is a bad idea. Unlike @Loverock Davidson, who just made up false concerns.
@Blogsworth
--------------------
To answer you question, I use my TF101 quite often for work. Using the Citrix Reciever I have a platform that is always available to me. I work in Information Services in the Healthcare sector. And supporting numerous secure, facilities, and clinical systems means I have to be available on short notice to perform "triage" when a system is experiencing problems.
My tablet, which cost $400, not $700, is either in standby and is instant on or from a cold start is ready in less than a minute, then using the Citrix Reciever I am in my networks and "dicking around" with systems that affect patient safety, environmental conditions, and assisting with user issues.
When it comes to performing these sorts of after hours function, a traditional desktop or laptop is simply not necessary.
The tablet has saved me a bunch of time, there is no doubt about it. Plus, it can operate for about six hours, maybe longer, it is highly portable, and is quite rugged.
I used to feel the same way, that was until one day I needed some help from our Citrix Administrator who was out of town. He grabbed his Gen 1 iPad and fixed the problem via Citrix and the Pad.
Others have told me that they have used BB and smartphones to resolve basic issues that would otherwise have required a PC (Mac, Linux, Windows....a PC).
These tablet and mobile platforms are proving to be highly valuable in IS/IT.
RE: Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone
"Wow, now you can have the same crappy experience on your desktop on your phone"
That must be the reason why no one wants windows phone.
RE: Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone
Good luck with your ubuntu one - lol
Have you still got your betamax tapes???
RE: Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone
I don't use Ubuntu, and I don't have betamax tapes, do you?
RE: Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone
RE: Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone
Amen. That and the FUGLY Metro UI means Doom for Windows Phone. You know you suck when the BADA OS from Samsung has more marketshare than you.
RE: Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone
RE: Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone
Another total failure from Linux. This OS, even on server side, is now so obsolete, ready for the trash bin.
I Know It's a Parody
I know that the anti-Linux posts are basically a parody at this point. I still wonder if the "open telnet port" line is really worth it, though. It's getting pretty old, and everybody knows that it's not true. I guess that it does serve the purpose of making it very plain that the post is not serious.
RE: Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone
I want to say this is innovative, but it won't fill an unmet need.
Let's be honest. How many people have a 'burning desire' to do their PC work on their smartphones? There are some (gear heads possibly like me), but it isn't going to create a groundswell of interest.
I still prefer to do certain things on my PC and others on the smartphone.
There is a division and the real world doesn't work the way Canonical has envisaged.
I am sorry Steve but this is not going to bolster Canonical's bottom line in a significant way.
RE: Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone
How many devices I think I need...
RE: How many devices I think I need...
[i]For me it is 3. Smartphone, Tablet, and Desktop/Laptop/Desktop-Server/something that sits on my desk[/i]
You're lucky. Most people in the world today cannot afford such luxury. Nor can the environment.
Living in the past
Anybody know where I can find 5/14" double-sided, double-density floppy diskettes?
I need more to do my hard drive back up. :/
RE: Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone
RE: Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone