Desktop OS/Mobile OS crossover done RIGHT - Ubuntu OS for Android

[0000757]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/21/ubuntus-full-desktop-os-coming-to-multi-core-android-devices/

What the Atrix 4G first promised, it looks like the folks at Canonical may deliver. Think back to CES 2011, when Motorola showed us a future where our phone was the only computing device we would need -- only to leave us wanting when its webtop app didn't deliver the requisite functionality for such a future. Well, it turns out Ubuntu now runs on multi-core Android devices and your handset can grant a full desktop experience when docked with a display and a keyboard. It's a customized version of Ubuntu that plays nice with Android, the two OS's sharing data and services while running simultaneously. So, you can still access telephony and texts from the Ubuntu environment while enjoying all the computing capabilities it has to offer, including: Ubuntu TV, virtualization tools for running Windows applications, desktop web browsers, and Ubuntu apps built for ARM. It isn't clear exactly what hardware you'll need to run Ubuntu on a handset, but Canonical has said it works on multi-core devices with HDMI and USB connections.

THIS is what Desktop + Mobile OS integration should be. Not iOS X or Windows 8, but THIS. I cannot wait to see the release of this.

(The Link also has a demonstration video)

 

[roadbloc]

Cool idea tbh. I doubt many people will do this other than the 'geeks' as such, but its another take on how to bring desktop functionality to a tablet device effectively.

 

[boss.king]

Personally, I think W8 is still the stronger approach to this, but it would be interesting to see this perhaps bring Linux more into the spotlight.

 

[juliusaugustus]

Personally, I think W8 is still the stronger approach to this, but it would be interesting to see this perhaps bring Linux more into the spotlight.

Yeah but ubuntu has actual functionality and openness. What does Windows 8 have a web browser and locked down appstore?

 

[boss.king]

Yeah but ubuntu has actual functionality and openness. What does Windows 8 have a web browser and locked down appstore?

W8 has more than enough functionality and applications for the average user. It also has full desktop funtionality on a tablet device, which is something the Android/Ubuntu solution lacks (from my understanding, maybe I'm wrong). Plus Windows is only one interface to learn, where as users would need to be comfortable with both Ubuntu and Android to effectively use both.

 

[MorphingDragon]

W8 has more than enough functionality and applications for the average user. It also has full desktop funtionality on a tablet device, which is something the Android/Ubuntu solution lacks (from my understanding, maybe I'm wrong). Plus Windows is only one interface to learn, where as users would need to be comfortable with both Ubuntu and Android to effectively use both.

And Windows has a decided upon, stable, mature development framework. Not so for Ubuntu.

 

[juliusaugustus]

W8 has more than enough functionality and applications for the average user. It also has full desktop funtionality on a tablet device, which is something the Android/Ubuntu solution lacks (from my understanding, maybe I'm wrong). Plus Windows is only one interface to learn, where as users would need to be comfortable with both Ubuntu and Android to effectively use both.

you would have to learn how to use both metro and Aero for one thing. This sollution has a mobile interface for phones and a desktop interface for desktop mode. Trying to combine the two always creates a kludge of an interface . having two separate sollutions simplifies things. You won't be able to run any existing Windows apps on Arm nor is Microsoft making it simple to do Winrt only for ARM and a few desktop apps such as office. Plus ubuntu doesn't cost licensing fees and uses the Linux kernel which means android and Ubuntu can share the same kernel.

 

[boss.king]

you would have to learn how to use both metro and Aero for one thing. This sollution has a mobile interface for phones and a desktop interface for desktop mode. Trying to combine the two always creates a kludge of an interface . having two separate sollutions simplifies things. You won't be able to run any existing Windows apps on Arm nor is Microsoft making it simple to do Winrt only for ARM and a few desktop apps such as office. Plus ubuntu doesn't cost licensing fees and uses the Linux kernel which means android and Ubuntu can share the same kernel.

Well then don't buy ARM devices. It's that simple really. It's personal preference there is no right or wrong answer here, you aren't going to convince me that Linux is better than Windows no matter how hard you try, because I'm fond of Windows. I feel the MSFT approach makes more sense for the average consumer, as they mostly are already familiar with Aero, and Metro is very intuitive. While I don't find Android/Linux too complicated, a lot of average users don't find it as intuitive. And I don't see the benefit of them both having the same kernal when the alternative is the same OS, it just makes more sense.

EDIT: Sorry, this response is a little disjointed, I'm very tired. Hopefully you get what I'm trying to say though.

 

[APlotdevice]

I love this concept. It eliminates the need to sync your devices. And modern smartphones are certainly powerful enough for a lot of computer users. The only thing is that, yeah, Ubuntu is not a very mainstream friendly OS. However rumor has it that Android 4.0 will include its own desktop mode. If true, I think this has a greater chance of mass appeal.

 

[ChazUK]

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I'm looking forward to this.

It'll be interesting to see how Canonical will deploy updates for the Ubuntu OS side of things and how much it will hamper Android updates on handsets as well.

I'd much rather prefer Google to do this (possibly with Chrome OS) as part of the Nexus line of handsets as I'd feel safer with regards to software support.

Still, potential pitfalls aside, I'll look forward to giving it a try once it hits.

 

[KnightWRX]

Really a concept that was innovative on Motorola's part with the Atrix. Too bad Apple would never do this with the iPhone and a iOS / OS X setup that switches over as you dock the iPhone.

They have all the hardware for it too and iOS/OS X share a lot of their low-level internals already meaning switching would be just a manner of unloading Springboard and loading Finder (the docks, etc..).

 

[Tinyluph]

I don't really know what people saw in the whole Atrix thing. If you have to carry another device to dock your phone what's the point? Why not just have that device work as a functional computer?

Not to mention the phone is a form factor better suited for doing certain tasks--like, for example, making phone calls! Docking your phone makes it no longer available to perform such tasks.

 

[*LTD*]

I don't really know what people saw in the whole Atrix thing. If you have to carry another device to dock your phone what's the point? Why not just have that device work as a functional computer?

Not to mention the phone is a form factor better suited for doing certain tasks--like, for example, making phone calls! Docking your phone makes it no longer available to perform such tasks.

Good point.

It also brings to light the importance of an OS designed for and fitted to the device its running on to ensure a high level of User Experience.

What sort of "desktop" Ubuntu is being transferred or "switched" to the large display?

 

[MonkeySee....]

Looks good and there is no reason why Apple don't have this in their road map. I'm sure they will do it when they feel you can get a full experience without issue.

Looking at that vid there was a slight "remote desktop" type mouse lag.

 

[ChazUK]

Not to mention the phone is a form factor better suited for doing certain tasks--like, for example, making phone calls! Docking your phone makes it no longer available to perform such tasks.

Take a look at the Ubuntu site.

http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android/features-and-specs

Looks like all phone functionality is still available to the end user in docked mode.

 

[Tinyluph]

Take a look at the Ubuntu site.

http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android/features-and-specs

Looks like all phone functionality is still available to the end user in docked mode.

Right, but you still can't use your phone. You have to go through a mic or headset which seems inconvenient to me for such an ultra portable machine. We're not talking about sitting at the iMac on your desk.

 

[ChazUK]

Right, but you still can't use your phone. You have to go through a mic or headset which seems inconvenient to me for such an ultra portable machine. We're not talking about sitting at the iMac on your desk.

I can see it being a pain if you wanted to talk about some spreadsheet on screen in Ubuntu (for example) whilst talking on the phone. In that case a Bluetooth headset of some kind would probably be a necessity.

I would hope it's hot dockable without impacting on what you were doing whilst docked (Pull from dock, make call, put back in dock to be straight back where you are).

Hopefully this will be answered at Mobile World Congress!

 

[Jessica Lares]

Do people not have ringtones anymore?

As much as I love Ubuntu, I don't think we need something like this. iCloud/Google's equivalent work great to handle our contacts, notes, calendar data, etc without additional hardware. You can already text from your provider's website if you really needed to, and of course there's also things like Google Voice.

What makes Caller ID work on the TV is the fact that you can see who's calling you on your landline without having to get up to look at the little digital screen and have you miss a part of what you were watching. You know, because your phone is all the way upstairs or whatever. This is pretty stupid to have when your phone is sitting 5 inches away from you.

 

[ChazUK]

Do people not have ringtones anymore?

As much as I love Ubuntu, I don't think we need something like this. iCloud/Google's equivalent work great to handle our contacts, notes, calendar data, etc without additional hardware. You can already text from your provider's website if you really needed to, and of course there's also things like Google Voice.

What makes Caller ID work on the TV is the fact that you can see who's calling you on your landline without having to get up to look at the little digital screen and have you miss a part of what you were watching. You know, because your phone is all the way upstairs or whatever. This is pretty stupid to have when your phone is sitting 5 inches away from you.

Have you misunderstood what this is? (Your post insinuates that you have by your iCloud/Google Sync comments)

This is an Android handset that runs a full Ubuntu installation that can be used as a computer by putting it into a docking station with a desktop display/keyboard and mouse.

Essentially, your phone becomes a fully fledged Linux powered computer.

Apologies if I've misunderstood your post

 

[Jessica Lares]

Have you misunderstood what this is? (Your post insinuates that you have by your iCloud/Google Sync comments)

This is an Android handset that runs a full Ubuntu installation that can be used as a computer by putting it into a docking station with a desktop display/keyboard and mouse.

Essentially, your phone becomes a fully fledged Linux powered computer.

Apologies if I've misunderstood your post

Oh, right. When I was reading the specs, I thought they were on about the Android device itself. I forgot how low Ubuntu specs were as my last machine was a Core Solo with 2GB of RAM running Ubuntu 11.10.

Isn't that kinda like having your OS on a USB, which is highly unreliable?

 

[0000757]

Good point.

It also brings to light the importance of an OS designed for and fitted to the device its running on to ensure a high level of User Experience.

What sort of "desktop" Ubuntu is being transferred or "switched" to the large display?

It's Ubuntu in it's fullest, since Linux is so open, you don't need to run a little linux-based closed source proprietary OS. The Ubuntu you would use on desktop mode is the same that you would get from downloading Ubuntu and installing it on a computer (only with some added phone functionalites).

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Right, but you still can't use your phone. You have to go through a mic or headset which seems inconvenient to me for such an ultra portable machine. We're not talking about sitting at the iMac on your desk.

It would just be the same as using Skype though. The dock manufacturer can choose to put a microphone on the dock, or the display could have a microphone input, or there could be two microphones like on the iPhone 4S.

 

[KnightWRX]

I don't really know what people saw in the whole Atrix thing. If you have to carry another device to dock your phone what's the point?

Hum, I think the point is that you don't have to carry a whole other device to dock your phone. In the future, your phone could be the only device you carry, with public docks all over for all kinds of things (laptops, desktops, media hubs).

The Atrix concept is great. All your computing power in your pocket, 1 device to rule them all, a media player/phone/PDA that also happens to be a laptop/desktop/TV set top box/home media center/presentation device for work.

Get up, pick up the phone in the desktop/TV dock, go to work, slide it in the laptop dock there. Take it out, go to a meeting, slide it in the presentation dock hooked to the projector, take it and go to lunch in the cafe where you insert it into the desktop dock to get e-mail and do some work while grabbing a bite, go out for a run with your headphones on playing tunes, come back home and slide it in the media center hub so that the music switches to your home speakers. After supper, slide it into the TV hub and watch a movie, then into the desktop hub to grab your e-mails and do some late night coding before bed.

That is truely what I would call a great experience. If the industry can standardize dock connectors and protocols and make something like this happen, it will truely be the beginning of the mobile age.