Good news for Linux fans. Or more in general the open source fans. If you are an open source fan, we are sure you love Linux as much. The good news is that you may soon see a smartphone in your favorite smartphone store or your bookmarked mobile shopping site, a mobile phone for sale that is not only smart but also runs on Ubuntu!
Ubuntu' commercial sponsor, Canonical, announced the news and its new smartphone interface on Tuesday. The company plans to show off the smartphone interface at CES this year. The company claims a less cluttered design for the seamless experince on a touch phone. This is what the guys at Ubuntu has to say on the smartphone interface they will be showcasing:
Your phone is more immersive, the screen is less cluttered, and you flow naturally from app to app with edge magic. The phone becomes a full PC and thin client when docked. Ubuntu delivers a magical phone that is faster to run, faster to use and fits perfectly into the Ubuntu family.
If design is one big part that a smartphone needs to be ahead in, Ubuntu we are sure must be aware of the competition it would be facing. iOS and Android are already in tussle, with the later winning it due to the penetration it has worldwide. Android has been the go to smartphone OS for people looking to buy budget phones. Apple already has its own fan following. We have of late seen Windows mobile trying to create a spot for themselves and who forgets the guys at Blackberry and Samsung Bada. Does Ubuntu really stand a chance for that popularity and penetration? Whatever we think about the mobile industry being ready to give a pace to Ubuntu, the guys at Ubuntu certainly thinks that way. Pretty eminent from what they say on this:
With all-native core apps and no Java overhead, Ubuntu runs well on entry-level smartphones – yet it uses the same drivers as Android. So now it’s easy to bring a better experience to customers all over the world.
So when a smartphone launches with an open source OS, app developers always should have a chance to play around as well. Canonical and Ubuntu are ready for that as well:
Create gorgeous native apps or lightweight HTML5 apps easily with our SDK. Repurpose web apps fast, so they look and work like their native cousins. With one OS for all form factors, one app can have interfaces for phone and desktop – in just one upload to one store.
Doesn't seem like the manufacturer and the carrier have been finalized for the launch which should happen somewhere early next year. The design looks impressive but you will find yourself comparing the features to either Android or iOS the moment you look at them. Here is a quick look at a few of the design features:
Available from the home screen or any application view is your favorite apps list. Just the swipe gesture from the left of the screen will reveal the list. Most of the features as with all
smartphones work with the swipe gestures. So the full swipe from left to right reveals all the open apps, while a swipe in opposite direction reveals your frequently used apps. You will notice the difference in swipe gestures while switching from one app to another that are open. So you won't need to go back to your home screen to switch apps, rather all you need to do is swipe from the right edge to go to the previous app form the current app you are on; another same swipe will let you go to the app you used before this one.
The swipe gestures are common feature but what Ubuntu makes a difference here is the edge features. For most part of navigating from one app to another(no need for home screen navigation). Ubuntu claims this is something no other smartphone offers you, plus it provides a more seamless experience where you focus more on content rather than on control.
For the search options on the phone interface, any search for a person the phone will search your contacts, emails, Facebook contacts as well as Twitter followers. Similarly any search on the music will not only reveal results from your phone but also from online retailers.
The home screen has been designed differently to be more than a sedate lock screen. The notification bar (as we say so in Android) lets you reply from then and there to messages.
The smartphone interface has been a thoughtful one, but will it receive the attention that the creators expect? Should the guys at Android and Apple worry about this? Let us know your thoughts and he by the way do you want to keep an eye on when the phone is out? Let the guys at Ubuntu themselves alert you on it :)
We will end this post with the video about the Ubuntu smartphone interface:
[Image Credits: From Ubuntu site]
Your phone is more immersive, the screen is less cluttered, and you flow naturally from app to app with edge magic. The phone becomes a full PC and thin client when docked. Ubuntu delivers a magical phone that is faster to run, faster to use and fits perfectly into the Ubuntu family.
If design is one big part that a smartphone needs to be ahead in, Ubuntu we are sure must be aware of the competition it would be facing. iOS and Android are already in tussle, with the later winning it due to the penetration it has worldwide. Android has been the go to smartphone OS for people looking to buy budget phones. Apple already has its own fan following. We have of late seen Windows mobile trying to create a spot for themselves and who forgets the guys at Blackberry and Samsung Bada. Does Ubuntu really stand a chance for that popularity and penetration? Whatever we think about the mobile industry being ready to give a pace to Ubuntu, the guys at Ubuntu certainly thinks that way. Pretty eminent from what they say on this:
With all-native core apps and no Java overhead, Ubuntu runs well on entry-level smartphones – yet it uses the same drivers as Android. So now it’s easy to bring a better experience to customers all over the world.
So when a smartphone launches with an open source OS, app developers always should have a chance to play around as well. Canonical and Ubuntu are ready for that as well:
Create gorgeous native apps or lightweight HTML5 apps easily with our SDK. Repurpose web apps fast, so they look and work like their native cousins. With one OS for all form factors, one app can have interfaces for phone and desktop – in just one upload to one store.
Doesn't seem like the manufacturer and the carrier have been finalized for the launch which should happen somewhere early next year. The design looks impressive but you will find yourself comparing the features to either Android or iOS the moment you look at them. Here is a quick look at a few of the design features:
Available from the home screen or any application view is your favorite apps list. Just the swipe gesture from the left of the screen will reveal the list. Most of the features as with all
The swipe gestures are common feature but what Ubuntu makes a difference here is the edge features. For most part of navigating from one app to another(no need for home screen navigation). Ubuntu claims this is something no other smartphone offers you, plus it provides a more seamless experience where you focus more on content rather than on control.
For the search options on the phone interface, any search for a person the phone will search your contacts, emails, Facebook contacts as well as Twitter followers. Similarly any search on the music will not only reveal results from your phone but also from online retailers.
The home screen has been designed differently to be more than a sedate lock screen. The notification bar (as we say so in Android) lets you reply from then and there to messages.
We will end this post with the video about the Ubuntu smartphone interface:
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