Canonical unveils Ubuntu phone OS that doubles as a "full PC"

Seeking OEMs: Who will build Ubuntu phones?

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[enderandrew]

Did anyone else notice that they're encouraging QML development or that they're using Qt for the new interface?

Gnome has always been pure C over C++, and GTK over Qt. Canonical has publicly admired Qt, but always shipped a Gnome distribution, with all their shells/interfaces developed in GTK.

I wonder if this might be a sign of things to come for Ubuntu's desktop interfaces. With KDE/Qt/Plasma, you can easily change shells on the fly. And I've long wondered how long it would take to create a Unity desktop shell in Qt/Plasma.

 

[enderandrew]

Wait a second. Is this "yet another smart phone OS" or just Linux with phone apps? Or a Hypervisor?

It looks like the Ubuntu/Android was a hypervisor approach.

It looks like this phone approach is just ARM Ubuntu with phone apps. The presence and suggesting of using QML (Qt) for phone apps suggests this is no longer the hypervisor approach. it in fact looks like a replacement for the Nokia N9, complete with gestures.

So I don't think you're looking at another smart phone OS. I Think you're looking at the continuation of MeeGo (in a way) and the full-on, proper, Linux on on a smartphone (like the N9 was).
[Edit: to elaborate: You can write HTML5 apps, your can write QML apps. Your QML apps will work the same between phone mode, desktop linux, windows, OSX, (and soon iOS and Android) so only if you made a native Android or iOS app will you have any work to do. But the work you do will be able to be used on iOS or Android as the Qt support progresses on those platforms. ]

This is amazing in terms of potential in that Linux will get more QML apps, and your phone and your desktop will be one and the same... Also, we might get that multi-persona phone thanks to a modified login prompt.

I think this news is so big, we are having trouble appreciating how pivotal it is.

This is Ubuntu with a new shell. When you dock it, you get the normal desktop Ubuntu.

 

[enderandrew]

2013: The year of Linux on the desktop phone.

Grrrr, beat me to it.

Android has the highest market share of any phone OS currently. So, yes, 2013 is already the year of Linux on the phone.

 

[enderandrew]

I know three people who have Android phones. None of them is tech-savvy and none of them is even aware they have an Android phone. They say "I have a Samsung" or "I have an HTC".

Anecdotal evidence is anecdotal.

I do love that the argument used to be that only the geekiest geeks were interested in Android. Now the argument is that only idiots get Android, and by mistake?

Another of the persons complained that the phone was always popping up messages about "not connecting," so I checked out the phone. It turns out that it can't connect to any Wi-Fi network properly. When you try to select a network and enter the password, it goes into an infinite loop of acquiring an IP address and then losing the network and starting over. I found by googling that this is a not-uncommon bug. When I asked this person whether they would like me to dig into the problem and try to get it working. They said, No, they don't really have any use for Wi-Fi, but they didn't like the messages, so we just turned Wi-Fi off.

Android commonly can't connect to wi-fi? What in the world are you talking about?