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

Seeking OEMs: Who will build Ubuntu phones?

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[thebonafortuna]

I would love to try loading this on an old Samsung Captivate I have laying around. They need to find a way to make loading these operating systems as easy as it is on a PC; actually, that goes for all smartphones. Users should be able to take the hardware and load up Ubuntu, WP8, or (shudder) Android, if they so choose. And it shouldn't be an overly complicated process that voids hardware warranties or likely bricks your device.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Android fragmentation will eventually harm the platform. I know it sounds crazy, but OEMs are making it way too complicated to stick with Android. My Samsung Captivate wouldn't sync with my computer because the Kies software only worked for Galaxy S II and III devices, so there was no way to back it up. You can't update to the newest software because the manufacturers block it. If Ubuntu gets it right, I don't see any reason they can't find a place in the mobile handset world alongside the other offerings. I hope they do.

 

[thebonafortuna]

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?

My Samsung Captivate couldn't, for the life of it, stay connected to wi-fi. I eventually fixed it by setting a static IP address or something like that. But like everything with Android, you have to dig and figure it out to make it work.