As soon as Ubuntu Phone becomes stable enough for daily use, I will switch from Android to it.<p>Coupled with a powerful processor and plenty of spare solid-state memory, Ubuntu Phone will allow me to walk around and travel with my entire desktop environment in my pocket -- including round-the-clock access to everything available in official and third-party Ubuntu repositories.<p>(Have you ever needed access to an editor, language, database backend, etc. when you happen to be without a laptop? No problem, Ubuntu Phone will allow you to install and run all these things <i>on your phone</i>.)
Just thinking out loud here.<p>You know where a market for disruption exists? The millions of iOS devices that are now being relegated to the trash bin of tech. Very soon everything from iPhone 3GS and back will be obsolete. You will not be able to update apps or OS. I have a nice pile of iPod Touch units that I can't develop for and will not move past their last update (was it iOS 4.2-something?).<p>You don't have to build any hardware. It's already there. And it's nice too.<p>Provide a path for a Linux (or whatever) phone to be loaded into these devices and you instantly create a market for probably hundreds of millions of devices that will either end-up in the trash bin or forever forgotten in a desk drawer.<p>If I were Microsoft I'd throw money at making W8 Phone run as a viable replacement for iOS on these devices. And I'd make the software 100% free of charge. Instant access to millions upon millions of customers who will be facing a very real choice of having to spend hundreds of dollars to get a new iOS device or, instead, try W8 Phone for iDevices for free. Yes, apps will be important. For some, this will not work. For others it would be a no-brainer.<p>The same would be true of Google/Android.<p>If I could load something else onto my half-dozen now-obsolete iPod's I'd do it. Yes, I know you can Whited00r up to a somewhat crippled iOS5, but that's not really a solution, certainly not for a hundred million devices.
Having a Terminal application will make the Phone more appealing to coders and old school Linux users. I fail to see how this will make the Ubuntu Phone more appealing to the average user.<p>EDIT:
Apparently saying something that goes against the current on HN will start a shit storm (downvotes, obviously).
Want to have a look into their mockups? <a href="https://ubuntu.mybalsamiq.com/projects/ubuntuphonecoreapps/grid" rel="nofollow">https://ubuntu.mybalsamiq.com/projects/ubuntuphonecoreapps/g...</a> (found on the link)
I fear this is going to be very much a niche phone but I just might get one to support the project.<p>Between Android, iOs, the remnants of blackberry and the Microsoft offering there will not be a whole lot of room for a new entrant that is not compatible with any of the above. A hackable phone that is not tied to one of the three largest 500 lbs+ gorillas sounds like a really neat thing to have.<p>Here's to hoping battery life will be acceptable and that they won't spoil it by tying it to Ubuntu services all over the place. Ideal would be NBR + phone capability, possibility to hook up an external display and hold the marketing.
The market for people who want a native terminal on their phone should be roughly equivalent to people who ever want to terminal INTO their phone.<p>The market already well served by iOS, Android, etc., is people who want to terminal OUT OF their phone and onto a real computer someplace.<p>What are the real-world tasks you expect to do with the former that you couldn't do, or couldn't do as well, with the latter?
Would rather have a bsd phone. Hell even a netbsd phone than a linux phone but I will accept your Ubuntu phone over Android anyday though I fully expect Ubuntu to get sued out of existence once they start getting into the mobile biz. There isn't a day that goes by when Samsung isn't being sued by a hundred different corporations or Samsung isn't themselves suing a hundred different corporations.<p>I'm also secretly hoping Ubuntu is paying attention to security with all the mobile spying going on and not just concentrating on making the latest supercoleslawesome twitter integration while they develop this.
I think it's sad that the core apps include Facebook and Twitter, but not a real instant messaging client (as in "I can install my own server if necessary", "end to end encryption", etc.) Instead of more client implementations for the same commercial services, the free software world should work on bringing the state of the art to free (as in freedom) tools.<p>No, this is not Richard Stallman speaking. I just want to keep my data on my own server, or at least have the choice to host it at a company in my own country.
Really I wouldn't want just a busybox terminal. I already have that on Android. It's ok, but has limited functionality. What I'd want would be the full range of typical GNU commands.
I just want to point out that the link is for <i>user submitted design suggestions</i> and is not necessarily official Canonical plan of record for what will ship.<p><a href="http://www.jonobacon.org/2013/01/23/community-driven-ubuntu-phone-core-apps/" rel="nofollow">http://www.jonobacon.org/2013/01/23/community-driven-ubuntu-...</a><p>It's a subtle distinction I wanted to point out.<p>Not speaking on behalf of Canonical, just in my own capacity.
Yes, but will grep -R give me Amazon results?
<a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/command-not-found/+bug/1055766" rel="nofollow">https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/command-not-found/...</a>