

Ubuntu Touch: First look at the Linux smartphone OS - IgorPartola
http://www.networkworld.com/slideshow/105180/ubuntu-touch-first-look-at-the-linux-smartphone-os.html

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forgottenpass
I don't want to sound too cynical, but I don't yet see anything that makes a
case for this new mobile platform to me.

The iPhone got me excited for a reinvention of mobile ui.

Reading about andrioid's ideas tickled the architecture nerd in me so hard I
was on board even when it still looked like a jacked-up blackberry.

Ubuntu phone looks like an also-ran, Canonical's attempt to get some of that
sweet sweet app store revenue. That's fine; it's just not a case for adoption
of the platform.

It took android a long time to finally hit its stride, and that wasn't for
doing all the things that excited me about the platform, it was the
commoditization of a luxury. Windows Phone is struggling, is there room in the
market for another platform to enter this marketplace?

There are interesting aspects to the Ubuntu phone, but without any big selling
point I wonder if they're not better suited just getting rolled into Android
proper. Canonical has had widely varying degrees of success when they make
hard breaks from the current opensource answer for something (and plenty of
dragons lurk down the tailored-android approach too). I hope it works out for
them because Ubuntu is an important force in opensource and I'd hate to see
Canonical die out.

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philliphaydon
Ubuntu needs to ditch the Orange Brown colour. Its the most disgusting thing
about Ubuntu. Can't believe they're using it on their Mobile OS.

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slinkyavenger
That's a tired point to make, especially since it's not relevant anymore.
Ubuntu ditched the brown a while back, and the orange definitely makes it
stand out compared to its competitors.

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philliphaydon
Based on the screen shots in the link, the orange/brown looks terrible. A lot
of the screens look really nice and clean and I like them, hit that orange,
BAM its hideous.

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Zigurd
The drive to create more Linux-based mobile handset is a very good thing. It's
going to benefit Linux distributions by driving a focus on design, and a
consensus on UI toolkits.

However, nobody seems to be looking at what gave Android a big technology
advantage even back when Android was a design ugly duckling: A common managed
language runtime for apps and OS middleware.

