Ubuntu Touch: a Linux OS breaks onto smartphones and tablets
One of Linux's biggest players is heading to mobile. The new Ubuntu has a gesture heavy interface and will be entering the market amid a number of mature operating systems. We have reservations about how it will fair in the crowded mobile market but are interested to see how Canonical's open-source OS develops. Follow along here as Canonical works to bring mobile Ubuntu into consumers' hands.
Ubuntu Touch Developer Preview for Nexus devices now available
As promised, the Ubuntu Touch Developer Preview for smartphones and tablets is now available for download. The Developer Preview is the precursor to the full launch, pencilled in for early next year, and is likely to be unstable at times. We previewed the phone UI last month, and more recently had a look at the tablet UI running on a Nexus 10 tablet.
Ubuntu for tablets hands-on: an intriguing mix of Windows 8, Android, and Kindle Fire
Canonical unveiled its Ubuntu phone OS last month, and a tablet friendly version this week. The company is betting on creating an operating system that will mimic its desktop OS on mobile platforms. Tomorrow, a developer preview will be released for Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10 owners to install and try out. I got the chance to take a closer look at the operating system today, and it's clear Canonical is mixing together the best bits from its rivals.
Multiple user support...
Ubuntu phones won't ship till 2014, might be locked down by carriers
Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that smartphones running Ubuntu Linux would ship in October of this year. Ubuntu boss Mark Shuttleworth says that's a mistake. Today, the founder clarified that while a smartphone friendly version of the operating system — Ubuntu 13.10 — will be widely available in October with developer preview builds available this week, phones likely still won't ship until early 2014. Though the OS will be ready for phones this year, he explained...
Ubuntu Touch Preview coming to Nexus tablets this Thursday with Windows 8-like multitasking
After unveiling its phone OS last month, Canonical is today launching its new tablet-ready Ubuntu interface. Like the phone experience, Ubuntu for tablets is optimized for touch, relying on edge gestures for navigation — there are no physical buttons required. If you've seen our hands-on with Ubuntu for phones, everything will look fairly familiar: the main interface itself is similar to the phones OS, with the same focus on a universal hub for search, apps, and content, while the...
Ubuntu Developer Preview for Nexus 4, Galaxy Nexus arrives February 21st
As was promised, enthusiasts and developers will be able to flash Ubuntu onto their Galaxy Nexus' before the end of the month. Canonical has announced that the Developer Preview of the new operating system will be released on February 21st. The surprise, however, is that the company has added support for the Nexus 4, and users with the latest Nexus phone will be able to download and flash Ubuntu onto their devices on the 21st as well. Additionally, the source code for the operating system and...
Ubuntu phones coming in October, promising 'a leap' ahead of current interfaces
It's the year of Linux — on mobile, at least. Canonical aims to have its new Ubuntu OS in developers' hands in late February with phones available to consumers in "two geographically large markets" this October, reports The Wall Street Journal. The mobile version of the popular open-source operating system was announced last month, sporting no buttons and a gesture-heavy interface similar to what we're seeing on BlackBerry's new Z10. We don't know who will be making Ubuntu devices, but C...
The Ubuntu phone has a speed problem, and I'm not talking about lag
As software launches go, yesterday's announcement of Ubuntu for phones was quite the success for parent company Canonical. Having already promised to deliver their Linux operating system to mobile platforms, Ubuntu's makers weren't really breaking any new ground, yet their small-scale event stirred imaginations and conversations among mobile phone users. Perhaps it's a sign of our growing discontent with the iOS-Android duopoly that has gripped the market, or maybe it's a symptom of Ubuntu's...
Hands-on with Ubuntu's brand-new, gesture-based phone OS
Our top London agent Vlad Savov just got his hands on the new Ubuntu phone OS and was able to get a quick look at some of the new OS's trademark features, including its new gesture-based interface. There's a bit of lag while swiping through the phone's different panels, but overall it looks to be quite the attractive and intelligent interface. Unlike nearly all of the major phone operating systems, there's no "home" button to speak of in Ubuntu — it's all based on gestures.
There's also no...
Ubuntu phone OS announced, first devices shipping in early 2014
As already teased and promised, today Canonical is taking the wraps off the mobile version of Ubuntu, which is built around the existing Android kernel and drivers, but doesn't use a Java Virtual Machine and promises to use "the full power of the phone." Supporting both ARM and x86 processors, the Ubuntu phone OS will be compatible enough to let Android phone makers run it on their devices with minimal adaptation.
Ubuntu for Android, announced in February of last year, will be the first step...
Ubuntu touch-based OS teased for January 2nd
A countdown teaser has been posted to the Ubuntu homepage that’s currently set to expire on January 2nd. The banner bears a "So close, you can almost touch it" tagline, implying an announcement based on touch support for the OS. That shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise considering Canonical’s recent hints at the future of Ubuntu. In a Slashdot Q&A last month, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth made it fairly clear that a cross-device OS was on the cards, with full mobile and...
Ubuntu for Android hands-on: a full Linux operating system when you dock your smartphone
Canonical is announcing its Ubuntu for Android platform today, a fusion of both Google's mobile operating system and the Linux-based Ubuntu desktop OS. While you're on the move it works like any other Android phone, but when you place the handset into a dock, it becomes a fully-fledged version of Ubuntu with Unity UI. Canonical sees devices like this as the future of personal computing, giving you access to all of your data wherever you are and changing the user interface in response to the...
