Meizu's Ubuntu Phone Not Expected Until Early Next Year

[Cerberus]

So much publicity for a vaporphone.

That shows Canonical is good at marketing, and it wont be a vaporphone for much longer.

[Julius]

Since about two months Ubuntu Touch runs really well here on my Nexus4 as a dual boot installation, although it seems like the Android 5.0 update yesterday broke the dualboot. I hope they will fix it soon as I actually prefer Ubuntu Touch to Android.
The appstore is still a bit bare, I think Jolla has an advantage there as many of the Maemo apps got ported, but in theory those should follow on Ubuntu Touch soon as both use qt/QML for their native apps.
Hardware support for the Nexus4 is good, everythings seems to be working (haven't tested GPS). I am still a bit concerned about the speed though, launching the phone dial app for example takes a good 1-2 seconds, something that really should not take that long on the quite beefy hardware it is running on. Overall the build in applications and scopes are quite nice though and the web-browser is also ok (but I would prefer Firefox with a Android like UI on it, which sadly isn't available yet).

I really don't get why there are all these delays, this really isn't vapour-ware at all and works very well already.

Btw: Here is the guide for installing it on a Kitkat Nexus4:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Touch/DualBootInstallation

(just don't update to Lollipop yet like I did ).

[Cerberus]

Hardware support for the Nexus4 is good, everythings seems to be working (haven't tested GPS). I am still a bit concerned about the speed though, launching the phone dial app for example takes a good 1-2 seconds, something that really should not take that long on the quite beefy hardware it is running on. Overall the build in applications and scopes are quite nice though and the web-browser is also ok (but I would prefer Firefox with a Android like UI on it, which sadly isn't available yet).

I really don't get why there are all these delays, this really isn't vapour-ware at all and works very well already.

Some applications were redesigned many times, store needed work, and general improvements were necessary here and there like the lag you mention on dial pad application although I seen a video with a very recent build and dial pad opened fast. They are probably doing work on making everything running smoothly and polishing some stuff here and there, and with other hardware they are developing for (BQ and Meizu) it is likely they are doing what is necessary to make it run smoothly on those. It is better to wait a little bit more and get the best experience possible at the moment than to rush it and make some buyers unhappy (especially those that dont like Ubuntu will try to nitpick and find flaws), good thing is that Ubuntu Touch gets continual updates so any new features and bug fixes will come to users immediately. Android and iOS werent good in their first editions but those days are long gone, Ubuntu Touch will need to deliver a good experience straight away.

[k1l_]

It is good for the open source Community when ubuntu will make it to the phone markets q1.2015. meizu is a huge Partner and China is a huge market.
Does ubuntu touch need more work? Yes. And its really hard to compete with the big ones Android and IOS while they could mature in the beginning days of Smartphones.
Webos did fail even it was build from old giants Palm and HP, but was lacking apps and a bigger Community. Jolla is focusing in own devices, which limits the targetgroup. FirefoxOS got a more similar strategy to ubuntu phone. They focus on small but emerging markets and geht the big partners to join them step by step.
After the KDE tablet been such a desaster i am happy ubuntu is on a good path here.

[malkavian]

Jolla is not focusing in own devices. AS they said, their business is not in selling devices. They want to sell licenses of his OS but first it must to be known.

And SailfishOS have been completely or partly ported to various Android devices...

[Cerberus]

Jolla is not focusing in own devices. AS they said, their business is not in selling devices. They want to sell licenses of his OS but first it must to be known.

And SailfishOS have been completely or partly ported to various Android devices...

Same as Ubuntu, Canonical is not a hardware vendor, but adoption through hardware vendors and telecoms is critical to OS success. Ports to Android devices mean little without phones preinstalled with SailfishOS or Ubuntu Touch selling well as telecoms are not interested in ported stuff because they cant make any money on them, they want to make a profit by selling devices with the OS, and if they offer phones with this or that operating system it means it will reach a much wider audience than through ports which are often buggy and lack features.

[malkavian]

Sure, but ports let's people try SailfishOS without buying a new phone, so maybe they will want it for their next phone. I think that it's a good strategy when you are unknown and are fighting in a world crowded by Android.

[Cerberus]

Sure, but ports let's people try SailfishOS without buying a new phone, so maybe they will want it for their next phone. I think that it's a good strategy when you are unknown and are fighting in a world crowded by Android.

Yes which is why it is good that Canonical chose several Nexus devices for their reference hardware, anyone having those can install Ubuntu Touch and have it fully working. Though porting anything to many devices can be difficult, take latest Android for example, even though many old devices got 4.4 ROMs (some fully functional and some with issues) the new 5.0 is quite difficult to port to older devices, issues with drivers for chipsets, cameras etc. I am betting that porting a non Android OS like SailfishOS and Ubuntu Touch faces similar issues, drivers being the greatest problem although I believe Ubuntu Touch uses Android drivers, if those are drivers from a "compatible" version of Android for a certain device then porting is probably possible without major issues, dont know what SailfishOS uses, but if drivers are missing porting becomes nearly impossible. We will see in the future, I am not following SailfishOS development so I dont know how successful the ports are, when Ubuntu phones come out and images for it become "stable" ports will be attempted, probably by the developers at xda forums, and we will see how successful will they be.

Personally I think both SailfishOS and Ubuntu Touch should offer images for popular Android devices that have enough power to run them, for example Samsung Galaxy S3 and above, Note 2 and above, Sony Xperia Z series (perhaps M2 and T3 too), especially targeting older but still capable devices (like Samsung Galaxy S3), those people get no more updates and I am sure many of them would be willing to try out a new OS, but I dont know how much extra work would that be for Jolla and Canonical, probably a lot which is why other people will have to give it a try.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Touch/Porting

It says coming soon and I hope that means a comprehensive guide how to port it to capable Android devices.

[k1l_]

Jolla is not focusing in own devices. AS they said, their business is not in selling devices. They want to sell licenses of his OS but first it must to be known.

That doens change the fact that actually they only ship with own phones.

And SailfishOS have been completely or partly ported to various Android devices...

Just open a device subforum on xda and you will see ubuntu (-desktop and -touch) ports or attempts to port for a lot of devices. So i dont see a difference or even an advantage there. this list with official and community supported devices looks a bit better to me than the Sailfish OS list https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Touch/Devices

Yes which is why it is good that Canonical chose several Nexus devices for their reference hardware, anyone having those can install Ubuntu Touch and have it fully working.

Nexus Device are the only ones shipping all stuff needed. So even Android-Custom-Roms struggle on Samsungs because Samsung only provides binary blobs which only work with that specific kernel. The whole Driver issue is way worse than on the Desktop, where we have some standards and free drivers that work quite reasonable.
Ubuntu-Touch runs stuff in lxc containers (iirc) to be able to work with the android drivers. that should make it run on devices that can run android, theoretically.


i still think its good for ubuntu/canonical and oss to go this path. i think canonical got the right "power" and ubuntu the community to reach a marked. firefox or jolla look to "small" to me. if you consider giants like microsoft/nokia and palm/hp failed in that attempt that is still going to be difficult.

[Cerberus]

That doens change the fact that actually they only ship with own phones.

That is mistake in my opinion as their phone is too expensive for what it offers, they should have opted for an existing phone like Ubuntu did or buy some generic phone from Chinese manufacturers and slap their branding on it. BQ Aquaris E4.5 which will supposedly ship Ubuntu is similar to Jolla phone and costs only 149.90 EUR while Jolla costs almost twice as much.

Nexus Device are the only ones shipping all stuff needed. So even Android-Custom-Roms struggle on Samsungs because Samsung only provides binary blobs which only work with that specific kernel. The whole Driver issue is way worse than on the Desktop, where we have some standards and free drivers that work quite reasonable.
Ubuntu-Touch runs stuff in lxc containers (iirc) to be able to work with the android drivers. that should make it run on devices that can run android, theoretically.

Which is why developers use workarounds if at all possible, Android 4.4.4 for Galaxy S2 for example uses 3.0 kernel which is probably a modified kernel from stock 4.1 even though manufacturer made 4.4.4 for various phones uses 3.4 kernel. I agree that situation with drivers is much worse on phones than on desktops, there are no free drivers for many types of mobile hardware, developers have to hack around to get something working or port drivers from older releases and make them work properly. In the case of 5.0 not even that will work it seems so older phones probably wont get 5.0. Yes I think that LXC containers is how Ubuntu uses Android drivers and that makes it theoretically possible to port Ubuntu Touch to any Android phone though it remains to be seen whether that is true, when they update porting page we will know more. I dont think it is that easy, even Nexus devices didnt have a working front camera for quite a while.

i still think its good for ubuntu/canonical and oss to go this path. i think canonical got the right "power" and ubuntu the community to reach a marked. firefox or jolla look to "small" to me. if you consider giants like microsoft/nokia and palm/hp failed in that attempt that is still going to be difficult.

Microsoft will get there, they are persistent and now when they bought Nokia I am sure we will see cheap Windows phone models, remember how Microsoft was losing money on the first Xbox for quite a while? They didnt give up as they have money to spare and they finally succeeded. I have no doubts they will do the same with Windows phones, sell them below the real price or with minimum profit to get more people to buy them. They will never conquer Android and iOS but they will grow in market share steadily. As for Ubuntu and other Linux phones their destiny remains to be seen, it is in the hands of Linux users and enthusiasts, they need to buy them at first in sufficient quantities to justify their existence to their developers and manufacturers. Regular people are unlikely to buy any of them at first. The irony is that if all of them fail there will be no one to blame except Linux community as they failed to support Linux phones by actually buying them.

It is good Ubuntu is targeting China, it is a huge market with specific needs, there they have an opportunity to make a dent in the market, I hope for good availability of BQ and Meizu phones in other parts of the world so that everyone interested can buy them, and with luck maybe some of those telecoms from their Carrier Advisory Group might step up and offer Ubuntu phones for sale, next step would probably be a major brand offering an Ubuntu phone, Samsung, Sony, HTC and others. Samsung was interested in Tizen but not too much it seems. Sony Xperia with Ubuntu Touch, now that would be sexy. They might call it Sony xTouch, "Xperience The Touch" It even sounds good. Lets hope everything goes well, having Ubuntu on the phone and future convergence would be awesome.