It Looks Like The Converged Ubuntu Phone Device Is Delayed To Next Year

[Luke_Wolf]

This is very unfortunate, being the only one offering convergence would have been a big feature.

1). You're vastly overvaluing the benefit of convergence which is actually rather minimal for a phone platform. It does make some sense for tablets which is why the Surface Pro works and why others are chasing that segment
2). In no way would they have ever been the only one offering such a thing. Microsoft has been offering it since Windows 8, and KDE has been offering it since KDE4/Plasma, not to mention there was a company that actually did the phone/tablet/laptop convergence idea though during the KDE4 days I forget the name now though.

[jacob]

For goodness' sake. By then Unity 8 will be 4 years late and still virtually zero visible progress, the bugs affecting the current Unity 7 and the Software Center will still not be fixed, Canonical's PR department will still be hard at work explaining why it's not worth fixing them because the stack will be replaced "soon" and the rest of the desktop environment (Nautilus etc.) will be lagging behind even more than now. I couldn't care less about "convergence", I want a modern, well supported DESKTOP.

[Azrael5]

Better so. It must be reliable by a reliable kernel and a reliable system.

[Lennie]

1). You're vastly overvaluing the benefit of convergence which is actually rather minimal for a phone platform. It does make some sense for tablets which is why the Surface Pro works and why others are chasing that segment

Really ?

I would think it's more useful with a phone.

A phone has the size you can bring everywhere you go and connect it to a keyboard/screen where you are able to do 'real work' (desktop) and charge the battery in the mean time.

There is a reason Chromebooks are doing pretty well in schools. A lot of schools got rid of the iPad and replaced it with Chromebooks. Having a proper keyboard matters a lot.

There have been other designs, like laptops which have no CPU, just a slot to put a smartphone in.

I wonder if someone has already made a keyboard with a slot/dock to put a smartphone in and connect a screen/mouse to the keyboard (so not just a bluetooth keyboard, but proper docking).

A sort of standard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile...efinition_Link does exist for these sort of situations.

[Luke_Wolf]

Really ?

I would think it's more useful with a phone.

A phone has the size you can bring everywhere you go and connect it to a keyboard/screen where you are able to do 'real work' (desktop) and charge the battery in the mean time.

There is a reason Chromebooks are doing pretty well in schools. A lot of schools got rid of the iPad and replaced it with Chromebooks. Having a proper keyboard matters a lot.

There have been other designs, like laptops which have no CPU, just a slot to put a smartphone in.

I wonder if someone has already made a keyboard with a slot/dock to put a smartphone in and connect a screen/mouse to the keyboard (so not just a bluetooth keyboard, but proper docking).

A sort of standard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile...efinition_Link does exist for these sort of situations.

Yes really. Convergence on the phone is not useful at all. The phone is vastly underpowered for the job and just a bad solution all around. The hybrid tablet makes a certain amount of sense on the other hand because you can get away with sticking in a powerful enough CPU to do all of the basic tasks, and is still in the form factor that makes sense for carrying around as a light computing platform and thus works as it's own segment in what was previously the netbook market, that then became the ultrabook market.

At the end of the day though, the idea that everyone will collapse down onto 1 device with docks everywhere is purely delusion. Desktops and laptops will continue to exist for those who need more power or better keyboards, and other input devices. Phones are simply inappropriate devices to fill these roles.

[nils_]

At the end of the day though, the idea that everyone will collapse down onto 1 device with docks everywhere is purely delusion. Desktops and laptops will continue to exist for those who need more power or better keyboards, and other input devices. Phones are simply inappropriate devices to fill these roles.

I would never bet on the future, but I like the idea. Phones will become a lot more powerful, and if you look at the size of current Core M platforms you can already see a trend. Another piece of the puzzle will be either very fast wireless (not a fan of that for security reasons) or very fast low latency interconnects - think 32 PCIe 4.0 lanes on a USB-C size connector.

[profoundWHALE]

Yes really. Convergence on the phone is not useful at all. The phone is vastly underpowered for the job and just a bad solution all around.

I don't think that phones are that underpowered. The bigger issue would be apps that run on x86 and haven't been ported or ported well to ARM/MIPS.

[madjr]

I don't think that phones are that underpowered. The bigger issue would be apps that run on x86 and haven't been ported or ported well to ARM/MIPS.

I think the most powerful convergent mobile devices will use Intel or x86 hardware anyway.

Just look at the tiny Magic-Stick with 8GB RAM and Intel Cherry Trail:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/magicstick-most-powerful-pc-stick-8gb-ram#/

I predict the better convergent phones will be as good or better.

OEMs are looking for new differentiating features to prove they're the best / most powerful and this may become even standard feature. I think even Apple might be copying this at some point later in the future: New iphone 10: phone + Mac mini in one!

So yea Ubuntu is early this time, but needs to speed things up and get as many OEMs on board ASAP.

As for ARM, I don't see full steam on it anytime soon (unless is just the streaming client).

[madjr]

I don't think that phones are that underpowered. The bigger issue would be apps that run on x86 and haven't been ported or ported well to ARM/MIPS.

the Magic-stick on indiegogo has 8GB RAM + Intel Cherry Trail.

I think that will be standard at some point for mobile convergent devices, even apple might copy it sometime later: i.e. Iphone 10: Phone + Mac mini in one! (all apple fanboys flock to it...)

Ubuntu is still early but must hurry up this time!

As for ARM I don't think full steam will get ported. Maybe just the streaming client.

[madjr]

Ok the MAgic stick on Indie gogo has 8GB RAM + intel cherry trail.

Imagine the iphone 10: Phone + MAc mini. (ton of apple fanboys flocking...)

So yea ubuntu is still early but must hurry up!